Super Bowl 50, Me, Dylan Thomas and John Elway

I have always loved the opening paragraph of Dylan Thomas's "A Child's Christmas in Wales". It goes a bit like this: 'One Christmas was so much like another.....that I can never remember whether it snowed for six days and six nights when I was twelve or whether it snowed for twelve days and twelve nights when I was six.' I certainly can't compete with his poetic prose, but my feelings about Super Bowl nights are rather similar. No snow this year, unless it's in Denver, but all the memories run down the years until I find it difficult to separate one from the other. Though a long-time follower of NFL, the stats still elude me, but some things I remember well - the early battles over 'school in the morning', JRTs wearing Dallas Cowboys regalia and barking at the telly, watching in a lads' house in North London, pizza on our knees. And the year when I played hookie myself by persuading a colleague to cover for me at work the following day until I surfaced around midday.
I confess I was rooting for the Broncos last night. Opinion seemed to favour Cam Newton, already declared MVP 2015, over Peyton Manning to lead his team to victory, but I went with vintage. And the Carolina Panthers - aren't they one of those new expansion teams? A few old-timers from the Hall of Fame limped into view at the SF arena. Great to see the likes of Troy Aikman and Emmitt Smith again, and then the appearance of John Elway led me to think how technology had moved on during my watching years and to indulge in another little spot of nostalgia.  No longer needing to rely on the cat's whisker to bring me the score, last night I sat in comfort watching a fair-sized colour TV with my ipad to hand to follow tweets and live text. But this is what I 'penned' on a word-processor back in '98:

'SUPERBOWL XXXII  Never has a Super Bowl been more aptly named. It had everything a  football fan could have wished for including suspense to the very end. Who could not have rejoiced with John Elway? It was his Super Bowl and a fitting culmination to a sparkling and dedicated career. He is reported to have wept with disappointment after his last Super Bowl defeat. This time the tears were tears of joy. There must have been many moist eyes, too, amongst fans who had shared the frustration and now shared the delight.'

I think Cam Newton wept last night. Plenty of time for him to achieve his moment of glory. No tears for John Elway this time and Peyton's family looked pretty stoical too. Possibly the end of an era for the Mannings and maybe time for them to look to the next generation for their NFL thrills.

---