Superbowl LX: Two Teams No One Cares About

Hey sports fans.

If you're anything like me, you couldn't have cared less about this Superbowl. With the Detroit Lions fizzling out, like, halfway through the season, no one in this family was at all invested in who ended up in this bloated, over-hyped football game. Not that we're huge sports fans around there anyway, except for maybe Abby, who has recently gotten into hockey over the course of the last year or so.

No, the game itself wasn't anything we were looking forward to this evening, but our local group of friends gets into sports a great deal, so - like we've done the last several years (as you can see if you peruse the Archives section off to the right of this post) we turned the invite into a giant party. Ten families, tons of food, and a full-blown Squares Board (drawn up by Yours Truly) so folks could gamble and make the game somewhat more interesting.

In the end, even the game board couldn't make the game exciting to watch - it was probably the most boring game of Sportsball I've ever watched (and that's saying something.) That being said, it was a good time getting together with friends and gourging on awesome food. I'm always in the mood for that scene.

So here's this year's Superbowl shindig, this time around hosted by Steven and Alicia over at their house.

Enjoy. . .

Lon-Dog helps himself to the available spread.

Some of Danielle's pre-made, fried tacos and the legendary Griggin Guac.

Random sides (including that jalapeno cheese stuff Kris only makes for parties, and not for our regular consumption at home (because if she did we'd both weight over 200 lbs.)

Somebody's chicken skewers (I didn't ask who made them, but they were good.)

Mitch modified his usual bacon-wrapped jalapenos in favor for something lighter, while still maintaining the same taste. Still good, but a little messier to eat.

I brought along one of the limited edition stouts Kris put in my stocking this year (one of those 'limit one per customer' deals, and honestly she was lucky to score one in the first place.) It was beyond awesome, one of the best beers I've ever had.

Goose Island isn't one of my favorite breweries, but this bourbon barrel stout leaned hard into the bourbon taste. . . which is maybe why it was so damn good.

The Larsons (and other folks) settle in for four or five hours of spectacle.

The pre-game shenanigans kick off. . .

They set up an auxiliary TV in the kitchen so folks never risked missing a single minute of the game (which, while unnecessary, was considerate.)

Hosts in the kitchen.

Steven set up various trash and can receptacles in his laundry room. Dude had a system.

Green Day headlined the pre-game opening show. Not as political as I hoped for, but enough to ruffle some feathers, I'm sure.

The Real Housewives of Midland, left to right: Stephanie, Kris, Alicia, Lori, Mees, Danielle, Courtney, and Kelli.

Getting closer to the start of the actual game itself.

My kids were slow to arrive, as they had to wait for each other to finish getting ready ('cause every social outing might as well be the frickin' prom these days. . .)

Checking out some of Cory's side hustle betting - neither Kris or I had cash on us when we showed up, so we didn't participate, but wanted to check it out anyway (Kris took this 'cause I didn't have my reading glasses on hand in order to read the small print of the scoreboards, so she lent me hers.)

The game begins. . .

Kris grilling Abby about. . . something.

Lonnie and Collier take a break from the big screen in order to squeeze in some QT with some smaller screens.

Ella borrows Abby's phone to take a quick selfie with her dad.

The wives, not really watching football.

Abby's boyfriend, Logan, was along for the ride tonight.

(Kris took lots of pics of the kids throughout the evening.)

Constant grazing in the kitchen.

Bardens and Holtys.

Ella's not sure about her significant other.

Not sure who made these, but they were pretty awesome, too.

I had been sitting on the couch for the first half of the game, but felt isolated on that side of the room, so I moved to a more centralized location.

Bad Bunny, the polarizing minority none of our right-leaning friends were brave enough to vocalize displeasure with in public, performing during the Halftime Show.

Holty's dog attempts to make a new friend.

Lonnie checks on the board to see who's favored to win the next quarter.

Like I said earlier, this game was super boring - the only thing keeping it remotely interesting was the chance of somebody winning $150 at the end of each quarter.

At some point in time in the evening, this dog decided to start picking a fight with Mitch and I. . . who knows why.

Giving Mitch the business. 

I wasn't having it, though - I don't take shit from dogs smaller than mine.

Ella, keeping it classy.

Anyway, that's this year's Super Bowl post. Another solid party with a solid group of regulars. And I was smart enough this year to take the next day off of work (I scheduled a dentist appointment for the day after so I had a valid excuse - this ain't my first rodeo.)

- Brian