Stupor Bowl Recap

So, last Sunday was Super Bowl 43 between the Steelers and Cardinals and a lot of people came to play that day, whether it be in Tampa, FL (site of the game), or Columbus, OH (my location). Some people shy away from the big stage, but not me, I say bring it on, my liver can't tell if it's a preseason scrimmage or the biggest stage in all of professional American sports. The last two weekends of the NFL season were tough for a Cleveland Browns fan like myself, and the need to self-medicate to deal with a possible Ravens or Steelers Super Bowl victory was inevitable. Case #1- Baltimore Ravens at Pittsburgh Steelers for the AFC Championship, Sunday, Jan. 18, 2009. Or, to put it another way...the former Cleveland Browns vs. our most hated arch rivals for the right to go to the Super Bowl...something which we've never been able to do. I don't even need to say anything besides that. It was singlehandedly the biggest slap in the face game I've ever been forced to watch. To be honest, it was so bad I didn't drink one beer or do one shot, I actually cleaned my bed and bathrooms and did laundry. And luckily for me, it was also the longest game in NFL playoff history, taking nearly 13 hours to play. This game is really the worst case scenario for any sports fan. It wasn't like if Seattle was playing Carolina, a case in which I don't really give a shit about either team or the outcome. But, in this game I actually have gutteral hatred for both teams and was wishing their team buses were in horrendous wrecks on the way to the stadium. If they were to hit each other it would be two birds with one stone, the odds of the buses being in seperate wrecks are even more remote.

Case #2- Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Arizona Cardinals for the NFL Championship, Feb. 1, 2009. That statement could read Steelers vs. (insert anyone of the 16 NFC teams) and it would be depressing. For this game I vowed not to stay sober, and sober I would not be. On Thursday, I saw Sunday Sara at my favorite bar, Novak's, and she said she was working on Sunday...which is why she's Sunday Sara. Uber-cute Shannon also said she would be there so it sounded like a deal. By the time gameday rolled around all I needed to do was get some sunflower seeds and I was ready to rock. Upon getting to the bar, we layed out the groundrules for our anti-Steelers drinking game. Pretty simple really, whenever something bad happened to the Steelers, shots! 'Something bad' originally meant a big play by the Cardinals (i.e. touchdown or turnover), but as the first quarter ended it became painfully obvious that the rules needed to be changed or else we'd be as sober as a reborn Christian on well...any occasion I guess. After 15 minutes of play: Zona- 3 offensive plays, Brandon- 0 shots. The Cards come back in the second with a nice scoring drive that leads to 7, they're coming back, shot #1. After a nice defensive stand, the Cards are driving again at the end of the half when...well...you know what happened. Know we're doing shots to deal with the pain of the inevitability of another Steelers Super Bowl ring. At halftime there was a shot for Springsteen singing 'Glory Days,' and at some point in the third quarter I think we did shots for a Rothlisberger incomplete pass. Things around this point get a little fuzzy and the next memory I'm 100% sure of is waking up the next morning feeling tired and a little hungover.

In terms of my Facebook status regarding the location of my car, it was one street over. Go Browns in '09!