Victory sometimes takes years to achieve. It took a long time to persuade some members of my congregation that the annual meeting doesn’t necessarily have to conflict with the Super Bowl. It did one year, when my Oakland Raiders beat Philadelphia. And that was during the times when video recorders sold for $600 and Tivo was several dreams away. Not only did our meeting take place on the same day as the big game, it was scheduled for the same hours as well.
“Don’t you see, Art, that we’re doing the work of the Lord? And besides, the Lord doesn’t care about a football game,” one member said. I concluded the Lord most certainly would be at the game, and our annual meeting in the future could and should be moved up or back a week.
My remark was that I’d phoned Paul Tagliabue, then-commissioner of football, to ask whether the date of the Super Bowl could be changed to accommodate my church’s schedule. I told members of my church, “Paul Tagliabue seems a lot more flexible than some of you.”
Had I really called the commissioner of football, would he have considered changing the date of the Super Bowl?
My pleading must have worked — not for the NFL commissioner but for the leadership of my church: This year there’s no conflict.
In my family, we’ll continue the tradition of having our assorted fanatics gathered around the TV set on Feb. 3.
Of the several families with a preference, only one, our son Ben, has been an unwavering fan of a team that made it to the championship game, the New York Giants. The rest of us root for, in no particular order, the Raiders, Seahawks, Panthers and Titans.
I must have done something wrong to get such a diverse group of favorite teams. All of them should be Raider fans, but they not. One bright aspect is that all of them love to hate the Cowboys. Must have done something right.
In this annual column on Super Bowl predictions, there appear an unusually high number of Dallas Cowboy fans, some of whom lament their team’s absence from Sunday’s game. And although their judgment may be clouded after years of supporting a garden-variety team whose quarterback prefers to party with Jessica Simpson, their predictions will nevertheless be included here, along with the more cogent prognostications of followers of other teams.
Those who expect the Pats to win outnumber the others 10 to 3.
Here’s an account of the predictions of several fans:
Abelino Duran, a retired construction worker, said, “Since my Broncos lost, I don’t care too much, but the Giants will win by a touchdown.”
Sigfredo Maestas, Luna Community College’s interim president, said, “Both of my teams (Green Bay and San Diego) lost last week, so I’ll probably just go to the movies that day.”
Stephen Garcia, a door greeter at Wal-Mart, who wears a Dallas Cowboy jacket to work, picks New England.
Brenda Miller, a registered nurse at Alta Vista Regional Hospital, picks the Patriots. “They deserve it after having a perfect season.” A Bronco fan, Miller predicts a six-point victory for New England.
Ernie Abreu, a retired school administrator, is a fan of the Green Bay Packers and the Broncos. He picks New England in a close one. “It’d be wishful thinking to believe the Giants have a chance,” Abreu said.
Robert Portillos of Springer, a former administrator at the New Mexico Boys School, predicts a 12-point Patriots victory. “New England simply has too many weapons,” Portillos said. Portillos generally root for teams in the National Football Conference. Portillos’ favorite team? Dallas.
Napoleon Lovato, formerly of Nevada, says the Giants will beat the spread of 12, and lose. And his brother Lalo Lovato, a retired chef who lives in Montezuma, is a Buffalo Bills fan who picks the Patriots “by at least 14 points. They’re a better team all the way around.”
Lisa Yescas, a front desk clerk at the Abe Montoya Recreation Center, responded with, “I don’t even know who’s playing.” Does she have a favorite? “No, but my boyfriend expects the Patriots to win and he’ll be watching the game.”
Lisa’s co-worker, George Cowden, who does maintenance at the center, is among the most brilliant fans, as he likes the Raiders. As for the Super Bowl, Cowden says the Patriots will win, “but it won’t be too bad a beating. He said he believes the Giants will lose “because they had a hard time getting there.”
Leroy Conway, a student teacher at Tony Serna Elementary, and a Cowboy fan, predicts “the Patriots all the way; they’re too strong for the Giants.”
Lynette Vincent, a physical therapist and New Orleans Saints fan, picks New York “in a close one, three to seven points. They have the drive and motivation.”
Michelle Martinez of Pino’s QuickLube picks the Patriots. “They have been my lucky team all season. l’ve won $300 so far. Michelle is a Seattle Seahawks fan.
Carla Cano, and employee of the Department of Health, in Santa Fe, expects the Giants to win in an upset, by 14 points. As reasonable as her prediction may seem, we need to remember that she is, after all, a Dallas Cowboys fan.
Cognizant of the fact that 13 out of every 10 people have trouble with statistics, I’ve devised a very complex and recondite formula that shows the Giants winning by a field goal and validates the predictions of Carla Cano, Lynette Vincent and Abelino Duran. Even Broadway Joe Namath, who guaranteed his New York Jets would beat the heavily favored Baltimore Colts, in 1969, predicteth and nameth the Giants as winners of Super Bowl XLII.
Scalpers, people who somehow acquire Super Bowl tickets and resell them at grossly inflated prices, are offering them for as high as $19,446, with the average price at $4,600.
For those of you — and that’s most of you — who expect a New England victory, remember, you read it here first: it’s not going to happen.
Some may wish they’d taken Sigfredo Maestas’ advice and taken in a movie instead.