THE GAME’S GREAT, BUT THE BUILD-UP IS A BEAR

By STEVE KING

This is hard.

It really is.

I’m talking about the build-up to Super Bowl 54.

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It’s hard to watch all the fun, all the excitement, all the happiness, all the hope, all the enthusiasm and all the anticipation – again – without the Browns being involved.

This is like watching one of those Hallmark movies about everybody else falling in love and getting married while you’re left sitting at home and … watching one of those Hallmark movies about everybody else falling in love.

Now, let’s be clear about this, I don’t mind watching the game itself – not at all, in fact. Once Sunday comes, I’m ready for some football. I’ve watched all the Super Bowls, every single one of them – that just means I’m old, by the way – and I will watch the one on Sunday and I will thoroughly enjoy it, whether it’s close or one-sided or somewhere in-between. Of that I am sure.

After all, I love football, and this is the biggest game of the year.

What I can’t take is all the stuff before the game, with everybody else partying because their team is there, or has been there at some point since January 1967 when the first Super Bowl was played. The Browns haven’t been there, and I’m not going to be happy until they are. I want to have fun, too.

I am not living vicariously through any of those people down in Miami, or in Kansas City and San Francisco. I don’t envy who they are or where they’re from. I like who I am and where I’m from. In fact, I really like where I’m from.

I’m just envious that they’re having their year with their team, and we’re all still waiting on ours.

But when our time comes, the party will blow all theirs – and all the ones that have been held through the years – right out the door.

But y’all already knew that, didn’t ya?