After my beloved Green Bay Packers fell out of the running for the Superbowl this year I can honestly say I lost interest in which teams are in it; but that won't keep me from watching the game on Sunday anyway. I have a special reason to watch this year.
I learned to love professional football at home. Every Sunday afternoon during football season the entire family, Mom, Dad and my two brothers and I would sit down to watch Bart Starr, Paul Hornung, Forrest Gregg, Jerry Kramer and Ray Nitschke win games. (If you don't know those names there could be a couple of reasons: 1) you haven't paid that much attention to the Packers or 2) you just aren't as old as I am.)
In fact for Superbowl II played in January 1968, my Dad bought a colour television so we could see the game in all its glory. I remember the Ice Bowl as it is lovingly referred to (the temperatures outside in Green Bay that Sunday were something like -15F or -21C sans the windchill and it was a windy day). The game has made its way into the history books because in the last few seconds Bart Starr ran a quarterback sneak through a huge hole provided by Jerry Kramer to make a touchdown on third and something. The final score was 21-17 Packers over the Dallas Cowboys and probably Illinois and Minnesota (the two landlocked neighboring states) could hear the collective Wisconsin cheers that went up when those final 6 points were scored. It was on that day back in 1968 I became committed to following the Packers no matter how good or bad they played and there were some pretty lean decades for them.
This year the Giants and the Patriots are playing in Superbowl XLVI in Indianapolis, Indiana (hard to believe 44 years have passed). As I said I could care less who wins this Superbowl, but I will be intently watching the game for blue and white scarves. The host city planning committee apparently stole an idea from the Special Olympics and put out a call for knitters and/or crocheters to make scarves for the approximate 8,000 people expected to volunteer throughout the event. As of this writing over 13,000 scarves have been made and they are still counting down until Sunday. Apparently others will also receive gift scarves as well.
To recognize the work of these crafters the city has commissioned an art project made with knitting needles. I have to say I'm not sure if the picture simply doesn't do it justice or if the piece leaves a bit to be desired, but this photo doesn't help explain what's going on. Apparently there are videos (you can see the hands) of people knitting among the needles. Perhaps one of my scouts in Indianapolis can check out the Arts Garden and tell me if the photo or the artwork itself is bad. But back to the scarves----
If you care to read more about the Super Scarves, check out this link; the video of Bev Meska, 82, explaining why she made 250 scarves is endearing. And if you click on the Faces of XLVI above her video you'll see 46 photos of people showing off their scarves.
So thanks Superbowl Planning Committee for giving me a good reason to watch the game. Generally on the years my Packers are out of the Superbowl I watch the advertisements, but this year I'll be looking for handmade scarves instead.
I learned to love professional football at home. Every Sunday afternoon during football season the entire family, Mom, Dad and my two brothers and I would sit down to watch Bart Starr, Paul Hornung, Forrest Gregg, Jerry Kramer and Ray Nitschke win games. (If you don't know those names there could be a couple of reasons: 1) you haven't paid that much attention to the Packers or 2) you just aren't as old as I am.)
In fact for Superbowl II played in January 1968, my Dad bought a colour television so we could see the game in all its glory. I remember the Ice Bowl as it is lovingly referred to (the temperatures outside in Green Bay that Sunday were something like -15F or -21C sans the windchill and it was a windy day). The game has made its way into the history books because in the last few seconds Bart Starr ran a quarterback sneak through a huge hole provided by Jerry Kramer to make a touchdown on third and something. The final score was 21-17 Packers over the Dallas Cowboys and probably Illinois and Minnesota (the two landlocked neighboring states) could hear the collective Wisconsin cheers that went up when those final 6 points were scored. It was on that day back in 1968 I became committed to following the Packers no matter how good or bad they played and there were some pretty lean decades for them.
This year the Giants and the Patriots are playing in Superbowl XLVI in Indianapolis, Indiana (hard to believe 44 years have passed). As I said I could care less who wins this Superbowl, but I will be intently watching the game for blue and white scarves. The host city planning committee apparently stole an idea from the Special Olympics and put out a call for knitters and/or crocheters to make scarves for the approximate 8,000 people expected to volunteer throughout the event. As of this writing over 13,000 scarves have been made and they are still counting down until Sunday. Apparently others will also receive gift scarves as well.
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| Note the hand knit blue and white scarf |
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| The needle artwork in Indy with videos of knitting hands |
So thanks Superbowl Planning Committee for giving me a good reason to watch the game. Generally on the years my Packers are out of the Superbowl I watch the advertisements, but this year I'll be looking for handmade scarves instead.
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