JIM: I'm sorry for you about the Super Bowl.

DAVE: Thanks. It was a little painful to watch. But I didn't watch ONE minute of the FOX pre-game, so at least I didn't watch something that would have been even more painful.

JIM: You mean you didn't watch the robot built by NASA and GM to see who it predicted was going to be the game's MVP?

DAVE: Nope. Didn't see it. In traditional fashion, I turned off ESPN around noon and watched Entourage for the rest of the afternoon, before going to my friend's house to watch the game, arriving at 6:15. Unfortunately, I did catch the overly patriotic singing of BOTH of our national anthems, apparently, even though I tried to time my arrival at the party for exactly 6:30. I hate the Super Bowl pregame. But with FOX handling the "official" pregame, I was even more predisposed to skipping it. And from what I've read, I am the lucky one.

JIM: I always like to watch the singing of the national anthem. It always amazes me when teams hire people who screw it up though. Even more amazing, I was at a party in a roomful of people who were all watching and I was the only one who realized that Christina Aguilera screwed up the words. Unbelievable.

Aguilera was so bad, it reminded me of the national anthem sung before the Penguins first Stanley Cup game. I don't understand how professional organizations cannot hire people who can sing the national anthem. I used to be a season-ticket holder for the 76ers and I can say that at every home game I attended, they always had someone who was absolutely, jaw-dropping amazing at singing the national anthem. If the Sixers can get it right for every single meaningless regular season game, how can the NFL screw it up so bad in their biggest game of the year with the entire world watching? Pisses me off.