The Super Bowl and Super Bowl parties can be great.
Former NFL great Keith Jackson used to throw a huge one as a fundraiser for P.A.R.K.
The last one may have been the Janet Jackson incident, although that had nothing to do with the end of the parties.
The NFL didn't like all those Las Vegas casinos using the name and logo of the Super Bowl for parties, so years ago the league disallowed the use of the name Super Bowl for nonsanctioned events.
For several years, John Riddle's Big Back Deck would have 50-60 people but enough food to feed 500.
About the only time it was even close to quiet was when someone said the commercials were coming on. Commercials that have since lost their creativity and intrigue.
Yours truly covered five Super Bowls and found them to be great right up until game time, when I was given a writing board and told my seat was outside on the top row.
I did meet John Candy once. He was really nice and shorter than expected.
Once I ran into the late, great Jerry Davis, a local businessman, who had his tickets stolen out of his shirt pocket. He still managed to get into the game and in his rightful seats.
He also got to watch as the two guys who thought they were going to see the game were escorted out.
Watched one from Vegas once and had no idea there's a million ways -- at least it seemed that many -- to bet on the games, from first fumble to who wins the coin toss.
In the previous 54 Super Bowls, too many have been stupor bores, but today's game is just too interesting.
There's 43-year-old Tom Brady, who will have quarterbacked half of the last 20 Super Bowls after today.
The first nine were with the New England Patriots. This one is with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where he is aiming for his seventh win.
He even talked his favorite tight end Robert James Gronkowski, better known as Gronk, into coming out of retirement for another party. Of course, the more than $9 million left on Gronk's contract if he played helped.
Then there's Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes, the young gun taking on the Super Bowl sheriff.
Mahomes may turn out to be one of the greatest quarterbacks in the history of the NFL.
I read a story this week that said he has no weaknesses. Guys like Brady and Peyton Manning were great, but they weren't going to beat you with their legs. Mahomes is like a fighter pilot with a wide array of weapons.
He's truly fun to watch.
No doubt in Arkansas there are more Kansas City fans than Tampa Bay, but yours truly just wants a fun game to watch.
Having been to both cities, mostly covering the NCAA Tournament over a 30-year period, neither is on the bucket list for a return visit.
Y'bor City in Tampa was fun, once. Cuban food is amazing.
It is hard to find a bad steak in Kansas City, but who wants steak every day?
What today should be for this great country is a day off.
We don't need to forget about covid-19 -- the battle rages on. Wear a mask when you aren't eating or drinking, social distance as much as possible and watch football.
Don't think about politics for a day. There's going to be more than enough of that to deal with this year.
Put college football recruiting and basketball on the back burner.
It is more fun if you have a team to pull for, so pick one. Or pull a name out of a hat.
Just have some much needed time off and fun.
I'm going to pull for the Chiefs, not because they are the defending champions, but for Joe Kleine, who is a die-hard fan of Kansas City and one of my closest friends.