Beijing Boyce

Before I give a wrap-up of Super Bowl viewing venues…

The New England Patriots lost the game – as well as the first 19-0 season – and it is easy to place the blame. Most would cite the Patriots failure to stop the New York Giants from scoring a crucial touchdown in the dying minutes. The truth is more nuanced. It is found in Beijing, in a bar called The Goose and Duck, on the body of one man – R.C. Robinson (hereafter known as He Who Shall Be Blamed / HWSBB).

Let me provide you the play by play. The Giants lead 10-7 in the fourth and final quarter. The Patriots piece together a stirring touchdown drive that gives them a 14-10 lead, a drive that inspired HWSBB to yell I believe a half-dozen times, with 2:42 left to play. The Giants need to do what seems near impossible – march the length of the field against the NFL’s best team to score a touchdown and regain the lead.

HWSBB is ecstatic. He wears an off-white cabled sweater – The Sweater – with a large Patriots sticker on the front. He wore it when he arrived, he wore it during the first three quarters, he wore it when the Patriots scored. Now he does the inexplicable. He takes off The Sweater!

Nearby Patriots fans sense a jinx factor. “The Sweater is lucky!” “Hey, don’t change anything until we win!” “Put The Sweater back on.” “If you don’t wear The Sweater and the Patriots lose, I’ll write a post about how it was entirely your fault.” That last one comes from me.

Not only does he not put The Sweater on, but he drapes it over a chair after he peels off the lucky Patriots sticker!

A few minutes later, the Giants quarterback miraculously evades a handful of groping Patriots and hurls a pass to a heavily covered receiver who catches it against his helmet and maintains his grip while falling to the ground in what is known in wrestling circles as a back-breaker. The Giants score, ruin the Patriots perfect season, and it’s all due to HWSBB and The Sweater.* (I don’t expect this will tarnish his sterling community service record of charity fund-raisers, entertainment events, and entrepreneur programs.)

On to the venues:

The Rickshaw – By game time, the place had not an empty seat and offered all the promise of a raucous morning. I stood on the steps, one eye watching the game and the other watching meal after meal whip by. You simply could not comfortably add more people, unless you put some chairs and a TV set on the roof for the die hards. Hey, not a bad idea.

Hooters – The place had no signal and this translated into a lot of disgruntled fans. About 30 people remained into the second quarter, eating breakfast and hoping the game would come on. I have a hunch that Hooters may be the victims of playing by the rules.

Here’s why. Two years ago, I helped organize a Super Bowl party at a hotel for the Seattle-Pittsburgh game. A venue check the night before found everything ready, NFL China donated footballs, mini-helmets, and silver coins as prizes, an ex-Seattle Seahawks cheerleader agreed to give them out, and the breakfast buffet the next morning looked great. We watched the pre-game show and as it approached kick-off time, the channel switched to… swimming. (Backstroke, I believe.) ESPN Star Sports in Singapore listed the game as available in China. It wasn’t and the hotel had no legal means of getting the signal. I’m not sure if this happened with Hooters – I’ll try to find out.

The Den – Just as I went through the threshold, an employee jutted his hand in front of me and at a sign that read, “RMB 50 – breakfast, including coffee and tea.” The Den, which typically offers good service inside, seems to have lost a few steps at the door of late in Ye Olde Hospitality Department.

The Pavillion – About 20 to 25 people gathered in an area adjacent to the bar to watch the game. I grabbed a coffee and watched the rest of the second quarter.

Then, as I have for the past three Super Bowls, I jumped in a cab and headed for the Goose and Duck / that’s Beijing party. This is the first one to be held in Goose and Duck’s new digs and the place is vast to say the least. I would guess more than 300 people had seats with a decent view of that thrilling finish, after which HWSBB finally put on The Sweater.

* On the other hand, he could make a killing on E-bay by selling The Sweater to giddy Giants fan.