This week marks the best and worst of television as it started with Super Bowl 50 and ends today with the New Hampshire primary election.
As far as Super Bowls go, I remember attending the first one in Los Angeles between the Green Bay Packers and the Kansas City Chiefs. A contingent of Northern Nevadans, numbering about a dozen, made the trip and stayed together at the same motel. There was a great deal of pre-game publicity for both teams. Vince Lombardi was looked upon as the premier coach of the NFL while Hank Stram of the Chiefs was a perennial optimist noted for his sartorial appearance. Prior to the game, the Chiefs’ all-star running back predicted he would go well over 100 yards against the Green Bay defense. As it turned out, he was carted off on a stretcher early in the first quarter, never to return.
Green Bay, of course, won the game and it wasn’t long after that the trophy was named in honor of Lombardi.
One of the interesting things that occurred was when the loudspeaker announcer requested that everybody in the stands move as close to the 50-yard line as possible to get a dramatic TV shot. Probably the actual attendance was a little over 60 percent in the spacious LA Coliseum.
Prior to the Super Bowl, many of us would journey to LA to witness the Pro Bowl when it was held in that venue.
As to politics, in today’s election we will see a thinning of the herd. Since the Iowa caucus we have lost Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum and Rand Paul. A miffed Donald Trump, who came in second in Iowa, was unusually civil in his speech following the count. This did not last long as he immediately started firing broadsides at winner Ted Cruz because of his use of a phony mailer stating that Ben Carson was leaving the race. Even Carson himself showed a bit of umbrage over the mailer.
Although he did not engage in retail politics in Iowa or have to spend much money for paid advertising, Trump is currently making the rounds and purchasing a media blitz in New Hampshire. Upstart Marco Rubio has suddenly vaulted into second place in the northeastern state because of his strong third-place finish in Iowa, only one point behind Trump.
In the event that Trump is eventually elected to the presidency, he has the opportunity to get his former opponents to serve in his administration. First, Rubio would serve as a fine vice president. Chris Christie would be an excellent attorney general. Carson could be surgeon general. Carly Fiorina, who has as many air miles as Hillary, could be the secretary of state and someone like John Kasich as chief of staff.
The most important post that Trump would have to fill would be that of secretary of defense. He should get either an active or retired military man. The name of General Petraeus comes to mind.
On the Democrat side, Hillary Clinton gained a victory over Bernie Sanders after several coin tosses, of between two- or three-tenths of a point.
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