Well here we are. The Super Bowl is over and I'm still in shock at how the game went. And as I sit here I can't help but think how things ended up this way. Lemme give ya a li'l bit of a backstory on the events, though.
I was born in and have lived in two different neighbouring cities in the Pacific Northwest (PNW) for my entire life; which to those unfamiliar with the area, includes the states of Washington, Oregon and Idaho here in the US. So naturally, the Seahawks (from here forward being referred to as "Hawks") should be my home team and the guys I'd be head over heels for, right? Well...not exactly. Since I was about 5 years old, I've been a tried and true fan of the Oakland Raiders out of California. Their black and silver uniforms, their style of play back in the day -- which wasn't exactly friendly to say the least -- and what I learned over the years about their history and large list of prolific players really appealed to me. So I decided then and their at the tender age of 5, knowing that I really liked these guys, that these bunch of rough 'n' tough warriors were gonna be my fav team.
Saw this a week or so ago on lunch break at work in the parking lot across the street. Raider pride is alive and well in Snohomish County!!
Years later, John Elway of the Denver Broncos is on the scene lighting up the field w/ his cannon of an arm and receivers like the great Ed McCaffrey, Shannon Sharpe and Terrel Davis. After watching them do their thing and reading about how great of guys most of 'em are, I instantly knew t he Broncos were gonna be a nice addition to my teams to love. Even after all of them have left the team, the team itself has chosen great people to fill the roster out with year after year, so I knew I picked a great team to have pride in.
(Note: Yes, I know how odd and sacrilegious it seems to have the Raiders and the Broncos be my fav two teams given their storied and passionate rivalry, and trust me, it's not easy for me to do...but the heart knows what the heart wants. And believe me, I get enough shit for it from other sports fans, be they fans of either team or neither at all, but it's worth it.)
Now we fast forward to the future a bit. After years and years of putting up w/ the Hawks fans here in the PNW telling me that I should be a fan of the Hawks since they're my "home team" and I can't talk crap about them 'cause I live here, and arguing back that it wasn't my choice to be born here and that, as the saying goes, "home is where the heart is", the Hawks are actually a good team and bound to be a playoff favourite. But on the flipside, so are the Broncos...my #2 boys in orange and blue :-D And Peyton and his star-studded receiving corps, along with the rest of the #1 offense in the league look like they're set to blow the #1 defense to smithereens. But as prideful fans will do, they make bets on big games such as this. And here we get brought to the recent past.
One of my good buddies and I get into a discussion about betting on the game. He wants to go $20 heads up, no point-spread. Whoever wins, wins. But this isn't good enough for me. This is my opportunity to really stick it to the fans -- or at least one in particular. So I tell him that that's too easy for me (since I figured Denver would dominate the game), so I'd give him a 17-point spread, bump it up to $30 and we'd have to figure out a good way to step up the wager to make it more interesting. So he comes up w/ the idea that the loser gets his beard shaved by the winner. So since I was gonna be trimming mine anyway, I gladly accepted and told him that I'd be collecting his beard come postgame.
And then that monstrosity of a game (can we even call it that?) happened and by the end of the 3rd quarter I was already saying goodbye to my precious facial hair.
Bye bye, beard :-(
So I mosey my way up to the bar with my clippers in my pocket to get this whole thing over with. I get one last drink to send it off with honour and then we step out onto the back patio to get the dirty business done.
Happy with my beard...
Not so happy holding its remnants in my hand X'-(
But, we made a night of it and continued to party. I wasn't gonna rain on their parade just as I wouldn't want them to rain on mine if my boys had done that well or even just won the game regardless of the spread. I got a quick look at the damage down at a mutual friend of ours' place (I'm not one who is very vain so I didn't even look in the mirror at the bar to see if I could clean it up any).
Not too terribly bad, but significantly shorter :-/
The night comes to a close and I come home to assess the real damage and clean things up a bit. So I take the clippers out of my pocket and make it all a uniform length at least.
At least now I don't look like I'm homeless, right? :-P
Now we reach last night when I have to finish up and start from near-scratch. I haven't been clean-shaven w/ just my goatee in probably over 5 years. As you'll see, I have kind of a babyface, so even with just the goatee, I look a bit younger. With nothing I look about 17 :-O
Went for the Wolverine look that I've sported a few times w/ the long chops and a strip shaved off. But if I was gonna be shaving the beard short, I had to start from scratch there as well.
So sad X'-( This is actually happening!!
Presentable and not furry anymore. Not my favourite look, but I'll have to live with it 'til my man-fuzz grows back.
One thing I noticed when I went out to get some wood for the fire a few hours ago is that my face will certainly get cold a lot easier now. I haven't had that problem in forever, so it's an unwelcome feeling, but not one I can get accustomed to.
I just hope I don't get carded at the bar the next time I go up there. I know my buddy that works there is gonna gimme a li'l flak for shits and giggles, but that's why I love goin' up there :-D
'Til next time...
Hang loose \nnn/