This morning, we watched live coverage of press day from New Jersey, where Super Bowl XLVIII will be held. It's interesting watching how the different players handle the media maelstrom. Richard Sherman is in his element (heck, he showed up EARLY for the presser), while Marshawn Lynch would rather hide under a rock.
In case you're wondering what's up with the team in blue and green and their crazy fans (a/k/a 12s), here's little primer: 12 things the casual football fan should know about the Seahawks.
Photos all over my Facebook feed show the Empire State Building awash in Seahawks' colors. It's because Seahawks' fans won a social media contest. Ironically, when we were in NY in September, the Empire state building was lit in blue and green. Back then, I posted this photo to Facebook and wrote, "Nice of them to decorate the Empire State Building in Seahawks' colors for us."
When we were there, it was the opening weekend of regular season NFL games, and so, of course, we thought "Seahawks!" However, the locals told us it was probably for the Jets (green) and the Giants (blue).
Oh well, whatever the occasion, I think the iconic building looks fabulous in blue and green!
While watching the pre-Super Bowl festivities today, we saw a new ad on ESPN featuring the mascots for the teams, the Seahawks' Blitz and the Broncos' Miles.
http://youtu.be/GBKX2RV3Ajw
"Why do you think the Broncos' mascot is named Miles?" I asked afterward. (Yes, even an ad for the Super Bowl is a teachable moment!) The kids were both stumped by the question. They made guesses about horses being able to run well. Wrong! And so, they were instructed to do some research on Denver's topography. Miles is Miles "because Denver's official elevation is one mile above sea level," CJ now knows.
The Seattle Times has started running crafts related to the Seahawks. Today's project was a fold-it-up 'fortune teller.'
You can get a pattern and instructions in a PDF here: http://www.seattletimescompany.com/fanfrenzy/pdfs/fortune.pdf
HELLO, DOLLY!: We crammed a few genetics lectures in today, all fascinating stuff. A photo on the intro slide to the lectures often features a sheep. "What's up with the sheep?" CJ asked today, not for the first time. So, after we finished the lecture we talked a little bit 'bout Dolly, the cloned sheep. I found a great 13-minute New York Times feature called "RetroReport" did a great job of recounting the birth of Dolly, including precisely how she came to be, as well as chronicling the reactions and fallout to the scientific breakthrough.
Dolly NYT RetroReport: http://nyti.ms/1akMtFk
It took 400 attempts to produce Dolly. Most of the creatures died before or right after birth. In a way, Dolly had three mothers. One female sheep provided the egg, the DNA came from another and a third carried the cloned embryo to term.
Fun trivia fact - the video disclosed the genesis of Dolly's name. She was created by taking a sheep egg and cleansing it of its DNA, and then attaching DNA from an adult sheep's mammary gland, which brought Dolly Parton to mind, and that's all scientist Ian Wilmut wanted to say about that.
Dolly died when she was 6 years old. Today, visitors to the National Museum of Scotland can view Dolly's taxidermied remains (pictured below, via Wikipedia).
WHERE HAVE ALL THE FLOWERS GONE?: A musical legend left Earth today. I loved Pete Seeger songs as a child - especially the sing-along ones he wrote and/or popularized, like "If I had a Hammer" and "Michael Row Your Boat Ashore."
This afternoon I shared some Seeger songs with the kids. We ended on this one - Joan Baez poignantly performing "Where Have all the Flowers Gone?" for Seeger at his Kennedy Center Honors evening. which leaves my misty eyed and a bit breathless.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3ly8cyWvkw
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