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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. We end on a lighter note today for our last few minutes because yesterday was the Super Bowl, and we're not going to talk about the game, and we're not going to talk about how many cutaways of Taylor Swift there were. We're going to ask, what's your Super Bowl that's not the actual Super Bowl? 212-433-WNYC. What's your Super Bowl in your personal or professional life? 212-433-9692.
Why is whatever it is a big deal for you, the biggest deal of the year for you? And what are you looking forward to in particular this year that might qualify as your Super Bowl? 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. Just staying on sports, maybe you train for the New York City Marathon or for Ironman, maybe you've participated in one of Coney Island's 121 annual Polar Bear Plunges on New Year's Day. Cyclists, are there any annual long-haul rides that you participate in every year or plan to this year?
What's your personal Super Bowl that's not the actual Super Bowl? 212-433-9692.This is not just about sporting events, could be in the arts. Painters, sculptors, makeup artists, tattoo artists, what's the biggest event of the year for you? Is there an arts Super Bowl in your artistic world? 212-433-9692. Maybe you're just a big fan of the arts. Anyone have a long streak of going to see, I don't know, Shakespeare in the park?
Is that your Super Bowl, as a fan, like so many people in the United States and even around the world flock to their televisions or their local bars for the Super Bowl as their big spectator event of the year, if they're not personally at the game even? 212-433-WNYC. What's your personal Super Bowl that's not the actual Super Bowl, or maybe, professionally, is there a big competition you look forward to each year?
Did you know, for example, this Tuesday and Wednesday in New York is the US's largest networking event for women in construction? Yes, that's a thing. What other professional conventions are you looking forward to this year as your professional Super Bowl? Maybe it's the Consumer Electronic Show or whatever. Our lines are now full. We'll take your calls in a minute, 212-433-WNYC. Stay with us.
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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Okay, what's your personal Super Bowl that's not the actual Super Bowl? Barbara in Wilton, Connecticut, you're on WNYC. Hi, Barbara.
Barbara: Hi, Brian. I'm a daily listener, longtime listener. I teach and practice yoga in Hot Studio in Norwalk, Connecticut, YogaSol, and we usually have five classes a day. We started years ago, on Cinco de Mayo, practicing five hot yoga classes. Daily devotees, maybe a dozen of us would sign up and we would do five classes on 5/5/15, and we kept it going for several years.
COVID put a little blip into it, but we try to do that every year and it's just our Super Bowl of hot yoga. Yes, from 6:00 AM till 7:00 in the evening, we're in that hot room.
Brian Lehrer: Your Super Bowl of hot yoga on Cinco de Mayo, what a great way to start. Joe in New Windsor, you're on WNYC. Hi, Joe.
Joe: Hey, Brian. I am a longtime listener and first-time caller. Thanks for having me on. My Super Bowl took place just a couple of weeks ago. My son Nicholas plays volleyball for Emmanuel College. He's the starting libero. A couple of years ago, Nicholas played for a club. The coach of the club said that if he chose to go to a school-- I won't name the school, let's just say that the initials are N-P, if he chose to go to NP, he would not be good enough to play on that team.
Well, wbout two weeks ago, Nicholas' Emmanuel college team played NP and they beat them three to one, so it was a little bit of sweet revenge for me. I remember remarking, when the game was over and after my cheering was done and I calmed down, that was my Super Bowl.
Brian Lehrer: That's so cool. I guess he wasn't on the Baruch College Super Volleyball team with George Santos.
Joe: [laughs] He was not. Oh, we beat them too, though, by the way.
Brian Lehrer: [laughs] Joe, thank you very much. One of the many things that George Santos made up, for those of you who don't know the reference. Some great texts coming in. Susan from Atlanta, "I swam across the Hudson River at the Tappan Zee Bridge. It was a fundraiser for cystic fibrosis, my personal Super Bowl." If you know that area, by the way, that is a lot wider, Hudson River, over there than it is say here between Fort Lee in upper Manhattan where the George Washington Bridge is, so yay, Susan.
Another one writes, "Hi, Brian. I'm an art teacher in the New York City Public Schools and my Super Bowl is P.S. Art, an annual juried exhibit at the Met of Artwork made by New York City Public School students. It's a super competitive exhibit and the work is gorgeous, opens each June, check it out." Another text message, Neil from the Bronx, "Work in politics. My Super Bowl is every time there is an election." Yes, so this year's going to be the Super Bowl of Super Bowls. Tia in Peekskill, you're on WNYC. Hi, Tia.
Tia: Hi. Mine is to get back on my knitting mountain. I lost my knitting mojo. That was my thing and I was great at it. My father got sick and I spent two years taking care of him, sitting in waiting rooms at Sloan Kettering and chemotherapy, and you would think that's when I would be knitting, but it didn't distract me enough. I had to read books and I didn't knit. After two years, he died the way he wanted to, at home, with us all there, and I discovered that I lost my knitting mojo.
My knitting people are the most sharing-- mainly women, people, get my mojo back and get back on my knitting mountain because I share it with all my family and friends and donate it, and it's just an important part of my--
Brian Lehrer: That's your personal Super Bowl, is getting back on your knitting mountain this year?
Tia: You bet. Yes.
Brian Lehrer: Go for it, Tia. Go, Tia, climb that knitting mountain. William in the Bronx, you're on WNYC. What's your personal Super Bowl?
William: How you doing Brian? First-time caller and I've listened to you so long. First off, shout out to your screener. My personal Super Bowl will be on March 8th, International Women's Day, when me and my brother Greg will turn 50 years old.
Brian Lehrer: Yay, all right. Do you want to say anything about turning 50?
William: Yes, milestone, and can't wait. Hopefully, it'll be a good one. I'm going to make it a good one. I'll take the day off and I'm going to eat some food and relax at home and just chill.
Brian Lehrer: That sounds good. Between you and your brother, you're going to be 100.
William: Yes, hopefully.
Brian Lehrer: [chuckles] Thank you very much. Happy birthday in advance. Sally in Manhattan, you're on WNYC. Hi, Sally.
Sally: Thanks for taking my call. I'm retired, so it's not related to my profession, but my favorite artist is Mark Roscoe. I am going to Paris the end of this month for six days. I will see a major exhibit at the Louis Vuitton Foundation twice. I just think it's a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It's certainly my Super Bowl for 2024 and it may remain in my mind much longer. Thank you.
Brian Lehrer: Super nice. Super fun. Enjoy it. All right, one more. Ari in Bushwick. Hi, Ari. What's your personal Super Bowl that's not the actual Super Bowl?
Ari: Hi, Ari. My wife and I are long-time listeners and we are circus sideshow performers.
Brian Lehrer: You're Ari, I'm Brian, but that's okay. Go ahead.
Ari: Yes, we're circus sideshow performers and our Super Bowl is the Mermaid Day Parade in Coney Island, USA. It's on June 22nd this year. It is the Super Bowl of the weird.
Everyone, come on out in March, come see us in the sideshow at Coney Island after that. The NFL might have Taylor Swift, but we have Miss Coney Island, USA, Aurora North, so come celebrate weird New York culture. That's something we're the best at in the world as New Yorkers.
Brian Lehrer: Ari, thank you so much. What a great way to end the Super Bowl of the weird from Ari in Bushwick and the Mermaid Parade at Coney Island. That's The Brian Lehrer Show for today, produced by Mary Croke, Lisa Allison, Amina Srna, Carl Boisrond, and Esperanza Rosenbaum. I'm so glad the previous caller shouted out our screeners. Those folks, for the most part, who do such an awesome job of talking to you off the air, before I talk to you on the air. Megan Ryan is the head of live radio, Juliana Fonda, and Milton Ruiz at the audio controls. I'm Brian Lehrer. Stay tuned for Alison.
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