Retroactive Genius and Parking Lot Tough Guys

Title above has a mutually exclusive meaning in this entry- but the more I thought about it- you can apply an odd symmetry to them when placed together- though I meant them as the entree to two separate themes this week- Read on to learn- won't you?

-First the "Retroactive Genius" part refers to the fact I nailed my Super Bowl picks this year- Arizona to cover the 7-point spread, Pittsburgh to win and both teams combining for over 46 and a half points- Of course, writing it here 2 days after the game and not parlaying it into a financial gain- after I couldn't track down guy at work who was so confident about the Steelers a couple weeks ago that he was going to tease it to a 21-point spread with me just to get my bet- doesn't necessarily make me either Rerun from TV's "What's Happening" - when he had the hot streak based on teams' helmet designs or a pre-racial comment Jimmy the Greek- who actually was known for being wrong a lot when he was on TV in the 1970's and 80's with his toteboard and thinly-veiled quantification of "intangibles" (as point spread)

Either way- I have the satisfaction of knowing I was right- small consolation compared to last year's game (won by the New York Giants and correctly picked on 2 of 3 fronts by me) or financial gain- but to quote former football great and memoribilia generator O.J. Simpson "It happens"

Other Super Bowl-related ruminations:
-Watched a good portion of the Steelers' victory parade Tuesday- Is there some sort of new way a team and city can celebrate a sports championship? (sans violence, mayhem or property destruction, of course)

The victory parade/ rally has become as much of a post-game cliche as "I'm going to Disneyland!"- The Steelers' parade seemed to run on a course that managed to make 2009 Downtown Pittsburgh look about as downtrodden as the fictional 1977 Charlestown did during the closing credits of "Slapshot" and culminated in a predictable rally with guys predicting a repeat next year, the black guys on the team automatically being microphone-asassinating rappers (no matter how weak their raps) and the white guys on the team being geeks and dorky dancers (who are truly lame)

The NFL Network feed featured the verbatim feed of Pittsburgh's WPXI (11) which featured the usual crew of clueless middle-American anchors that couldn't have differentiated the Cardinals' Larry Fitzgerald from Geraldine Fitzgerald (actress from "Easy Money" that I met in real life many years ago) a couple weeks ago- but are all of a sudden such experts on the local team that ask "Gosh," why longhaired safety Troy Polamalu had his hair pulled back during the rally (has previously said he only keeps it down during games)- when they probably just figured out which of the longhaired guys he is on the team- Though, the only out I will give them is the Earth, Wind and Fire- styled stage of players ranginging from the stars of the team to practice-squad eighth-stringers leads to some amount of confusion for everyone

-Watched much of the 5-hour pregame show on NBC- more than I'd really care to admit- But, aside from Al Roker calling Rainn Wilson "Zainn (or Zane)" and the unexpectedly lusicous ripeness of Bill Belicheck's cans during Cris Collinsworth's film-study segment with him- the other weird moment for me was the guy from the Phillipines who's fronting the current version of Journey- gets me thinking about how the post-Steve Perry versions of Journey could qualify for their own versions of "Behind the Music"- where they got a guy who looked, sounded and had a phoenetically-similar name to Steve Perry (Steve Augemi)- and kicked him out, too- I think Van Halen and maybe Judas Priest are the other bands that could legitimately support their own "BTM" episodes focused on replacement versions

Onto the Parking Lot Tough Guys:
-Went Saturday night to see the live version of "Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job"- was a pretty good show- felt audio mix was horrible- speaking as some sort of facsimilie of a guy who works with audio on a regular basis- thought show with both spoken-word and music should have had better mix- instead music overwhelmed as though it was a dance club or something- Thought pupeteer David Liebe Hart was far and away best of guests (over bad comedian James Quall, DJ Dougpound and the guy who sings "Sexual Romance")

Anyhow- left show from Boston's Theater District to go to nearby adult club- for first time since I wrote here (on MySpace) about my visit about 7 months ago where I stalked out after stripper called me "miserable"

Was about as exhausted this time as well- worked all day Saturday before I had a few drinks and went to Tim and Eric- was still better behaved in first few moments at strip club- was nice to first few that talked to me/ rubbed my back/ whatever- told them I had no money- even though the VIP/ lap/ private dance prices seem to have dropped precipitously (things are tough all over, I guess)

Anyhow- the real trouble this time came in the form of other patrons- who seemed to be out to merely start shit with others- Really have never understood this mentality through years of going to bars/ strip clubs/ wherever- I mean, I guess you got to go outside your regular circle to start fights or whatever, but still- have never really understood the mindset of those merely out to start incidents

So, three guys come in and stand behind me and my friend- and I'm next to to a guy who gave up his empty (or "homo seat" as a 1982 12-year-old New Jersey movie-going kid would have said) seat who's now next to me- they order two domestic beers- unbeknownest to the idea they still cost $9 a pop at this place and place a $10 bill- Bartender asks for $8 more- which gets plunked down defiantly- when change comes back- is plucked back rather decisively from bartender

Guy next to me asks these guys where they are from- "Revere" is the answer- "So, you think you're at the fucking Squire? Costs more to drink here"- they go back and forth for a bit- you can tell the Revere assholes are there just to be fucking around with people more than anything else- guy next to me has exchange where he tells these three he was born around the corner and still lives around corner- and stops their further exchanges with "Look- there's a lot of bad guys in here- I wouldn't fuck around"- I almost laugh- thinking I could ever perhaps be confused for one of the tough guys at the bar- but did find it funny those guys stopped their shit with him at that point- I left within a few minutes- trying to get between those 3- One guy seemed to want to start with me brushing my way past him- I put my hands up in the 'no-trouble' pose- and left- with no idea what transpired- but still found it hilarious that these guys were verbally schooled like that by the guy next to me- and could not stop laughing into Sunday- where I imagined these douchebags were the definition of "parking-lot tough" and told their crew how they could have kicked ass/ beat the shit out of everyone there after the fact