Saturday, January 31, 2009

Two Bowls



I sit here today, Saturday the 31st of January, between two "super" events. Tomorrow is Super Bowl XLIII, between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Arizona Cardinals. Tell me, does anyone else have trouble with Roman Numerals besides me? I always have trouble translating them into the numbers I understand, having to think about it forever before I come up with the right number. I'm okay up to thirty or so, but after that my dense brain takes a while to process and figure it out. So, without checking this in a book or anything or hearing anyone say it, I do believe this is the forty-third Super Bowl. Am I right? And why don't they just say that in the first place?

The first picture above is the winner of another Bowl, which was held in our area yesterday. The guy you see pictured is John Squibb, who has been given the title "Super Squibb" after wolfing down 203 chicken wings in the 2009 Wing Bowl. (There's the word "super" again.) Now you folks are going to have to bear with me because I'm going to be very negative. I think this Wing Bowl, and all eating competitions that we hold in this country are a national disgrace. There, I said it. First of all, we've been listening to report after report telling us about the horrible economic state our country is in. As an aside, I do want to say that things are bad, but America has been through hard times before and we can come out of this if we do it the right way. But that's another story which I'll leave alone for now. I read a good article about that topic recently which really encouraged me. Read it if you have time.

But it's not just the state of things in our own nation that turns me off so badly when I hear about these eating contests. I wish the money that is spent on the food and whatever expenses go along with them could be sent to one of the countries in this world, like Zimbabwe, where people are starving. Or send it to Feed the Children or some other group that helps feed children who are hungry in our own land. It's for that reason also that I would label such competitions as disgraceful.

I posted the two pictures above because these two events have something in common: chicken wings. A lot of chicken wings are eaten at both. For the Super Bowl, it's a traditional food at all the parties that take place for the big game. So one of the current worries is that there are enough wings available for that purpose. I saw an article about that also. I hope you won't think me inconsiderate if I say that's the least of my worries for our country.

And to say more about the Super Bowl, things are pretty quiet about it here in my area since the Eagles and Giants aren't in it. Last year I was so excited, as you may remember, because of the fact that the Giants were not only in it, but won it. Now I don't care as much, but I think I'll root for the Steelers, since they're not too far away from us and I'm more familiar with them. We always tape the big game and look at it on Monday. I REALLY enjoyed it last year.

The big news about tomorrow is we get to go to church and worship our SUPER great God. And about "wings?" Here's a good verse to leave with:

How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. Psalm 36:7

And the refrain from one of our favorite hymns:

Under His wings, under His wings, who from His love can sever?
Under His wings my soul shall abide, safely abide forever.



Have a blessed Lord's Day tomorrow!!

8 comments:

Susan said...

Great post, as always, Maxine.
Susan

Denise said...

i hopped over and read the article written by Ceasar I. LeFlore III. I must agree with him. We are a nation blessed and we were VERY blessed during George W. Bush presidency. The nation as a whole is growing and has been growing for many years now. I fear that there is a part of nation that is expecting President Obama to do things single handed what has been in process for years... He is a man and he will make mistakes. We are a spoiled nation and a nation that has not yet seen hard times, at least not in my generation..... We are wasteful (chicken wings and all) and I fear the generation coming up is so concerned with their I pods and cell phones that they will not see the multitudes dying. But, this is just my opinion........ :)

I love the "wings" scripture at the bottom and the awesome privileged to go Sunday morning and worship the real Super Hero....

Brenda said...

And, "they shall mount up with wings like eagles"! (one of my favorites.)
Good thoughts on the food consuming.
Oh, I believe the AZ Cardinals have wings too! I'm from AZ so you know who I'll be rooting for!

God bless,
:)

Linda said...

This was such a unique post Maxine. I had heard that about the chicken wings. It does seem a bit frivolous in the light of everything else.
Not too much excitement here about the Superbowl either. I picked the Cardinals because of Curt Warner's testimony.
Have a blessed sabbath and then enjoy the game.

Debra said...

I feel the same about these eating contest...we seem to be a nation of gluttoney and that is a disgrace.

I was pulling for the Cardinals, but the Steelers won it...

...hey could you pull a little for the New Orleans Saints next season and maybe they just might make the playoffs LOL!

Patti said...

Oh, Maxine, I LOVE this post. First of all, I am not good with Roman numerals either. I have to really think it through if there are more than two or three "numerals." We watch alot of old movies, and figuring out the years is often a HUGE challenge. They put it on the credits...but it's almost always in teeny, tiny print...and in Roman numerals. I have to think (if I can even read the numerals), "Okay, XXXVIII, ten, twenty, thirty, five, six, seven, eight." If it just said 1938 I would have the answer so much more quickly. I'm glad we don't still live by Roman Numerals!!!

And those eating contests....ah, I'm with you here, girl. I don't remember the specifics, but my son was recently telling me about someone that ate something like 25 pounds of hamburgers in something like 3 hours. My response? For what purpose? Who wants to eat 25 pounds of meat? In 3 hours? WE are a gluttenous society, and when we reward people for eating like PIGS (I'm sorry, it's an appropriate word!), I think there's something wrong. We talk about how obese people are...and yet we encourage foolish eating events like that. Go figure!!

I'm going to go read the article you referenced.

Blessings,
Patti

Barbara said...

Maxine, I went to church and my husband recorded the Super Bowl. Then I watched it after I got home. He had watched a little, but watched some news and saw the score, so lost interest in seeing the game. I watched it all, even after I saw the score during the 1st quarter on the Internet. The highlight of the game was when Holmes intercepted the ball from the Cardinals on the 1 yard line and ran 100 yards, the first time it has ever been done in the Super Bowl!

By the way, no hot wings for me. I ate absolutely nothing during the game. :) But, like you, I am sure there were many eaten during that game, looking at the packed stands and then all the people watching it at home.

Speaking of food contests, they showed a hot dog eating contest other day on the news. It is sickening they many hot dogs those people can stuff down. This has to be an addiction! Nobody in their right mind would want to eat like those people do!

sparrow's song said...

Maybe they could contribute any moneys they win from these eating contests to starving children. We now just started collecting Yogurt lids to send out to help contribute money for hungry children in America. We also have our 2 children we've sponsored for the past 2 years through Compassion International.

We rooted for the Steelers too. Maybe it was the HD on a 50 inch plasma TV or was it just an exciting last quarter? I don't usually get into football but lately I've taken time to view it with the hubby and have to honestly admit I rather enjoyed it.

I must admit further that I've allowed the present situation of our nation to steal my joy. We most certainly live in a fallen world.

Eyes to Christ.