Super Bowl, long labor

This weekend, we had a few friends from our neighborhood over to watch the Super Bowl. With me currently having the big plasma TV among my circle of friends, it's something I'm obligated as a man to do as a labor of love. Speaking of labor...

Things took a little twist in the party plans when one of Natasha's doula clients went into labor right around kickoff. So she left to go be at the hospital with her client and I had to go between hosting the party, watching the game, and checking on my kids (what are they screaming about NOW? ... can't they see I'm watching football!?). So I didn't really see quite as many plays or commercials as I would have liked, but I caught most of the important ones, including the unbelieveable 100-yard pick-6 that ended the first half. See my favorite column Tuesday Morning Quarterback's Super Bowl analysis here.

We were all pulling for underdog Arizona to win, so we were all very excited when Larry Fitzgerald scored the go-ahead touchdown to bring the Cards back from 20-7 down to lead 23-20. But then we saw that there was about 2:30 left on the clock. Pittsburgh's o-line started playing better, Arizona's d-backs stopped covering Santonio Holmes very well, and a few plays later, Pittsburgh scored on a somewhat decent catch in the corner of the end zone by Holmes.

Photo by Scott Boehm, Getty Images

So although we didn't like the outcome, it was cool that it was a great / exciting game. We also had some great stuffed jalapenos (Jackson and Hart variations), chili (Natasha), smoked pork ribs (Vic), and sugar cookies (Sarah). Originally I thought about 15+ people were coming and we made enough food for that number, so with fewer people we ended up with several pounds of chili left over ... guess what I'm eating this week?

Natasha's client, a first-time mother, ended up in labor for over 24 hours, and Natasha didn't get home until almost midnight Monday night / Tuesday morning. This was by far her longest labor, and I was a little worried about her driving home from across town late at night after being awake for over 36 hours straight. But she finally made it home safe, and I'm expecting a glowing recommendation from these clients!

Jackson Meat Party, Steelers-Ravens

My friends Wes/Corey Jackson threw a party Sunday night to bid farewell to Corey having any free time to throw parties, as she's starting back to school spring semester soon. She blogs about her experiences as an older student (older than typical college-age students, anyway) here. Also, they had lots of meat (steaks!) on hand, so they decided to have a little steak-inventory-reducing party for the Kyle folks in the band. Hey, Jackson Meat Party -- that's not a bad band name! It also sounds like a political 3rd party I could get behind.

So we had some steaks, potatoes, and some bacon-wrapped-stuffed jalapenos, red wine, and Dos Equis. We alternated between watching the Pittsburgh Steelers vs Baltimore Ravens in the AFC championship game and a Delirious concert DVD (Live at Willow Creek). See below for one of the better songs from that concert that our band wants to learn, Miracle Maker (great guitar solo):



We had a great time, although I was a bit concerned that I'd just watched someone die on TV near the end of the Steelers/Ravens game. Video highlights here. Down 24-13 near the end of the game, Ravens QB Joe Flacco threw a short pass over the middle to running back Willis McGahee, who was leveled by Steelers safety Ryan Clark on a vicious helmet-to-helmet hit. McGahee was knocked out cold and dropped the ball, basically ending the game when the Steelers recovered. He was carted off the field in full neck brace. I thought the guy was dead when I saw the hit. Fortunately he is expected to recover fully and have no lasting damage. It certainly makes me rethink whether I'll let Daniel play football, though -- jeez.

And so the Steelers will play the, let me see if I have this right, the ARIZONA CARDINALS in the Super Bowl? The same Cardinals who finished the regular season 8-8 and were being called one of the "worst teams ever to make the playoffs"? The same Cardinals who lost to the Philadelphia Eagles by over 30 points near the end of the regular season beat the same Eagles in the NFC championship game? Yep. It is seeming more and more like the regular season W-L record doesn't matter in determining who will win the championship. As long as your team makes the playoffs, they have a legitimate shot to win it all, esp if all the key players are healthy.