It is improbable to find the right words to tell an upset fan. As an owner of a Colts #18 jersey, and official member of the Peyton Manning for President facebook group, I’m still going through a post-loss grieving process in the wake of last night’s Super Bowl XLIV fiasco. My love for Peyton was not passed down to me by overexcited parents who drown their children in their team’s colors and statistics, nor did it come about from some type of “winner picker” scenario. I’m not from Indianapolis, I’ve never been to Indianapolis, and except for one family friend, I don’t know of anyone who is a fan of Indianapolis. I am a fan by choice. I was drawn to Peyton’s agility, athleticism and untenable leadership ability. My mind pointed at the television screen and said, “Rachel, this guy is good.” And so my admiration began and grew, for the game, for the guy, and for the team. Fast forward six years and there’s me – downtrodden, inconsolable, and somewhat worried that as the only Colt fan that I know, somehow my reputation is at stake. So to those who wish to taunt me, here is what I have to say: pretty please don’t. Even the greatest player in the history of the sport can make a mistake. I just hope that someday Manning is synonymous with football, much like Jordan is with basketball (I say that from the Giant fan within me). For now, I will raise my white jersey in surrender and whisper to the football gods, “Who dat?”
On another note, over the weekend I had decided to spice up my blog by embarking on what could be called a “train adventure,” because yes, it is required that you actually SPEAK. What I was thinking is I would talk to some strangers about what books they’re reading. This could possibly be fun, might get me in trouble for breaking subway silence, and definitely will be interesting to find out what New York is up to with their lit. As I stood waiting in the freezing cold for a delayed train, who is to walk up the subway steps but my brother Morris, happily surprised to see his little sis. And out the window went my first train adventure. In my post-traumatic psychological state, I thought he asked, “They won?”, when in reality he was saying, “Day one?” referring of course to my newly acquired internship. Clearly, I am feeling a bit insecure. After bugging him for not watching the super bowl (in some religions, this can be considered sinful), we finally got on the train and ended up watching a movie on his iPhone, careful not to laugh too loud so as to excite our fellow passengers.
Speaking of the iPhone, you might be interested to know that my family and I have deemed the iPad temporarily irrelevant. As someone with far too many family members completely obsessed with all things technology, this is more important than one might think. I come from the breed of those who stand on mile-long lines to get their hands on the first-ever iPhone. Okay, we made someone else do it, but it is of the same principle. Anyway, it seems that because we embarked on the iPhone pre-problem fixes, the Benuns have decided to lay off the iPad for a little while. As for me, I’m waiting for the iPhone, Blackberry and digital camera to smash into one awesome mega-device. In the meantime, the iPad is hoping to revolutionize the publishing industry (that’s us), making textbooks and (oh no!) paper books, a thing of the past. Goodbye sweet Kindle, hello Steve Jobs. Seeing as how the man has the Midas touch, I have no doubt the device will make a nice impact on the book business. We shall see soon enough!
Until next time,
Rachel Benun
P.S. The other intern’s name is Calvin Manning. Hmm…