Patriots' Day -- Happy Marathon Monday

Happy Patriots' Day!

Since I don't know any Patriots, I'd like to also give a shout to what this holiday means to the New Englanders who are celebrating it. (Please note: I'm separating myself from the pack just a little bit here because where I grew up we didn't even get the day off school. And who wouldn't want another day off school?)

So for all the school-aged folks, bankers and business people:

Happy Day Off!

To those of you wondering why you're stuck in traffic or not able to cross the street downtown:

Happy Marathon Monday!

Or, to all my peeps back at BU (and my pals reliving that time in our lives):

Happy Marathon Drinking Day!


Oh, tradition...


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Catching Fire, Meeting Sasquotch and Other Sports-Related Exploits: Part 1

Part 1: Catching Fire: My Story of the AFC Championship Game

Alright, I'm giving into the requests; I'm going to tell you all how I actually caught myself on fire. I've mentioned the fact that I caught on fire at the AFC Championship game both on this blog and on Twitter. But I haven't shared the how part. So here's the long and short of it.

There were four of us cramped into my car from Newton to Foxboro--me behind the wheel, a middle-aged die hard Pats fan, my boyfriend (a die hard Pats fan just the same, but boyfriend is more interpersonally descriptive) and a mutual friend who was rooting for the other team (we tried not to hold it against him). It was freezing out, so aside from the four of us, there were multiple layers of clothing on all of us and spread around the car there were extra coats, sweaters, gloves and hats. In fact, the middle-aged die hard brought a full body suit to keep warm.

We got to Foxboro with about an hour's worth of time for tailgating. So after the car was parked, we made our way to the tent to get some grub. We passed patriotic and rental RVs, cooking fires and grills of all sizes, and lots of cheap beer, before finding the friends we were looking for.

The tent was full of people slowly moving in all directions to talk, stand by the propane space heaters or get at the food. But by the time we arrived at the tent the cooking was winding down. The chili was almost gone. And there was some chilled American chop suey--it wasn't supposed to be chilled, but when it's twelve degrees out, that happens.

I was leaning over a propane space heater to get at the more food.  But wearing the three layers of pants I had on to keep warm for the game, I couldn't tell I was too close to the space heater.   

From the other side of the tent, someone shouted, "she's on fire." 

That she was me... I was on fire. 

Of course it got put out; otherwise, I probably wouldn't be as jovial about the whole thing.  And the only thing damaged, aside from the pride of the retired firefighter who through wine on me to put the fire out, was my sweatpants and my partially melted fleece.  

Coming soon:
Meeting Sasquotch: My First Beanpot and Social Media
Watching the Super Bowl: Trial of Errors

And the Ads Weren't Even that Good!

What a supremely disappointing Super Bowl for Pats fants! Monday morning quarterbacking aside (i.e. woulda, coulda, shoulda done this), 18-1 is one of if not the most impressive seasons in professional football. To say it's all meaningless now is short-sighted folks--we've got ourselves a dynasty.

Normally, regardless of whether your favorite is winning or losing, the commercials are worth talking about. Perhaps I was spoiled with the amazing commercials of old--the Rold Gold sky diving ad, the original Budweiser frogs and the Apple computer launch spot. (Share your favorite Super Bowl commercials in the comments below.)

But this year, we had an always popular clydesdale ad, a talking baby by E*TRADE and way too many how-did-the-ad-execs-get-these-guys-to-spend-so-much-for-this-ad? ads. The only commercial the people I was watching the game with actually enjoyed was the thirty second Victoria Secret spot, proving for the umpteenth time that sex does sell.

With ads costing roughly $86,000 per second, why does the content still stink? Is content sacrificed for the actual cost of the placement?

Did you have an favorite ads you'd like to share? Please do, we can reminisce!