Super Bowl Champions, Baby!

Well, I'm sure by now you have heard that the Philadelphia Eagles demolished the Kansas City Chiefs to become the Super Bowl Champions! I mean, I'm not sure anyone but the members of the team were ready for how well they played, but no one is complaining. It's so exciting, and especially after last week's terrible plane crash in Northeast Philadelphia, it's nice that we all have something good to cheer about.

On a personal level, it was just such a relief to have something so happy and so joyous to watch and think about. The beginning of 2025 has been horrible for us so to just be able to watch and cheer and laugh was wonderful. Does it mean the world is immediately better and nothing else bad will happen? Of course not, but it's a small circle of joy that needs to be marked and celebrated.

As I said, 2025 has not been kind to us so far. I won't be going in to detail, but I really can't remember a year that has started off this way. I do want to thank every single one of you who left a comment on my post about Pip. It means so much to know people are thinking of you, and that other people "get" it. We are getting used to not having him here, ready to cuddle, or play, or comment on everything, but there's a long way to go. Alfie and Esme have glued themselves to each other, and Milo the Koodle walks around the house meowing in the most pitiful way that he never did before. It makes it extra hard because they of course don't understand what happened. 

You know, some people complain that too much is made of sports, particularly NFL football, which can of course having lasting, terrible effects on players' brains and bodies. And that is true, but to be honest, I don't see it going away any time soon. And in the grand scheme of things, is sports the most important? No it is not. Things are still horrible in the world, and Those People show no signs of stopping the terrible things they have started. 

But for the past week, at least here in the city, people have been walking around with smiles on their faces, and nearly everyone you pass or have any interaction with would end with "Go Birds!" And last night, The Tim and I sat here and watched the game, and for a few hours didn't have a reason to feel sad or frustrated or bereft. 

And we were so very grateful for that.

Fly Eagles Fly, indeed!

Superb Owl Sunday

Have you ever seen the show "What We Do In The Shadows"? It's one of our favorite shows. It's about a group of thousand-plus-year-old vampires who live in a dilapidated mansion on Staten Island in New York. It is of course, completely ridiculous, and of course we love it. There are some particularly good episodes (when they go to a rave in Manhattan, when they visit Atlantic City, for instance), but one of those is when their next door neighbors (regular, everyday people, of course) invite them to a Super Bowl Party. Which of course they misunderstand (thinking it is a Superb Owl Party), but are nonetheless thrilled about:

Ever since we saw this episode, Super Bowl Sunday has become Superb Owl Sunday in our house. And of course this year, the Philadelphia Eagles are one of the teams playing. 

Now let's get some things out of the way first. Yes, sports is not the end-all/be-all that so many people think it is; sports - particularly those like football and soccer - can be extremely dangerous and have devastating lifelong injuries; players are paid too much money; there is too much emphasis on sports in schools; blah, blah, blah, insert your own fact/complaint/whatever here. Now we've gotten it out of our systems at least for the purposes of this post.

But I have to tell you that as someone who has lived in Philadelphia now for 32 years, whenever one of our teams is in a major sporting final, it changes the way most people walk around and do things. There is a genuine, universal excitement and even people not at all familiar or usually interested in sports catch the feeling. People embrace the fun aspect of it. For instance, yesterday The Tim had jury duty, and when they called the roll to make sure who did or did not show up, people were given the option of responding "Here," "Present," or "Go Birds!" Apparently every single person opted for "Go Birds!" 

In the past few weeks, nearly every time I've had a transaction with someone at a grocery store, coffee shop, or doctor's office, it's ended with "Go Birds!" Even my colleagues at the yarn store, who for the most part are neither from here originally, or are not sports fans, have gotten on board. It's infectious, and it's just really nice to have people happy and united about something for a change. 

My Sunday co-worker Kate and I are figuring that this week it will be especially busy at the yarn store for three reasons: 1) people coming in to buy yarn for projects they want to work on during the game; 2) people coming in to buy yarn because they want a project to work on INSTEAD of watching the game, and 3) people with one or the other reason coming in, but mostly because it's the last day of the Semi-Annual Sale, where a lot of the winter yarns are marked down 50 percent. So we're ready, no matter what. 

Fortunately on Sunday, the store closes at 4 p.m., so I can come home, enjoy the pizza that The Tim is planning to make for dinner, and then enjoy our own Superb Owl Party with the kitties and lots of snacks. Do I want the Eagles to win? Of course!!!! (Having said that, I'm not a person to have it ruin the rest of my year if the opposite should happen - I mean, that would have already happened you know?)

Even the Philadelphia Orchestra has joined the fun.

Have a good weekend, and 

GO BIRDS!!!