Super Birthday

I am celebrating my 24th birthday this weekend. In fact, it falls on the very same day the Seahawks and the Steelers will face off for what is possibly the most watched and well loved championship game in sports.

The moment I found out this bit of information about my birthday, I immediately began looking forward to it. For a lesser football fan it may not have had the same impact. I freely admit that the Super Bowl is my major NFL viewing during the course of the season but this year is a special one.

How many times in a life time does a birthday coincide with the Super Bowl, I ask you. I couldn't tell you and I don't think anyone could tell me either but in any case it is a momentous occasion.

Since my nearly weekly announcements of this milestone in my life, people have been asking me how I intend to spend that day. I can honestly answer that I'm not sure. I tried to beg, borrow and steal (metaphorically) my way into the Big Game in Detroit but since that is obviously not going to occur, I think I may spend it like I would any other football game — on the couch with a veritable smorgasbord of snacks laid out in front, beside and behind me.

Other options have occurred to me during my daydreams of birthday bliss but none have sounded half as appealing as watching the game as I normally would and savoring the knowledge that two things I enjoy equally happen to fall on the same day.

Friends have offered their couches and living rooms and kitchens. Family has offered dinner, dessert and sole ownership of the remote. I think, however, that I am leaning toward spending the day as I did last year, more or less on my own and enjoying the solitude, well, and the game.

It isn't that I don't enjoy the company during my tirades of yelling or the editorial moments when I begin to wax philosophical about the merits of zone defense and a nickel and dime offense. It's that more often than not I feel as though my presence is something better not inflicted upon other people during football games, particularly games as big as the Super Bowl.

In any case, I will be celebrating the Super Bowl and my birthday with equal relish; yelling at referees, munching on potato chips and possibly jumping up and down now and again.