Hello, my name is Allan and I am the loving spouse of the usual inhabitant of this space – Susan Clark. Since I am a huge sports fan and this is Super Bowl week Susan suggested I pen a little something about the occasion.

The 2016 edition takes on more significance than others for those of us residing on the Monterey Peninsula because the game is to be played only an hour from here in a city named Santa Clara. That city is an hour north of us and about the same distance in the other direction from San Francisco, the host city for the event. Partying all week in San Francisco and making the drive to the game on Sunday is nice work for those who can make it happen.

A tasty alternative is to spend the week in Carmel or Pebble Beach before heading to the game, and if that is your choice please take the time to pay my wife a visit and let her show you the house you need to buy immediately. In fact, if you are coming our way at any time for any reason please let her do the same. That said, some Super Bowl memories are in order.

Having spent the first half of my life in our nation’s capitol I always have rooted for the Washington Redskins (sorry for the nickname) and as such I have seen my team play in five Super Bowls, winning three and losing two. I attended two, a victory and a loss. Interesting enough, both of those games have a connection to Susan even though I didn’t know her at the time.

The years were 1983 and 1984 and my team won the first and got destroyed in the latter. Since my memories of the 1983 Super Bowl are a whole lot better I will start there and devote many more words to that experience.

The 1983 game was played in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena and although still living back East I jumped at the chance when my cousin offered me the opportunity to join he and his wife at the game. Now, my cousin barely can tell the difference between a football and a piece of squash, but he was in advertising in Washington and through his job had a shot at some tickets and thought…actually, I don’t know what he was thinking, but he wanted to go and had a flight arranged, so off we went. Turns out Susan’s parents were living in Florida and her father was a fan of the loyal opposition that day, the Miami Dolphins . . .

. . .  and her brother, who also lived in Washington D.C. had tickets for Susan and her parents as well as for himself to see the game.  So there we were on game day seated on opposite sides of the field although not knowing each other from the other 100,000 on hand.

Washington won that day and I finally got to experience the feeling of rooting for a team that won the biggest game of the season. And don’t feel badly for Susan’s father because a decade earlier his Dolphins had defeated the Redskins in Super Bowl VII and to this day remain the only team to win all their games in the same season.

And as for the 1984 game, it was played in Tampa not that far from where Susan’s parents lived. But, again, we didn’t know each other then so she wouldn’t have minded that I beat it out of Tampa in a big hurry after the Raiders, then of Los Angeles, left my Redskins for very dead. At least I had the prior year’s win as consolation and later on in the 80’s they won another one. At that time I still had not met Susan but we did meet in 1990 when she sold me a house and thankfully (for me) agreed to see me socially after the house closed. So it was that we were together when shortly thereafter Washington won their last Super Bowl. Watching me watching that game on television no doubt convinced her it was good to be nowhere near me for those prior Super Bowls as my behavior during that game, although non-violent, did not come close to reflecting the way anyone over the age of 9 should act over a football game.

Now the fans of Carolina and Denver will have a go at the experience while those of us without much of a rooting interest simply will watch in amazement at how the Super Bowl has evolved. Enjoy.