XVIX

Checking back in after 6 consecutive at Lompoc.

Got today and tomorrow off. I can breathe. I can live.

Guess I am kind of coming down from THE PATS victory, but not really. It lurks in my genes and cells and nerve endings, travelling ferociously through brain synapses to settle in quite comfortably in my nucleus accumbens.

Yeah, I admit I just looked that one up. I wanted to make a dopamine reference and inadvertently stumbled upon the nucleus accumbens.

From helpguide.org - "Understanding Addiction" - "Dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens is so consistently tied to pleasure that neuroscientists refer to the region as the brain's pleasure center."

I could have just said that THE PATS' FOURTH Super Bowl win brings me pleasure, but I am struggling to expand my mind and increase its flexibility even as I slide inexorably towards senility.

This is what happens when I don't write for a week.

It has been an odd arc of emotion since THE PATS ripped the heart out of the seahawks. On Monday I was tired at work and surrounded by women, so conversation did not focus on football. A couple of obligatory comments.

I was deflated.

In the other liquor store I once worked in, sports was a major topic. Lots of ball busting, statistic quoting, predictions, conversation, debate and...........laughter.

Of course we - the heart and soul of the store - were five guys in the same relative age range with similar interests and experiences.

Change, baby. The only thing you can count on. And it doesn't always deliver you to a better place.

The odd arc continued on Tuesday night when I was home alone and watched a replay of Super Bowl XVIX. The entire thing. The only stuff cut out was some random commentary and between play delays.

It even included the half time show, which I don't understand. Anybody watching a replay of that game doesn't give a damn about the half time show.

I didn't. I skipped right through it.

The catch is that I never tape sporting events. If I can't watch it live I don't want to see it. Not interested. It's just who I am.

But I noticed before we left for Keith's house on Super Bowl Sunday that the NFL Network was running a replay of the game from 2:00 a.m. to 5:30 a.m..

I taped it. Glad I did.

I watched it on Tuesday night like I was watching a movie. Being along I could focus in on specific details and pay more attention to commentary and analysis.

And of course knowing the outcome made the start of the 4th quarter, when THE PATS were down 24-14, quite delicious.

When I was done I deleted the game. Seemed like a bold and decisive move.

It wasn't. They re-ran the thing later in the week. I hesitated about taping it. Suddenly, as the night progressed and Carol and I watched other stuff. I switched over and started taping the game. Again.

Caught half time. Again. When I changed stations Katy Perry was just riding out on her gold, life-like lion. I couldn't believe it.

So I have the second half of the game saved. I already watched the 3rd quarter again. Looking forward to the fourth soon.

I spent the week listening to sports talk radio. Heard the replay of Malcolm Butler's interception 4 million times. Got goosebumps every time.

98.5's station ID says "The flagship station of the four time Super Bowl champion NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS."

I heard that 4 million times too and got goosebumps every time.

I vacillated all week between a strange kind of calm to almost uncontrollable excitement.

It's cool. It feels good. I feel like I have absorbed this championship into my DNA.

No more football for a while. I will adjust.

Lots of good stuff to come.