There have been about a billion things I've wanted to post about here in the last month, but the realities of a full-time job and a full-time course load at school have made that impossible.  I have a bunch of posts stored up that I add to from time to time, but I'm not releasing anything until it's up to my standards.

So for now, I'll have to settle with a quick post about the Super Bowl.  I'm only a casual football fan, but for some reason the Super Bowl is one of the highlights of my year.  I go to a yearly party with my friends where about ten percent of us are interested in the game and the other ninety percent are interested in the commercials; even with me firmly in that ten percent I have a good time.

Of course, the problem with being only a casual fan is that I don't have the deeply entrenched web of loyalties of the hardcore fans - I don't care what school the quarterback is from, etc.  So when it comes time to pick who to root for, I fall back on softer, more casual criteria.  What cities do I like the best?  How have the teams been performing?  I will admit that I usually pick the AFC team over the NFC team, but that's only because AFC teams tend to be better.  I also tend to like rooting for teams from Southern cities, mostly because football games are about the only time I feel like displaying any southern pride.  All things considered, football is about the most integrated institution the south has to offer...

This year, I have to choose between the Colts, a team that has been genuinely good since I can remember, and the Saints, which was a questionable team at best five years ago, but which has recently become a force to be reckoned with.  As many journalists have noted, this upward streak has a parallel in the story of New Orleans itself, and the Saints are emblematic of the hopes and dreams of the entire city.

So tonight I'll be drinking plenty of alcohol and shouting "WHO DAT?" along with all of my fellow Saints fans, watching the Saints hopefully score a victory.  The halftime show is probably going to be yet another bastion of awfulness that we've come to expect since the FCC killed everything good about the Super Bowl halftime show in 2003.  The Tim Tebow ad is going to kill my buzz and make me want to drink more.  But I know that I am going to see a probably very epic game, and I may see a city's dream fulfilled.

And who could ask for more than that?