I can't believe the Patriots won tonight

I'm totally in shock. Our dearest New England Patriots somehow managed to win tonight against an incredibly powerful San Diego team. Everyone, including us and all the guys on Countdown, thought San Diego would win and somehow the Patriots pulled it out. Tom Brady is the Platonic ideal of a quarterback.

I know that reading about football is really boring if you're not into it. I feel the same way about hockey (yup, I said it). Hearing someone talk about a sport you're not interested in is like hearing people recap a soap opera you don't watch. So, I'll keep it short, but let me tell you that I am the most surprised of anyone at my being a football fan. I didn't even know the rules 5 years ago. One day, we went over to our friends' to watch a game and they told me that all you need to know is that they get four chances (aka downs) to advance 10 yards. So, once I got attached to the New England Patriots (and no, we're not bandwagon jumpers because Darcy and Jeff have been fans ever since the Pats were the worst team in the league and nicknamed 'The Patsies'), I became so invested in football. It really means a lot to me. Leading up to the Superbowl in 2005, I couldn't concentrate on anything else and after they won, I kept replaying the game in my mind and missing my stop on the subway. It was like being in love.

I remember Noam Chomsky saying that organized sport is a way of distracting the masses with something of absolutely no importance. I thought that was hilarious because it's true. When you go to an NFL game you see how invested people are in it -- and I'm one of them! I don't know why, but I really enjoy it. I'm as surprised as you are.

We watched the game over at Jeff and Trina's in the Junction. The walk to their place was so much fun because the shortest route involved walking on a path through a field and cutting through a hole in a chainlink fence. I felt like a kid again. At the base of a pedestrian overpass that we had to take, there was some really cool graffiti.

Trina made some wonderful grainy bread that we ate with two different soups: beet-coconut and butternut squash-cumin. Who said you have to have junk food with football? All of it was so good and the recipes are in this book called 'Entertaining Vegetarians'. I brought some biscuits that I was testing out for the potluck at work on the 25th and let's just say that it's a good thing I tried them out first. They were kind of flat, salty, and dense. I'm going to try again next weekend with actual buttermilk instead of skim milk and half shortening instead of all butter. Darcy makes them so well, but he's busy the day of the potluck so he can't make them for me. Poo.

So, the AFC Championship Game is next Sunday, January 21st at 6:30PM. I'll bore you with the details then. :)