And congratulations to Lee DeWyze from Mt. Prospect, Illinois.  Even if Crystal had not been from our neck of the woods, being talked about continuously on the 4 local stations, I would definitely think that she was the clear front-runner.  From what I have seen of American Idol this year, the paint salesman has grown by leaps and bounds and deserves to be crowned.  But why, oh why do we need two hours of it.  We had the good, the bad, and the ugly.  Some of the performances by the top 12 were good… others not so good (Siobhan), and others were downright UUUUUGLY!  (I was almost afraid that one of the myriad of guest performers was going to have another wardrobe malfunction).

Taking second place to the anticipation of the announcement was the farewell to Simon Cowell.  I’m not totally convinced that the show will be the juggernaut it is without him.  I don’t think it is now after nine years.  Video tributes, a hilarious segment by Ricky Gervais, and the inevitable return of Paula Abdul all ate time up.  I think it will all come down to who the new person at the table will be as to how it will fare.

My favorite part of the evening:  THE YANKEES WIN!  About time.  The win TWICE.  The suspended game from yesterday and today’s scheduled game at Target Field against the Twins.  Plus (and I can’t believe I’m saying this) but kudos to the Red Sox for sweeping the Tampa Bay Rays which inches the Bombers closer to that first place AL East lead.

Plus, the Pants on the Ground rendition featuring Season 3 standout William Hung was priceless.  Congrats, Lee!  And THAHHHHHHH YANKEES WIN!

I am much more of a baseball fan than a football fan (see my countdown timer to the first game of Cubs spring training to the right).  But I will admit that I love watching football; mainly because my husband loves it, and I love to see him enjoy things that make him happy.  Oh, that and the fact that whenever he watches football, it’s become sort of a tradition with us that he gives me excellent backrubs!  So while I couldn’t care less who won yesterday’s Superbowl,( although I chose the Cardinals to root for because it’s always fun to pick a team and scream and shout and get into the game) I did have a great time watching it.

We had decided to have a get-together; a fun evening filled with friends and food (too much food!  We had to have pizza for dinner again Monday and will have it twice more this week  just to get rid of all the extras!).  Because I have 4 kids, I didn’t get to see all of my favorite part of the Superbowl – the commercials.  But that’s ok, I’m sure I can catch them online somewhere if I’m so inclined.  The ones I did see were pretty good – I especially liked the Potato Head one (think it was for tires).  It just cracks me up when Mrs. Potato Head changes into her ‘angry’ eyes, hehehe!  I also really liked the careerbuilder.com commercial with the moose head on the wall – I won’t spoil the rest of it because I recommend you go out and find it yourself if you haven’t seen it.  I missed the newest E-Trade.com commercials with the talking baby, so those I will have to find because I always enjoy those.  Oh, and I’ll have to see the latest chapter in the saga of the Budweiser Clydesdales…

As for halftime, I’m not a fan of “The Boss”, so I wasn’t paying attention to Bruce Springsteen’s performance.  I am glad to note, however, that he didn’t incur a wardrobe malfunction ala Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson circa Superbowl XXXVII in 2004.  Also during halftime, there was a special 3D event.  We had picked up enough pairs of 3D glasses for the party at a store ahead of time (we actually got enough to last us until Superbowl L!), but in my opinion, they should have given a few minutes warning for people to get their glasses ready.  We had ours ready because they did mention it in the 2nd quarter, but I didn’t get a chance to get my regular eyeglasses to wear underneath, which guaranteed an absence of 3D for me.  But other people seemed pretty impressed…  I have seen the preview for Monsters Vs. Aliens in the movie theater and it looks really funny – I’m looking forward to that movie coming out.

Well, anyway, much fun was had by all.  We had originally intended to make this a game night / Superbowl party, but by the time the big game ended, there wasn’t any time for board games.  Next time!  And oh yeah, I should report that the Pittsburgh Steelers won the Superbowl, in case you’re using my site for a news report 🙂