Which Came First?

I know, the Superbowl is very old news, SO over with, but something is still on my mind.


My husband, the Center of the Universe, better known as CoTU, is not a big sports fan. This is fine with me. In fact I consider it a real asset on the balance sheet we all make mentally about the men we date. The fact that I would not have to cede him to the golf course eight months a year, or the ball fields six months a year, or the couch for hockey 11 ½ months a year was a big plus for him. I didn’t search the world over for the big lug just to fold my arms across my chest and tap my toe while he watched ESPN as its own marathon sport. But I digress…

So despite the fact that neither of us likes to watch football on t.v., we like to be a part of the American culture. We want the hometown team to win, but it’s the Rams, so that hasn’t happened in years. I root for my college alma mater (GO MIZZOU!) and my kids’ too.

But what really matters is staying informed, so of course we have to make sure to see the Superbowl. But only for the commercials.

Years ago this was impractical unless we went to a Superbowl party, where our attention was drawn to the television by the alternating din and hush of the crowd in the house. Now, thanks to the miracles of modern technology, we can just turn the t.v. on, and use Tivo to hold the game for 30 minutes at a time.

We come in, fast forward through the actual game till we see a commercial, watch the commercial, and repeat. When we’re all caught up, we put it on hold again, and scurry off to do whatever incredibly important tasks we’re all about here at the Casa Rubin and Friends. Like maybe sorting our socks.

Anyhoo, it’s all very disorienting, because the whole point of Tivo as we see it, is that it lets us watch t.v. without watching all the commercials, so this was like the photographic negative of regular viewing. Which just goes to prove that if God wanted us to watch football on t.v. He would have made it at least a borderline interesting game, which it is not. (IMHO, people, don’t yell at me.)

So here’s my point. Hey—settle down—it didn’t take THAT long to get here! There were some great ads—there always are. We got a huge charge out of some of them, like the Snickers ad with Betty White and Abe Vigoda, and the E-Trade talking babies ads. But CoTU got all worked up about the Denny’s ads. The ones with the chickens going nuts because Denny’s was giving everyone a free Grand Slam breakfast on February 9th, and the chickens were overworked. They were pretty creative and original, and I liked them, too.

But CoTU got off on a tangent about how amazing it is that a chicken will lay an egg every day, and all other birds only lay eggs on some sort of weird calendar schedule. As in, the biological clock goes off seasonally and prompts the robin to lay two or three or five eggs in the nest. “But CHICKENS—hey, that is just incredible! Have you ever thought of that?”

No. I’m happy as can be sorry to say that I never have. But at least he didn’t ask me which came first—the chicken or the ad.