Super Bowl XL: "When Blogging Was Young, We Were Already Old": A Previously Published Essay
4/5
()
About this ebook
Chuck Klosterman
Chuck Klosterman is the bestselling author of many books of nonfiction (including The Nineties, Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs, I Wear the Black Hat, and But What If We're Wrong?) and fiction (Downtown Owl, The Visible Man, and Raised in Captivity). He has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, GQ, Esquire, Spin, The Guardian, The Believer, Billboard, The A.V. Club, and ESPN. Klosterman served as the Ethicist for The New York Times Magazine for three years, and was an original founder of the website Grantland with Bill Simmons.
Read more from Chuck Klosterman
I Wear the Black Hat: Grappling with Villains (Real and Imagined) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Chuck Klosterman IV: A Decade of Curious People and Dangerous Ideas Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fargo Rock City: A Heavy Metal Odyssey in Rural North Dakota Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Visible Man: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Billy Joel Essays: Essays from Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs and Chuck Klosterman IV Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Chuck Klosterman on Film and Television: A Collection of Previously Published Essays Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Advanced Genius Theory: Are They Out of Their Minds or Ahead of Their Time? Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Chuck Klosterman on Rock: A Collection of Previously Published Essays Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Chuck Klosterman on Living and Society: A Collection of Previously Published Essays Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Chuck Klosterman on Media and Culture: A Collection of Previously Published Essays Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChuck Klosterman on Sports: A Collection of Previously Published Essays Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Chuck Klosterman on Pop: A Collection of Previously Published Essays Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fargo Rock City, for Real: An Essay from Chuck Klosterman IV Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTelevision: An Essay from Chuck Klosterman IV Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSomething Instead of Nothing: An Essay from Eating the Dinosaur Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Jack Factor: An Excerpt from Fargo Rock City Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Super Bowl XL
Related ebooks
Eating the Dinosaur Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Advanced Genius Theory: Are They Out of Their Minds or Ahead of Their Time? Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Everything Reminds Me of Something: Advice, Answers...but No Apologies Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5My Turn At Bat: The Sad Saga of the Montreal Expos Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5My Custom Van: And 52 Other Mind-Blowing Essays that Will Blow Your Mind All Over Your Face Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fargo Rock City, for Real: An Essay from Chuck Klosterman IV Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChuck Klosterman on Sports: A Collection of Previously Published Essays Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Jack Factor: An Excerpt from Fargo Rock City Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsKilling Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Television: An Essay from Chuck Klosterman IV Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChuck Klosterman on Rock: A Collection of Previously Published Essays Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Chuck Klosterman on Living and Society: A Collection of Previously Published Essays Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Chuck Klosterman on Film and Television: A Collection of Previously Published Essays Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Chuck Klosterman on Pop: A Collection of Previously Published Essays Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Chuck Klosterman on Media and Culture: A Collection of Previously Published Essays Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWho Killed the Fonz? Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Downtown Owl: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Outlawed Ink Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Nothing's Sacred Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Blue Movie Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Anchorboy Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Something Instead of Nothing: An Essay from Eating the Dinosaur Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Caddyshack: The Making of a Hollywood Cinderella Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tinderbox: HBO's Ruthless Pursuit of New Frontiers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Happy Endings: The Tales of a Meaty-Breasted Zilch Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Voyeur's Motel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Filthy Truth Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Rubber Balls and Liquor Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Social Science For You
All About Love: New Visions Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Come As You Are: Revised and Updated: The Surprising New Science That Will Transform Your Sex Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A People's History of the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of Witty Banter: Be Clever, Quick, & Magnetic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fourth Turning Is Here: What the Seasons of History Tell Us about How and When This Crisis Will End Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Like Switch: An Ex-FBI Agent's Guide to Influencing, Attracting, and Winning People Over Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Explain Everything About the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dumbing Us Down - 25th Anniversary Edition: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Just Mercy: a story of justice and redemption Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Close Encounters with Addiction Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Men Explain Things to Me Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Verbal Judo, Second Edition: The Gentle Art of Persuasion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row (Oprah's Book Club Selection) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Denial of Death Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Body Is Not an Apology, Second Edition: The Power of Radical Self-Love Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You're Not Listening: What You're Missing and Why It Matters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Human Condition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rage Becomes Her: The Power of Women's Anger Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Questions for Couples: 469 Thought-Provoking Conversation Starters for Connecting, Building Trust, and Rekindling Intimacy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Reviews for Super Bowl XL
1 rating0 reviews
Book preview
Super Bowl XL - Chuck Klosterman
Super Bowl XL: When Blogging Was Young, We Were Already Old
A Previously Published Essay
Chuck Klosterman
Scribner
New York London Toronto Sydney
SCRIBNER
A Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com
Copyright © 2010 by Chuck Klosterman
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Scribner Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.
First Scribner ebook edition September 2010
SCRIBNER and design are registered trademarks of The Gale Group, Inc., used under license by Simon & Schuster, Inc., the publisher of this work.
For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Simon & Schuster Special Sales at 1-866-506-1949 or business@simonandschuster.com.
The Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors to your live event. For more information or to book an event contact the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau at 1-866-248-3049 or visit our website at www.simonspeakers.com.
Manufactured in the United States of America
ISBN 978-1-4516-2113-6
Reprinted with permission from ESPN.com.
Super Bowl XL: When Blogging Was Young, We Were Already Old
Sunday, 11:30 p.m. ET
Here is a true story about Detroit that happened to somebody who isn’t me: A man employed at one of the city’s two major newspapers exited his downtown Detroit office to go home and drink a glass of wine. He worked the late shift, so it was already around midnight. The journalist adjusted his glasses and chatted on his cellular telephone, briskly striding down the sidewalk toward the company parking lot.
Suddenly, an unknown car pulled alongside the journalist, screeching to a halt; a large gentleman emerged from behind its steering wheel. The unknown gentleman walked over to the newspaperman and wordlessly punched him in the face, knocking him to the ground. Get up,
said the puncher. Get up!
The newspaperman did not get up, as he suspected following these directions would result in more face-punching. Get up,
the unknown assailant repeated. Get up! You know what this is about! You know what this is about!
The puncher kept making demands, but the victim’s terror slowly morphed into mild confusion; to the best of his recollection, he had done nothing to warrant an unannounced pummeling.
I think you have the wrong guy,
he said, still crouching on the Michigan pavement. I’ve never seen you before. I was just walking to my car. You are hitting the wrong guy.
The journalist peered up at his attacker; the attacker looked down at his victim’s face. It became clear to the puncher that he was, in fact, punching the wrong dude. Obviously, this was an awkward situation. The puncher uttered an expletive, returned to this vehicle, and fled the scene. The newspaperman found his cell phone and readjusted his glasses. He found himself oddly unsurprised by the event that had transpired. This, after all, was his hometown.
It’s great to be in Detroit.
When ESPN initially asked me to cover Super Bowl XL, I was hesitant. I have a lot on my plate these days: I’m developing a sitcom for UPN about Antonio Davis’s wife (it is tentatively titled Oh, No, You Did Not Just Use the Metric System! and is slated to star Wanda Sykes). I’m also trying to reenergize the tourist economy of New Orleans with unconventional
humanitarian Anna Benson (she’s like a cross between Thomas Paine and Albert Schweitzer, plus a killer rack). I enjoy watching football, but I also enjoy contributing to the actualization of society; in gambling