Scribbled notes on a cocktail napkin, Part IV
A Super Bowl rematch that doesn't feel like a rematch ... food and drink advice for your parties ... links, shameless plugs, and reflections on two-sport stars
"Scribbled notes on a cocktail napkin" is my weekly Sunday feature that's a tribute to the sports columnists I grew up reading who penned Herb Caen-inspired three dot columns. It's an excuse to shamelessly plug my other side projects, post my favorite Immaculate Grid from the week with a story about one of the players, link to stories I found interesting, and string together loose topics on my mind.
The Super Bowl has finally arrived, after two weeks of media hype, and two weeks to make important decisions for the viewing public on where to watch the game, what to eat and what to drink.
I’ve spent the last two weeks racking my brain to remember exactly where I watched every Super Bowl and that triggered memories of various spreads and beverages consumed over the last three decades.
I’m a believer in all-day grazing, no coordinated sit-down meals. Graze, chat, graze some more, watch a little pregame show, keep grazing throughout the game. I’ll be at Cousin Geoff’s today with his family and we’re all of the same mindset. We’ve got wings, a special dip (more on that below), more appetizers, fruit salad, and pie on the menu.
After too-much thought and research, I’m going with a Super Bowl punch this year: vodka, Corona, limeade, club soda, lime wheels, ice, and more lime wedges for garnish.
It’s simple. It’s social. It’s easy to water it down with more ice and club soda if you’re driving, or add a little more booze if you want to get after it. Plus, it isn’t too filling when you’re grazing on food all day.
I’m also a believer in a morning trip to the gym and a yoga class before grazing all day. You’ll thank me Monday if you follow my lead.
The rematch that doesn’t feel like a rematch
The Chiefs and 49ers met in Super Bowl LIV in 2020, and four years later, it’s still hard to fathom the ending. The 49ers led by 10 points entering the fourth quarter. The Chiefs scored three touchdown over the final 6:13 of the game to win, 31-20, which triggered their current dynasty.
This is the fourth rematch of head coaches in Super Bowl history. The winner of the first also won the second matchup previously (Steelers over Cowboys in the 70s, Cowboys over Bills in the 90s, Giants over Patriots in the 2000s).
But it’s the first time there’s been different quarterbacks involved in the rematch, since the 49ers have transitioned from Jimmy Garappollo to (very briefly) Trey Lance and now Brock Purdy. The 49ers have also since added their two most explosive dual-threat playmakers, running back Christian McCaffrey and wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk.
As a result, this doesn’t feel like a true rematch to me.
This reminds of the two 49ers-Bengals matchups from the 1980s, when the 49ers had Bill Walsh and Joe Montana for both, whereas the Bengals coach/QB tandem was Forrest George-Ken Anderson and then Sam Wyche-Boomer Esiason. The 49ers won both.
As for today? My heart says 49ers. My brain says don’t bet against Patrick Mahomes and the Swifties.
Still, I’m picking with my heart. Prediction: 49ers 34, Chiefs 21 [yes, that’s a 13-point margin on purpose. Sorry, Taylor.]
This week’s “Where Ya At?” podcast guest: Whitney Bond
I host a podcast for San Diego State’s School of Journalism and Media Studies titled “Where Ya At?” Each week, I interview an alum to learn about their experience at SDSU, their transition from student to professional, and what they do now. You can listen on all podcast platforms, including Apple.
This week’s guest is Whitney Bond, a recipe developer, food blogger, on-air culinary host and cookbook author. Of course, we discussed the menu at the Super Bowl party she’s throwing. Cousin Geoff is going to make her Buffalo Chicken Dip and her website has lot more options.
I enjoyed her story of why she picked SDSU. Whitney grew up in Oklahoma and wanted to attend college in California because she watched “Saved by the Bell” and “Beverly Hills 90210” as a kid. Her mom asked her to narrow choices between NorCal and SoCal, she chose SoCal, then her mom setup a trip to visit multiple campuses.
First stop was SDSU. Whitney loved it and said, “that’s the one.” Her mom forced her to visit others, including Long Beach State and UCLA, because it was on the itinerary. Whitney saw the others, still liked SDSU the best, and that’s where we went.
She didn’t know anyone at SDSU. In the freshman dorms, she baked cookies to make friends. She took a break from school, launched a model management company, started blogging for fun with a small audience, pivoted to writing exclusively about food, and focused on recipes that a small town girl from Oklahoma on a limited budget could make.
Now it’s a career, including appearances on countless morning TV shows, a nationwide tour to support her cookbook, and a loyal following of over 100,000 views per month.
Lessons learned from the mound
Both of the starting quarterbacks in today’s Super Bowl have fathers who were pitchers in professional baseball.
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, whose father Pat pitched in the majors, threw 94 mph in high school. According to Baseball America, most scouts liked him more as a hitter though. Mahomes went to Texas Tech and focused exclusively on football.
49ers quarterback Brock Purdy’s father, Shawn, was a minor league pitcher in the Giants organization who reached Triple-A. Shawn was roommates with Russ Ortiz in the minors. That’s a link to a story by Tyler Kepner, who puts all of us to shame with his Immaculate Grids each day, and everything he writes is always good. I enjoyed this little tidbit about Super Bowl parties at the Purdys.
When the Purdys would host Super Bowl parties, Shawn told Maddon, most kids would be playing outside. But Brock, at five or six years old, would stand on the coffee table and study the action, trying to think along with the quarterbacks.
So if you’re around any kids who play sports today, keep a close eyes on how they watch the Super Bowl.
This week’s not-so random Immaculate Grid story: Rickey Henderson
Rickey Henderson was an all-league running back at Oakland Technical High, received numerous football scholarship offers, and dreamed of playing for the Oakland Raiders. Nowadays, I feel like Rickey would probably play football.
But in the 1970s, the best athletes usually chose baseball over football. In the case of Rickey, he left the decision in the hands of his mother, Bobbie, who was ahead of her time in concerns over the injury dangers of football.
Here are quotes from an AP story in 1982:
Bobbie: "I was kind of scared of him getting hurt playing football. It was all right when he was playing tag football, but when he started playing tackle, I didn't like it. I thought he wouldn't last as long playing football."
Rickey: "The main thing was I wanted to get to the major leagues in a certain amount of time. If I played football, it would take four years of college before I could play in the pros. I said, 'In four years, if I can't make it to the major leagues, I'd rather go to college and play football.' I made it to the major leagues in 2 1/2 years."
When I covered prep sports for The Oakland Tribune in the late 1990s, I’d occasionally see Rickey at various high school games. I vividly remember one time, it was a playoff football game, somewhere in the suburbs. I’m on the sidelines, keeping stats, and did a few double-takes before I realized, yep, that’s Rickey.
I said hello, Rickey smiled like we were old friends — we weren’t, but I was giddy with FanBoy delight because he was my favorite player as a kid — and I asked him why he was there. One of his childhood friends was a coach for the team, so he showed up to give him support. No fanfare. No handlers. No photo ops. Just a dude cheering on his friend’s high school football team, clapping his hands in support, high-fiving guys as they came off the field.
It was so cool. It was so Rickey.
A few years ago, Rickey told the San Francisco Chronicle that he wanted to play two sports, just like Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders.
“When Bo Jackson first came into the league, I went to Al Davis to go play football and he was going to let me be a two-way player,” Henderson said. “The Oakland A’s said, ‘Oh, no way. You’re not going out there. That’s not going to happen.’
For all of Al Davis’ obsession with the Vertical Game, he also loved celebrity running backs.
It makes me wonder if we’ll ever see another two-sport pro athlete again. Considering how Bo’s football career ended and baseball career was impacted, plus the money and contracts are so enormous, I doubt it.
Bo Knows … Litigation
Speaking of Bo Jackson, this was a bizarre sad story. The man who struck fear in the hearts of baseball pitchers and football linebackers was being intimidated by … his nephew and niece?
They tried to extort $20 million from him. Bo knows litigation though. He sued them and won big this week.
According to the protective order, the Andersons are barred from contacting Jackson or his immediate family and must stay at least 500 yards away from the Jacksons or their homes, schools and workplaces. They are also prohibited from posting about Bo Jackson via social media and must remove all social media content referencing him.
Jackson was awarded a little more than $1 million in compensatory damages and to offset attorneys’ fees, with $20 million tacked on as punitive damages.
According to the lawsuit filed by Jackson through his Marietta, Ga., attorneys, the Andersons — one of whom lives in Cobb County and the other in Texas — attempted to extort $20 million from Jackson in exchange for not publicly disclosing information that would cast him “in a false light” and cause “severe emotional distress.”
This wasn’t the first time Bo used litigation either. In 2005, the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin quoted a dietary specialist, Ellen Coleman, who claimed Jackson’s football-ending hip injury was the result of anabolic steroid use. Bo sued for defamation. Coleman denied ever making the statement. The paper retracted the story and issued a public apology.
Imagine the conversations at Bo Jackson’s Super Bowl party today. I’m excited to be at Cousin Geoff’s today. But if there’s any place I’d rather be, it’s with Bo … and yes, I’d still bring the punch ingredients.