Ugh! More Football

Last night's game would have been a complete waste of time were it not for the pizza (and taking frequent breaks from the lousy game to build things out of blocks with Amalia). I am not really a NY Giants fan (give me the Jets any day), but I am definitely an anti-Tampa Bay fan, and would even root for the 49ers to beat them (even if they brought back Mariucci and Young).

Now, before I get hate email from the Tampa Bay Chamber of Commerce, you must understand that it is simply out of a grudge for Coach Chucky (Gruden), who abandoned us to go there that I want to see the Bucs lose every single game that they suit up for.

One of the worthwhile moments of the game was the one moment of Giants brilliance, not just to watch the play, but to watch Chucky's rather psychotic look as he watched it. Other than that, the Giants had their head served to them on a platter, and deserved every bit of it, especially since the Bucs were not and have not been playing well at all.

I like football for the two and a half months a year that I follow it. I would probably like basketball if I reduced its season to a couple of months. The only sport worth a longer season is baseball.

Why can't they just be lousy and let me continue to sneer at them?

It is hard to be angry at a team that plays as beautifully as the 49ers did tonight, which of course makes me all the angrier at them.

You see, a while back I was miffed at them for their stupid personnel decisions, centered mostly around the then over-the-hill Steve Young (a player I never liked, even when he was good). I was completely fed up with the owners, with Coach Mariucci, and with Young’s refusal to retire with some shred of dignity, so I decided to put my long-standing loyalty to the team on hiatus.

I gave them five years probation, which they could shorten by a year if Young finally gave up and another year if they replaced the coach. Well, they did and did, and that leaves this year as the final year of my 49ers dislike. So, now I can watch them again, so that when I am back in the fold next year, I know where their strengths and weaknesses lie.

Since I have been in Sacramento on most Mondays this last year, I have not been watching much football, since my rule is that I will not watch football when we have summer weather, and I strictly limit my weekend football time, because otherwise one can spend way too much time glued to the TV, drinking beer, eating pizza, and otherwise degenerating.

Since we are going to leave for the Napa Valley for a couple of days tomorrow, I had the rare opportunity of watching Monday Night Football. We ordered a pizza, got a six-pack of Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale (yum!), and watched some magnificent football.

Besides the great playing on the field (almost enough to make me think that Owens is not such a bad apple after all), the team retired Lott’s number. Seeing Bill Walsh, Joe Montana, and all the other greats of the team’s history on the field honoring a legend, seeing this promising young quarterback show that he is made of the stuff that made the Niners great, well, it was very difficult to root for the Steelers, a team I have never really liked.

So, I guess I might have to reconsider my 49er hiatus.

Anyway, the next two days will be foodie days as part of the belated celebration of our seventh anniversary (the date was actually October 26th, but finding a time my parents could watch Amália, and that we were free of other obligations has put us a few weeks behind). We will have lunch with my parents and Amália at Mustard’s, then a dinner alone at Tra Vigne and then Wednesday will, weather permitting, find us in a hot air balloon, seeing the fall colors of the Napa Valley from above.

Since Napa is out of the market area for all of our newspapers, I will be doing the rare thing of eating really good food and not having to take notes (yippee!). I will report on any great culinary discoveries on this here blog, though. While I have eaten at restaurants related to Mustards, I have never eaten there, and I have so far not had a chance to eat at Tra Vigne, although I have their excellent cookbook and have been a long admirer of Michael Chiarello (he has since left Tra Vigne, but reports of the post Chiarello restaurant remain favorable).

So, with that, please understand my absence for the next two days.