Posts Tagged "Super Bowl"

9 Tips for Watching the Super Bowl in College

Dear Kid,

Potato chips Super Bowl Party 10 Things You Have to Know DearKidLoveMom.comGetting ready for the Super Bowl is not a process to be taken lightly. After all, the Super Bowl happens but once a year. Like New Year’s Eve but with better commercials. Who doesn’t love puppies and Clydesdales?

Being the kind of mom I am, I have decided to provide you with this Handy Guide to Getting Ready for the Super Bowl for the College Kid.

  1. Decide where you are going to watch the game. Are you guest, host, or throwing everyone out of your dorm room so you can watch in peace? Are you going to watch in someone’s room or head out to an environment where there are Public Viewing Options like B Dub’s (less good if you actually want to hear the commentary or commercials).
  2. Get your homework done in advance so you don’t hear your mother in your head saying “What is your homework situation?” during kickoff. Do not try to do homework during The Big Game unless you plan to go to the library and ignore The Event.
  3. If the event is going to be in your dorm room, calmly discuss the viewing options with your roommates. The conversation should go something like this. “NO SLEEPING DURING THE SUPERBOWL. AND IF YOU DO DECIDE TO SLEEP YOU DON’T GET TO COMPLAIN ABOUT NOISE LEVELS FROM THOSE OF US WATCHING THIS IMPORTANT SPORTING EVENT.” If your roommate is from a futbol loving country like Brazil, he or she will totally get it. If not, you may have some ‘splainin’ to do.
  4. Arrange for snacks during the Super Bowl. It is perfectly acceptable to insist people bring their own and leave you out of it; you just have to be clear. Otherwise you will be subsisting on whatever’s left in the vending machine and questionable remnants of a burrito.
  5. Do not go out the previous evening. You need to rest up for the big event. (Yeah, ok, that’s mom advice.)
  6. Decide what time you are going to begin watching. This is not as silly a statement as it may sound since coverage begins far before game time. And by “far before game time” I mean yesterday.
  7. Agree with your co-watchers on the appropriate method for evaluating commercials. This can range from ignoring them completely (a tactic employed by 6% of Super Bowl watchers), calmly discussing them (2% of viewers), or screaming raucously at the top of your lungs (everyone else).
  8. Text during the game. In the modern world (and by “modern world” I mean your world), it is fairly lame to only watch the game with the people you are watching the game with. Be sure to ignore the people in the room (at least part of the time) to catch up with those watching in other venues.
  9. Enjoy! With luck it will be an interesting football game.

Love, Mom

Read More

Five Fantastic Recipes for Super Bowl Snacks in a Dorm Room

Dear Kid,

We are nearing the Super Bowl (you probably heard about that). And when I think Super Bowl, I think Super Bowl party. And when I think Super Bowl party, I think food.

And when I think college kid I think food.

And when I think college kid and the Super Bowl, I think food.

When I think college kid, dorm room, and extensive chopping and food preparation, I end up rolling on the floor laughing.

There are 4 zillion websites devoted to intricate dips, snacks, and fun food for The Big Game. None of them are designed for a dorm room.

So being the kind of mother I am, I have ever so thoughtfully provided this Guide to Super Bowl Snacks in Your Dorm Room.

Ingredients: A small bit of planning. Bowls optional. No knives or chopping necessary.

Crudité. Seriously? Probably not. If you want something green, check a roommate’s sneakers.

Guacamole: to make or to buy? Guess which is easier in a dorm room? DearKidLoveMom.comGuacamole. Buy guacamole. Open. Eat.

Salsa. Very similar to guac except you buy salsa.

Chips. Open bag. Improvise.

Snack mix. Go crazy. Open a bag of Chex mix and add peanuts or potato chips. Gourmet!

Need main course options? Not a problem. Pizza, burgers, a splurge on Chipotle, or even hop over to the cafeteria before the game begins.

Decorations. Consider semi-inflated balloons. (Sorry, couldn’t resist.)

Get your homework done before kickoff.

Love, Mom

Read More

The Rule of the Seven Soup Bowls

Dear Kid,

As has been pointed out more than once (generally by me), you have a very smart mother.

So when it comes to having company, I get them to help.Things you don't know about the 7 kinds of soup bowls. DearKidLoveMom.com

And when it comes to serving soup at a formal dinner, I serve in the kitchen and allow (and by “allow” I mean conscript) guests to deliver filled bowls to the table.

Recently a Smart Young Man (who we shall hereafter refer to as SYM) was cheerfully helping (and by cheerfully, I do in this case mean cheerfully) and asked me why soup bowls have rims and why someone would design a fancy soup bowl that is the configuration most likely to spill. SYM may go on to be an engineer—I’m fairly certain he will not be a fashion designer if he continues to ask practical questions like that.

Since I adore answering interesting questions, I looked it up. (My original answer “because that’s the type of bowl that came with the china” didn’t seem sufficient.)

Guess what? My original answer is pretty darn close.

But because I’m that kind of mom, I’m filling in the blanks with lots of interesting soup bowl trivia.

And if that doesn’t make you happy, you should talk to the SYM who inspired this blog.

In general, the texture and temperature of the soup is what determines what kind of bowl should be used. For example, think about French Onion soup which is served in a lug soup bowl (if you want to know what a “lug soup bowl” is think about French Onion soup).

If you are ever going to appear on Jeopardy! you should probably be aware that there are 7 different kinds of soup bowls. (Not counting whatever kinds were used in The Tale of Despereaux.)

The exception to the texture/temperature rule is The Formal Meal at which one should only use the aforementioned easily spill-able soup plate. And soup plates always have rims. I repeat: Always. No one knows why. They just do. Let me know if your Foods teacher has anything useful to say on the subject.

The coupe soup (and isn’t that fun to say) bowl is a saucer-shaped bowl used only for informal dining. Because apparently one doesn’t want to spill on one’s informal clothes. I’m not saying it makes sense. The coupe soup bowl is also used when overthrowing governments.

The soup-cereal bowl is also used only at informal meals. This bowl is also known (at least in some circles) as the Oatmeal Bowl. Sometimes has a rim; sometimes is rimless. It’s the wild child of soup bowls.

The covered soup bowl is useful if your kitchen is several kilometers from the dining room. It is (stick with me now) a soup bowl with a cover. If you are ever served such a thing, the correct etiquette is to remove the lid (unless the waiter does it for you in which case you are not to wrestle it away from him) and place said lid, rim side down, on the side of the underplate (which I’ll get to momentarily). Then, before the soup course is cleared, you should be sure to replace the cover.

Do not ask me why one would have a waiter and a removable cover at anything other than a formal meal because frankly I don’t have a clue.

Moving along to number 6 (go count if you don’t believe me), we have the cream soup bowl (with saucer). The cream soup bowl (with saucer) is used to serve pureed and cream-based soups. It is bigger than the bouillon cup (and saucer) which is used to serve clear soups.

Manners Alert!

If you find yourself at an event where you are served clear soup in a bouillon cup (on its saucer), you must know that you are either to use a spoon or to drink from the cup but never, oh never, alternate because that’s just plain tacky.

A final note. Underplates are placed (are you still with me?) under the bowl of soup to help protect the table from heat and spillage. Also it looks better. Even bowls with saucers, go on an underplate. In my house, the underplate is just called a plate. But from now on maybe I’ll call it George.

You will note that the seven kinds of soup bowls can all be washed and therefore the bread bowl (yum) is not officially considered a type of soup bowl. Which I also don’t entirely understand.

Then there are bowls for miso soup and pho and all sorts of other things.

If I were you, I’d be very careful about answering soup bowl questions on Jeopardy!

Furthermore, this has nothing to do with the Orange Bowl and the Super Bowl. I’ll have to write another blog about the connection. Check back.

See what happens when you ask a question?

Love, Mom

Read More

Getting Back in the Game (Part I) | Super Bowl, College, and Life

Getting back in the game after a big mistake Part I DearKidLoveMom.comDear Kid,

On Facebook Sunday evening there was a photo of Peyton Manning with the caption, “Mom, can you please come get me?”

During the third quarter it really looked like the Broncos just wanted the game to be over. It was easy to imagine them praying for a snow catastrophe, hoping the field would open and swallow them all up, wishing for the electricity to go out—permanently. (There was a prop bet available on whether the electric would go out—not a smart bet to take since there was so much focus on it.)

Pi and I spent part of the weekend watching reruns of ANTM (America’s Next Top Model). Our favorite part is commenting on pretty much everything. What struck us, time and again, was how the mistakes and failures were more about what was between the model’s ears than anything else.

It seems that much of what happened to the Broncos was between their collective ears as well.

(One could comment that many models don’t have much between the ears. One could similarly speculate about the majority of football players. However, one would also need to acknowledge that professionals are generally pretty good at their game even if they can’t figure out how to turn on the kitchen light.)

It is so easy to lose focus. Whether you’re competing in the Super Bowl, vying for a spot in the finals as a model, barreling down a snowy slope at 6 zillion miles an hour (yes, the Olympics are almost here!), or trying to study for a biology quiz, it is easy to get distracted. And that distraction, even for a mere fraction of a second can have a cascading effect.

In some ways it’s hard to believe that the safety at the beginning of the game (oh, dreidel, dreidel, dreidel) threw the Broncos so completely that they checked out of the game a mere 15 seconds into the first quarter. They’ve come back from behind plenty of times. They’re professionals. It was the Super Bowl after all! You don’t just zone out.

But if you were watching the game it certainly seemed like that’s what happened. Either that, or they got sprinkled with a big dose of Can’t Do It Dust during the coin toss.

Whatever it was, they couldn’t escape the force field that was dragging them down.

Perhaps, as my friend Cheryl said when she suggested this post, they didn’t have a good enough recovery plan.

I leave it to the football experts, sports psychologists, and Monday morning quarterbacks to solve the problem of how to rope up the Broncos and fix whatever was wrong.

But what about the rest of us? How do we get back in the game after a disappointing result on an exam? How do we recover if we’ve gotten behind on studying? How do we get it back together when it feels like there is a really big hole to climb out of (and it would be so much easier to turn on reruns of How I Met Your Mother)?

I’ll have some thoughts tomorrow on 5 Ideas for Getting Back in the Game, but what are your ideas for getting back in the game?

Love, Mom

Still haven’t Liked DearKidLoveMom on Facebook? Seriously? What are you waiting for?

Read More

Super Bowl Summary and Analysis You Won’t Read Anywhere Else

Super Bowl Commentary You Won't Find Anywhere Else DearKidLoveMom.comDear Kid,

Last night was the Super Bowl.

As I predicted, many potato chips were consumed, many commercials were shown, and the Vince Lombardi Trophy went to Seahawks in a largely uncontested battle blowout.

RECAP

PreGame

Queen Latifah sang. A horse ran on the field. There were fireworks.

Renee Fleming sang (fab outfit) with a flyover. (In case you’re curious, it ran 1:53, easily under the 2:25 prop bet line.)

Denver had a lot more captains than Seattle making for very uneven handshakes. Joe Namath tried to mess things up by tossing the coin too early. I’m pretty sure his fur coat got to him. Seattle won the toss with tails (you should have listened to me).

First Quarter

The Seahawks kicked off and there was a big pile up of players short of the fifteen. Less than 15 seconds into the game, there is a SAFETY! I love safeties. Positively my favorite signal. (Makes the referees look like striped dreidels.)

After a bunch of plays, the 26 yard field goal attempt gets a penalty and becomes a 31 yard attempt which is no problem at all for Hauschka.

After a bunch of plays where it wasn’t clear anyone really wanted to play offense, Seattle settled for another field goal, proving that you can do it the hard way.

Best play so far: Hauschka’s kickoff hits the cross bar. Love it.

First quarter thoughts on commercials. Meh. But I did like the cow commercial and the Cheerios commercial. Ellen DeGeneres was ok, but more because she’s adorable than because I liked the commercial.

Second Quarter

The second quarter began with a couple of awesome commercials. There was a cancer survivor one by a car company, and a great GoDaddy one in which Gwen, the puppet maker, quit her job on national TV.

Seattle decided it might be nice to score in a more traditional way, so they scored a TD. PAT np. 15-0.

Did I mention that the Broncos hadn’t even managed a first down? Apparently someone clued Denver in about that so they decided to get one. And then a couple more. Which proved to be of interest to no one except the statisticians since Seattle intercepted the ball and ran it back for a TD. (And the announcers agree with Dad about why it happened was so there was peace in the world for a moment.) PAT no biggie. 22-0.

Love, love, love the Colbert commercial for pistachios. Best dressed eagle ever. And a great Muppet commercial for a car. So far, the animals and the puppets are winning the commercial wars.

Second quarter ends. I’m glad I’m not in the Denver locker room during half time.

Halftime happens.

The rain begins. Or it might be the Bronco fans crying.

A thought: the Broncos should have asked Bruno Mars to come in to give them some footwork lessons.

The commentators didn’t have much football to talk about so they gave a thorough analysis of the halftime show.

THE SECOND HALF

Third Quarter

The third quarter didn’t start any better for the Broncos. Harvin takes the kickoff all the way back for a TD. And the dude had hip surgery in August. I am in awe.

I admit, I really like the doberhuahua commercial. Dad likes the Tebow no contract commercials. Social media peeps think it’s cool that Tebow has taken the fact that he doesn’t have a contract and turned it into a big asset. Must agree. We also like the Axe Make Love Not War commercial.

Thinking about leaving early to beat the traffic. Oh, wait. We’re not actually at the game.

Nice Bruce Willis commercial about Hugs being better than blowing things up. Very nice Budweiser commercial about soldiers coming home. Don’t know what it has to do with beer, but nice commercial.

Seattle. Touchdown of the Amazing variety. 36-0.

Dumb commercial line of the night: Is there anything more American than America? Bob Dylan ought to be ashamed of himself. (“Auto” be ashamed?)

Is it me or is this a Very Long Third Quarter?

And with 2 seconds left in the quarter, the Broncos score. Yawn. 36-8

Fourth Quarter

Little dude from Seattle catches ball for TD. 43-8. I’m running out of fingers and toes.

Hauschka takes very interesting steps for a kickoff. Just thought I’d mention it. Don’t have that much else to talk about, y’know?

Love the Jaguar commercial with the British villains. Thumbs down for the Oikos commercial that is only barely saved from true tackiness by the arrival of the rest of the Full House gang.

Extra points if you recognized the music in the fourth quarter TMobile commercial.

It is not a close game when you can play the 12th string in the Super Bowl. And the commentators sound bored. You get the feeling the Broncos just want this to be over.

Best Buds commercial for Budweiser with the puppy and Clydesdales—awesome.

The Gatorade was orange. And a double dunk in case you’re keeping track of these things.

SUMMARY

  • Having extra captains doesn’t necessarily help.
  • Having a great outfit for the National Anthem does.
  • Malcolm Smith won the MVP award. Love that no one saw that coming.
  • Denver must have thought all those Xs and Os were hugs and kisses rather than people to tackle. I’d blame it on the Axe Make Love Not War commercial except that didn’t air until the second half.
  • There is no good time for a potty break during the Super Bowl. They should really run dead air for a few minutes somewhere in there.
  • There was a lot of love and kindness in the commercials. Not sure what that means…

Love, Mom

The music in the TMobile commercial was from Disney’s Robin Hood. The animated one. Best Robin Hood Ever. Seriously. Ever.

Read More

Subscribe

Can't remember to check for new posts? No prob. I'll send it to you.

Online Marketing

Blogging Fusion Blog Directory

Blogarama - The Blog Directory

Blog Directory
%d bloggers like this: