Lou Pickney's Online Commentary
Colts Win! Colts Win!
Monday
February 5, 2007
Wow, what a weekend. Velvet came to visit, the Colts won the Super Bowl, and I am a happy man.
With the exception of a trip passing through here a few years ago, Velvet had never been to Birmingham before. I've known Velvet since I met her at a Halloween party in Huntington, WV in October 2000. She's one of those rare people who I can talk with and not have to dumb down my vocabulary or stifle my articulation one iota to communicate with effectively. We are very compatible in many ways, and spending time with her is great fun.
Velvet knows some obscure scientific facts and has a depth of knowledge about books that blows me away. If I ever make it on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire (and I've come close before), she's a lock for being on my Phone-a-Friend list. By spending time with her I not only have fun, I actually learn things from time to time.
Velvet has me by nine points on IQ (144 to my 135), but to be clear it's not like we sit and have long discussions about strictly high-end intellectual things. We can talk music or movies or pop culture and have a good time. A real real good time.
Her visit provided me with the needed push to go out and see some of the unique cultural offerings that are available in Birmingham. Friday night was Alabaster night: dinner at Ruby Tuesday, then a trip to the book store. I ended up purchasing several books by several authors that I'm mostly unfamiliar with, but they came with strong recommendation.
On Saturday we went to the Birmingham Botanical Gardens and saw the Japanese Gardens section. If my sister Mary Beth makes it back down here before I move, I'm going to take her through that area. Even in the cold of February, they had some plants that were not only surviving, but actually thriving.
Granted, when I think of Botanical Gardens, the first things that pops into my head is the Home Improvement episode of Beavis & Butt-head from 1993. But it was very interesting to see all sorts of non-indigenous plants being maintained there.
|  | Vulcan overlooks Birmingham.
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That evening we went up Red Mountain to check out Vulcan Park and the huge statue of Vulcan that you can see from I-65 South. You get a tremendous view of the city from up there, and it was well worth the effort of driving around trying to figure out which roads lead up through the hills.
Yesterday, before the Super Bowl, we went to the Birmingham Museum of Art and spent hours looking at artifacts and artwork from all around the world. Paintings are usually my primary area of interest in art, but it was still fascinating to see various non-painting works of art that had survived in many cases for hundreds and hundreds of years.
That lead up to me having my time to watch the Super Bowl. As a fan of the Colts dating back to 1987 (when I was 10), it was wonderful to see them play in their first Super Bowl in my lifetime. We had pizza and breadsticks from Little Caesar's, wine that Velvet picked out at the grocery store the night before, and a little bit of hard liquor. I yelled at the TV, cheered wildly, and generally acted the fool. Velvet is apathetic about sports, but she put up with my stereotypical male behavior without complaint.
It didn't start off particularly smooth, though. When Devin Hester took back the opening kickoff for a Bears TD, I shouted and said some bad words. Then we couldn't find the corkscrew to open the wine, this after I had assured Velvet the night before that I did in fact have one. And I know I did somewhere... but apparently Robert Goulet hid it while I was napping. So Velvet went to the store (without whining or bitching about it at all) to get another one, allowing me to further yell and scream and cheer at the television.
Velvet made it back before the end of the first quarter. And then, finally, with a glass of wine (or two) in me, I calmed down a bit and settled into watching the game without acting too terribly obnoxious. The Colts rallied from a 14-6 deficit, taking control with a mix of short passes and well-blocked runs. Backup CB Kelvin Hayden intercepted a Sex Cannon Rex Grossman pass and took it back for a defensive touchdown in the fourth quarter to seal it, and the Colts won 29-17.
The following demons were slayed during this Indianapolis Colts post-season run:
-King Asshole Bill Belichick
-Tom Brady
-The New England Patriots
-The city of Baltimore (let go, it's over -- the Colts left in 1984, and you have your own stolen team now)
-The concept that dome teams can't win Super Bowls
-Every hack sportswriter and commentator who, like sheep, followed the line of thinking that Peyton Manning and Tony Dungy "couldn't win the big one"
-Bill Simmons (a great writer who, unfortunately, seems to hate every pro sports team that I like)
|  | Kevin Hayden's interception sealed the Colts' win.
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The Colts are the Super Bowl Champs, Manning has his ring, and all the haters and doubters can stick it. Knowing that the tired, hackneyed storyline of "Can Manning win the big game?" is over is very refreshing.
As I laid in bed next to Velvet (who was already asleep) last night, basking in the afterglow of this whole crazy fun weekend, it seemed hard to fathom that everything had turned out so well. The team I wanted to win won the big game; the girl I like spending time with came to visit and things went great (unlike the last time a girl from my past with a high IQ flew into Birmingham to visit me); the pizza was hot and the wine was chilled. Things worked out exactly how I wanted.
Of course, it was back to the real world today. Despite waking up at 5 AM, the long kiss goodbye took awhile, and I barely got Velvet to the airport by 7 (for a 7:40 AM flight.) I made it to work right on time (it's a bit of a drive from BHM to Alabaster, but I made it), though I wasn't exactly well-rested and my body was sore, albeit in a good way.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some reading to do.
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