State of the Union...

The annual State of the Union, a speech given by the President of the United States to a joint session of the Congress, was this past Tuesday night, two nights after the Super Bowl. Depending on whom you ask, the Super Bowl was either a great defensive battle between two scrappy, well-coached teams, or a total bust, overshadowed by the commercials. Pretty much the same goes for the State of the Union, although there were no commercials. The live audiences of both events, as captured by the roving eye of the TV cameras, were similarly either bored to tears or enthusiastically cheering, depending on whom you were rooting for. Some of the audience was all dressed out in their team colors. The same was true of the Super Bowl crowd. Aging heroes were featured in the vignettes and tributes given by the president during the speech, and that was true at the Super Bowl, too, as 42-year-old Tom Brady, New England's quarterback, was older than the Los Angeles Rams' coach.

Both "quarterbacks" (Trump and Brady) are either loved or despised. There seems to be little middle-ground. Brady is good at calling plays; Trump is singled out for his "tweeting" and use of social media. Trump was flanked by Vice President Pence, while Brady had Julian Edelman. I think Edelman had the better game than Pence, who seemed to be more the benchwarmer during Trump's playmaking. The president held the stage for almost an hour and a half, which seemed like a long time, even if you liked what he had to say. The Super Bowl's first half was an hour and a half, and that seemed like an eternity, with the score at 3-0, Patriots. Even Trump racked up more points than that, especially when he highlighted the number of new women in the House of Representatives. Of course, some say he's the reason most of them are there.

One big difference between the two games was the announcers. Super Bowl fans were limited to one network and Jim Nance and Tony Romo. They did a good job, but Romo is becoming the shining star "color" announcer, as his playing experience often allows him to know what the team with the ball is going to do next, and people seem to like this. State of the Union viewers had their choice of channels and media upon which to watch the speech, and one could choose between the "home" announcers (Fox) or the "Away" team (MSNBC). Since my TV overheats if I tune it to Fox, I watched MSNBC, as I find Chris Matthews entertaining. Like Romo, he seems to know what's coming next, and is capable of comparing every political play to his days with Tip O'Neil. I like Chris and his candidness, but he reminds me a bit of football announcer John Madden, who was around so long that most of the people in his flashbacks are dead. Kind of like Tip O'Neil and Ronald Reagan, 'ey, Chris? Oh, and while the pundits used a few instant replays of the speech, these are no where near as stirring as the slo-mo's employed by the sports people, excluding the entire first half of the Super Bowl, which itself seemed to be in slow motion.

There will be talk among the football owners about how to punch up the Super Bowl, as its viewership slipped "bigly" this year. I wonder how we could punch up the State of the Union? How about this: every fifteen minutes, ring a bell, and everybody has to change seats, and it can't be with someone sitting on either side of you. That might be good. It was a little more fun this year seeing all of the female representatives sitting together and wearing white, while the more conservative males all sat together and were...were just white. That wasn't so much fun. During the Super Bowl, a crazy fan ran onto the field, and the game was delayed while they rounded him up. This might be a good caper during the State of the Union--a streaker, maybe? Talk about punching things up...

My favorite commercial during the Super Bowl was the 100th year of the NFL one with 55 different current and former great football stars featured, including our own Franco Harris snagging a deflected Terry Bradshaw pass from atop his wingtips. "Stillers fans" went wild from Westview to "Sliberty." That's what the State of the Union needs next year--a highlight reel of some of the great speech-makers in the presidency and from the floors of the Congress! That could be the lead-up to the Sergeant at Arms of the House of Representatives' yelling, "Mr. Speaker, the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES!"

Finally, some eschewed the Super Bowl for the Puppy Bowl, while others blew off the State of the Union for the Democratic Response, given by Stacey Abrams, citizen. I was jazzed up by her opening line wherein she said her parents were both United Methodist ministers. Talk about full disclosure! She kept her speech short, with no fumbles and no trick plays. And she is only a couple of years older than Tom Brady. I'll bet she'll play longer, though.

So, I can't wait for next year's dynamic pairing of the State of the Union and the Super Bowl, can you? Join us here for coverage. And now a word from our sponsor...