Preparing for Super Bowl Week

Howdy, friends.

You're probably wondering what happened between June 18 (the World Cup live-blog of USA-Slovenia) and this past Sunday (the NFC Championship).  Since nothing visible happened in the world of Somewhere Over Dwayne Bowe, you're curious as to why I stopped writing for 7 months.

Truth is, there's no exciting explanation like you'd think.  For a few months I made attempts at a few pieces (most notably several attempts at ripping apart The Decision, as well as an aborted end-of-summer blockbuster titled "2010: The Summer of the Douchebag Athlete").  These all ended one of two ways--I either got a decent start, couldn't figure out where to go, and the piece was left unfinished; or I finished it, re-read it, hated it, and decided not to publish.

If anyone who works in social media is reading this (actually reading it, not clicking it to spam my comments promising a smaller stomach, a bigger dick, or both), you just lost any respect for me.  Didn't ya?  Because the first rule of online media is to stay constant.  Stay relevant.  To write a "successful" website, you need to provide a steady stream of new content.

I could blast this theory out of the water easily, but it's already been done, and far better than I ever could.*  Suffice to say that this site is nothing like a Gawker, or a Perez Hilton--so I have no intention of following that model.  If I'm proud of something I've written enough to share it, I will do so--I'm at least competent enough to do that once in a while, we've seen.  If I write something that just isn't up to snuff, or just won't come together, I'm not going to force it on you--it'd be an insult to you, an insult to me, and an insult to the topic being covered.  You've already got an entire generation of online narcissists trumpeting in your ear for the sole purpose of hearing their own trumpeting--why should I burden you with another one?

So that's the past.  A bad case of writers block, and something had to happen to shake me out of it.  Something like a Green Bay Super Bowl.  Can you feel it, bitches?

A year ago, I did a Tribute Week for March Madness, cramming an obscene amount of content into one week of posting.  I almost feel obligated to do it again.  That, and I have some good ideas for Super Bowl Week content that I'd like to get reader feedback on.

(Yep, you're damn right.  I just spent 400 words on an enigmatic non-apology for being unable to come up with content, and now I'm going to use a glorified brainstorming session as finished product--AND solicit content ideas from readers.  In my defense--I may be lazy, but I just might be so good at it as to turn it into an art form.)

-Super Bowl Preview
Simple.  This one has to be done.  Odds are, I'll come up with some quirky gimmick to carry me through what is sure to be a larger, and not too positive, piece.  I've done the movie quotes before, might do something similar?

-Should the Bears Be Looking to Replace Cutler?
Yeah, I know--not technically Super Bowl-related.  But I'm putting this one on here as a buffer choice--if enough non-Packer fans are depressed enough at the thought of an all-Packer week, I'll slip it up to next week.  Otherwise, I'll probably run it shortly after.  Either way, I'm in need of Bears fans for feedback--objectively, I think the fake trade that the Pointless Hypotheticals Division cooked up is a no-brainer for both sides.  But I'm not a Bears fan, and I don't know how they feel about Jay.  And without that angle, this piece is at least 50% worse.  So I need a few readers to step up.  Since you're doing me a favor, I promise to keep the wisecracks to a minimum.

-The Top 10 Super Bowls of my Lifetime
Ehh, I know.  Lists.  Ugh.  But realistically--how else can you do a "best-of" piece?  This one might turn out to be "Top 5 that I've actually watched" in final format (since I have no first-hand memory of the Dallas Dynasty save for the heartbreak that happened the last time Green Bay played a playoff game in Dallas).  Either way, I feel almost obligated to do some sort of historical countdown.

-Retro Diary: Super Bowl XXXI
I can almost guarantee that this one will come to pass.  I've got a copy, it's already been re-watched twice this week, and I can guarantee at least another twice before next Sunday.  Would I love to go back and re-live two of the greatest hours of my life with my awesome readers?  You bet your ass I would!

-Tale of the Tape: '96 Brett Favre vs. '10 Aaron Rodgers
I'd include '66 Bart Starr, but I never saw him play.  Wouldn't be fair.  I'll simply placate the old-timers with the following qualifier: Starr is the one who won multiple titles.

(Also worth mentioning while we're on the subject of '96 Favre: watching him in that Super Bowl is an experience.  I won't say good or bad, because it's a very mixed bag.  On the one hand, I forgot how good he was.  On the other hand, how good he was is tainted by how bad he got, and what a prick he turned into.  It's like finding a picture of you and your estranged best friend from high school--it brings back a flood of happy memories, followed by the twinge of those memories being tainted as you remember walking in on him balls deep in your girlfriend two years later.  Bittersweet like nothing else on this planet.)

-Would Aaron Rodgers still be this good if he didn't free-fall in the draft?
Simple question, and I'd love love love to delve into the psyche of Aaron Rodgers.  Not only is he my team's quarterback, he's an objectively fascinating athlete.  *Spoiler Alert* I can't remember seeing anyone who wants to win so badly since Michael Jordan.

Also, my brain is not just going to turn off until I start writing again.  So this list is hardly final--just a little sneak preview, if you will.  If you've got any ideas you'd like to see me tackle, feel free to share.  I welcome all reader feedback.

*Seriously, take the ten minutes to read this.  PhilaLawyer is one of my major inspirations as a writer, and one of my major hobbies as a reader.  He's a prime example of what I'm talking about regarding quality vs. quantity.  On average, he posts maybe twice or three times a month.  Maybe.  But he's got a five-year back catalogue of work, a best-selling book, and all of it is quality.  Hopefully that will be me in 2015.