The bitter sweet truth about Super Bowl Sunday. What a great game this year with the Steelers and the Packers. It certainly pencils out like a thriller and then….it’s all over until next year. I admit it; there is something about football on TV that is so cool and captivating, even if the game is a blow out. And the absolute truth is there is not anything I would prefer to watch more while exercising than football. It just makes the time pass so quickly….
So on a very personal note this Super Bowl Party I am having marks the 30th in a row for me. It all started my last year of dental school in San Francisco while I was in dental school, starting with what we all remember as the catch. Dwight Clark caught the ball I the back of the end zone from Joe Montana and sent the 49er’s to the SuperBowl and started their incredible dominance of the football scene.
Over the years I have had many different types of partied, including one at the beach (49er’s blew out Denver and everyone stayed on the beach for the second half) to a ski big Bear party (courtesy of Dana Hawthorne and his parent’s cabin) to the time I rented two 30 foot motor homes and we actually tailgated at the RoseBowl in Pasadena for 2 full days (once again Denver got beat up by Washington Redskins). We even had bicycles so we could ride around the VIP areas, even if we could not get in. I have never been around anything so rich in my life, what an experience that was.
And for this year’s Super Bowl there will be no tailgating at all. All the areas are for the corporate parties. Hope they have some good ones because the entire week before the Super Bowl the parties and events were almost non-existent as Dallas got a nasty little visit from Mother Nature.
So as I finish my homage to the Super Bowl I want to thank all of my friends who have watched the game with me over the years, from San Francisco, to my apartment in Los Angeles, to the condo on the Westside, all the away parties and now at my house in Valencia. And a special shout out to one Jaime Zuniga (who is Oscar to my Felix in the odd couple). Jaime has been to 27 straight parties (including after the earthquake that shut down the freeway) and this one makes 28.
Not to get lost in all of this is the concept of consistency. This is an important part of our life. I have read many times that it takes 21 days to create habit. What habits do you have that improve your health, make your day go smoother or enrich the lives of those around you?
And the great thing about these habits should be, if you forget once it’s no big deal, you just pick it up and get back on the saddle. As a dentist I cannot tell you how many times patients have told me they were brushing and flossing really well after their last hygiene appointment, but they went a few days without and just stopped doing it on any type of regular basis. Hey, last I checked we are all human and we are not perfect (I know I am far from it) so just get back to it. This goes for any type of commitments you have made in any aspect of your life. Please, it is too easy to quit, but if the commitment is something that is worthwhile (like brushing and flossing your teeth) just bounce back and do it.
Now take this round circle and back to the Super Bowl. At this point the teams know each other pretty well. They have been practicing all season long and everyone has each other’s game film. Who is going to win the game…whoever does what they have practiced better. Who do I want to win…it doesn’t matter because someone from the University of Southern California with really long hair is going to win. And I do root for the home town boys….