Rotarians throw pigskin party

Feb. 13—Cleburne Rotarians relished soup bowl dining and Super Bowl memories during their Thursday weekly luncheon.

Before the football fun commenced, however, Cleburne Rotary President Peter Kamfer informed attendees that Thursday was National Boy Scout Day, as well as national laugh and get rich days. Confusion arose among several Rotarians over whether laugh and get rich days were separate, unconnected events or whether they were connected as in, if you laugh today you'll surely get rich.

Consensus seemed to indicate that the two are separate festivities that simply happen to fall on the same day. Several Rotarians laughed all the same just to make sure though to no avail when it came to newfound riches.

Odd faux holiday notifications sorted, Kamfer asked those assembled if they knew who was playing in Sunday's then upcoming Super Bowl (spoiler alert: the Chiefs won) of which most present knew.

Kamfer asked if they cared to a roughly 50/50 response.

Nor had anyone present ever attended a Super Bowl though Kamfer said he was at the infamous 1967 Ice Bowl where he enjoyed the -13 degrees weather and the Green Bay Packers 21-17 victory over the Dallas Cowboys.

One Rotarian, either jesting or woefully uninformed, asked if Dallas was in this year's Super Bowl.

Rotarian Paul Verweers recalled his days as a lad in the '90s when the Cowboys last tasted Super Bowl glory, or success in general for that matter.

"Back then I figured they just always went to the Super Bowl," Verweers said. "I didn't know we were going to be going 30 years without any of that."

With that, Rotarians settled in to watch a video titled "The Complete History of the Super Bowl."

First played in 1967, the Packers won, the game originally flew under the AFL-NFL World Championship Game moniker with the Super Bowl replacement name being first used casually but then adopted officially just a few years in.

Bart Starr, Joe Namath, Tom Brady and other big-name players and coaches of note appeared in the video as did the legendary 1985 Chicago Bears not to mention nods to the Pittsburgh Steelers —tied at six with the Patriots for the most Super Bowl wins — and the Miami Dolphins' undefeated 1972 season.

Highlighted too, the Super Bowl Half-time shows originally the domain of marching bands, pigeons and men in flight powered by jet packs through to today's extravagant albeit rarely good musical spectacles.

Game tickets in '67 cost $6 and a TV ad $42,000. Both cost a bit more now.

Then again, the game now airs in 180 countries in 29 languages offering a great opportunity for advertisers to showcase their wares.

For those still not interested in the Super Bowl, Kamfer remarked that Thursday also marked National Go Fly A Kite Day.