Well, I got what I wished for: a good, close Super Bowl game. Overall the officiating looked okay but there were some calls that bordered on nit picking. And the commercials were good but there I thought they weren’t as good as they’ve been in years past. Blame that one on the current state of our economy. Coke Zero’s remake of the Mean Joe Green ad was probably the best of the lot but the kid in the first one was better and way more believable. Top it all off with a batch of my world-famous chili and it was a good game experience.

I saw where everybody’s favorite hero, Michael Phelps, has really made one of those bad decisions. Hitting a pot pipe with friends is positively not what anyone should do, much less a very famous Olympic athlete who is in the process of being set for life. But then one of those good “friends” decides a picture of the famous one with the pipe to his mouth would be hilarious. Whoever took the pic with their cell phone is probably still counting the payoff from the rag that ran the shot. Let’s see, first was Kellogg’s dropping his contract like a rock which was worth more than a few million and then USA Swimming has banned him for three months. Besides the money lost and serious decline in his net worth, the absolute worst is the overall negative affect toward who was thought to be someone really special. He really is special but all those gold medals won’t erase the view of him with his stupid head on that pipe smoking dope. Must be why they call it “dope”.

So many, way too many, athletes seem to think they are immune to getting into bad trouble from bad decisions they make. Whether it’s a Super Bowl receiver shooting himself in the leg with a pistol at a nightclub or getting stopped for DUI, the fact is you are not above the law and like it or not, you are a role model. Do something stupid and you will pay. Period. Jail time, lost money or worse, death.

This will do it for this season. I hope you who read this have enjoyed reading as much as I enjoy writing. When one gets to do what I do every football season, I just have to tell someone about it all.

One more item: please take a minute and pray for the parents and family, friends, teammates and coaches of Colby Mason, who at 17, was tragically taken from us on February 1 in a wreck. He will be missed.

Have a great “off season” and enjoy some baseball. My two guys are knee-deep at this very moment. September and football will be back before you know it.