Superbowl

“If you’re ever in a jam, here I am
If you’re ever in a mess, S.O.S.”
“Friendship,” Cole Porter

Found the 2010 BBC production “The Special Relationship” On Demand, about Tony Blair and Bill Clinton, quite intriguing. Even though Dennis Quaid didn’t look much like Mr. Bill, he had the voice and mannerisms down perfectly. Michael Sheen was a dead ringer for the Prime Minister, and Hope Davis (Jack Nicholson’s daughter in “About Schmidt”) nailed Hillary. The movie opened to the music of Indiana-born Cole Porter’s “Friendship” and closed with Conway Twitty singing “Lonely Blue Boy.” Most interesting are the references to 1990s trouble spots Northern Ireland and Kosovo. Blair started out as a huge Clinton admirer and stuck by him during the Monica Lewinsky farce, but, ever the realist, embraced clueless Bush after the disputed 2000 election. One actual clipping of Bush and Blair at Camp David shows the new President with his ever-present smirk answering a question about what the two had in common. “We both use Colgate toothpaste,” clueless W. replied.

Toni put together a shrimp dish for Marianne’s Superbowl party. Picked up the Hagelbergs and arrived in plenty of time to watch Christina Aguilera butcher the “Star Spangled Banner.” Lorraine Todd-Shearer and I staked out good seats directly in front of the TV and next to each other. The Black-Eyed Peas did a credible job at halftime, and the entire production was excellent with even a guest appearance by Slash. The game was exciting, and I was rooting for Pittsburgh mainly because of former IU star Antwaan Randle El. Antwaan made two nice catches, but they should have gone to him more and perhaps thrown in an end around pass play. The Packers deserved to win, especially in view of injuries sustained during the season and game itself (most notably Charles Woodson). Marianne organized several betting pools, including 25-cent chances on the subject of the next ad (the Hagelbergs won twice with “car”). Food was delicious, especially Angie’s chili. Marianne mentioned seeing my name in the paper in connection with the gay steelworkers project and mentioned that she and Tim had been to Encompass with a gay friend. Maybe after Dave’s band Blues Cruise finishes playing at LF Norton’s in Lake Station on February 18, we’ll go there afterwards. The two bars are real close to each other.

“Today” spent more time on the commercials (reputedly costing $3 million per 30 seconds) than the actual game. My favorite showed a young man taunting a pug dog with a Dorito who gets squashed when the dog runs through the windowpane. Most portrayed guys as puerile and contained gratuitous violence. Everyone was surprised at the paucity of beer ads (the Budweiser Clydesdales appeared fleetingly and without me noticing). The best ad was for Volkswagen. A four year-old dressed up as Darth Vader pretends to use the power of The Force. After his dad comes home, he stands in front of the car and is startled when he seems to have locked the vehicle, not realizing dad had pushed the button from inside. With the strains of “Lose Yourself” in the background, Eminem appeared behind the wheel of a Chrysler in an impressive ad showing gritty scenes of Detroit, climaxing with a ride down Woodward Avenue past the restored Fox Theater. When I lived in a Detroit suburb in the 1950s, I was in awe the first time on Woodward Avenue with its dozen or more lanes.

Elton John is on the cover of Rolling Stone, and among the top ten CDs are new issues by Gregg Allman and Social Distortion. The main story is very critical of General David Petraeus cozying up to warlords in Afghanistan.

I sent emails to veteran sports reporters John Mutka (Post-Trib) and Al Hamnik (Times) inviting them to Carson Cunningham’s talk Thursday. Here’s what I wrote: “In connection with IUN’s Homecoming this Thursday (February 10), I have arranged for former Andrean sports star and current coach Carson Cunningham to give a talk on his book tracing the history of the U.S. Men’s Olympic basketball team. It will take place in Savannah Center Art Gallery prior to the Women’s and Men’s games. In my opinion IU Northwest is on the cusp of a new sports era, and I believe you would not only enjoy the events but would be uniquely qualified to report on them. Hope you can make it.” Carson also offered to notify some of his “sports journalist buddies” about the event.

Ran into adjunct faculty member David Turpin in the cafeteria, who is teaching two Business Ethics courses for the History and Philosophy department. Each time faculty joined us and learned what he taught, they made jokes about the ethics of business (“must be a short course,” one said). Chancellor Lowe walked by; must remember to invite him to Carson Cunningham’s talk.