A Homeless Super Bowl

I watched the first half of the Super Bowl in my warm home with my arm around my wife's shoulder.

I watched the second half with a bunch of homeless guys.

The church I pastor is taking its turn providing a roof and food for local folks “experiencing homelessness” as the current phrase has it. A couple of them had told our coordinator they would really like to watch the game. He talked to a couple of techies. They set it up on a nice big television in our church nursery. I understand that one of them actually ran the setup from the man cave at his own home. Such is the world in which we now live.

That second half was a fascinating experience. A few observations:

1. I am aging. During the first half my wife and I agreed that the commercials were juvenile, stupid and (to us fifty-somethings) filled with pop cultural references we did not get. During the second half commercials the guys in the room (almost all of them at least ten years younger than I) laughed and poked each other in the shoulder and made comments about the women that I choose not to record in this space. Apparently, Madison Avenue still knows what it's doing.

One exception came when Helen Mirren appeared on screen. Her Budweiser ad against drunk driving sobered up the room. In some cases, literally.

2. Guys experiencing homelessness know football as well as any other cross-section of guys. Most of them kind of knew what they were seeing; a few really understood it. One of them said he had played tight end in high school and he always watched that position. I can report that he did notice when Greg Olson of the Panthers pulled and made a great trap block on a Bronco. “Rick” (not his actual name) sat right in front of me. He and I had an extended discussion of how disciplined a game Peyton Manning was having. He called a couple of plays before the snap based on down, distance and formation. This is something I enjoy doing, and it was fun to watch. I have encountered Rick during our Safe Harbor weeks for a decade. He and I spoke more during the second half than we had in all that time.

3. Late in the fourth quarter but before the Broncos had the game sewn up, the room suddenly emptied. Intent on the screen, I did not notice them leaving. When yet another inane commercial came on I asked the two guys remaining where everybody had gone. “Cigarette break,” one of them said. Oh. Ten minutes later, every chair again had an occupant.

Every now and then I need to be reminded that I am more like other people than I sometimes think. I cannot remember enjoying a Super Bowl more.