Giving credit where credit is due

Well, I really have to give it to those Giants. They really pulled it off, making the seemingly impossible possible. Instead of NPR on my alarm clock, I wake up to the BBC World Service in the morning. The past couple of weeks have been a doozy. Let's see, a week or two back around MLK, Jr. day, it was headlines about the market crash in Asia and Europe. Then it was the American market. Last week it was Heath Ledger's death. But, this morning it was news about the Giant's pulling off the biggest upset of all time. Man, the Giants made it on the BBC! This was news! And, finally something to get up for. I literally jumped out of bed and went to turn on CNN International. I just had to see footage. It was all the more fantastical since I made the fateful decision to turn the TV off at 3:45 or 3:50 am... I can't remember now. Only after the fact did I realize that I missed the most exciting part of the game. Boy, was I disappointed this morning, kicking myself in the butt - if I could! Cut me some slack though... I was watching in the wee hours of the morning, knowing I had bloodwork at 9 am and then a full day of work.

Sports are great. Granted, football is still a funny game to me with large burly men running around the field trying to sack a skinny guy with the ball, but a good game is simply a good game. There's something about these underdog stories that lifts the soul, puts a spring in our step. Because gosh darn it, if Eli Manning can do it, so can I! That's how I went to work this morning - don't know about you?!

So I watched a good chunk of game at work in our cafeteria. We actually watched it via the Armed Forces Network (AFN). Disappointingly there were no U.S. commercials; rather we sat through ads for the "Edelweis Ski Lodge" in Garmisch for U.S. service personnel and short celebrity athlete shout outs to the troops. Oh, and there were some weird ads for defense contractors and who knows what else. I've never quite been so inundated save for when I submitted to an army physical when I was considering becoming a cryptolinguist.

On a side note, I failed my army physical on account of taking acne medicine. In a strange way, I thank God for pimples - that decision was taken out of my hands. I must admit, however, that I scored 100% on the hearing test. I was flabbergasted when I came out of the sound-proof chamber and the doctor patted me on the back. All these years I complained to my mom that I just never heard her. She would accuse me of selective hearing and I would refute her based on my many hours and days logged in the highschool swimming pool. You know... chlorine gets to you. Well, that whole theory had the plug pulled.

I turned out to be one of the only girls at our Super Bowl event. There was Lucie from HR that dropped by with a few other Czech colleagues, but I lasted the majority of the game - minus the last 20 minutes or so. It was just fine. I need to thank my brother Mark for preparing me to handle the male world. I still vividly remember being roughed up on our basketball court by Mark. I told him to give me a break, but he refused and said it would do me well. And, he was right. But, I would be remiss if I did not tell you my male colleagues were perfect gentlemen. We just enjoyed the game, eating microwave popcorn bag after bag and topping off my tupperware-filled with brownies. Oh, and yes, there was Czech beer - naturally.

Since I missed the best part of last night's game and I need some more spring in my step tomorrow morning, I've got to end here and go watch a rebroadcast of the game on German TV.

Uncle Rahn, Tyler, Aunt Pat, Alexis - be proud of your Giants! I am!