It is with a mixture of elation and sadness that I'm approaching Super Bowl weekend. Here in Puerto Rico the game's pretty big, although nowhere near as big as in the States. Over there people routinely get together and throw these humongous Super Bowl parties. The good thing is that women get just as involved as men. Women go all ape shit and wear their favorite jerseys and some even paint their faces. Ideally, you have equal number of fans from both teams, to keep things interesting. There is eating and drinking galore.

This weekend I'm getting together with my brothers and other family members, with all the beer and food we can come up with. We got more 49er fans than Raven fans... but there are still some of both.

The sadness is because after the game it's all over until preseason in late August or September (which I never watch), and then the season opener sometime in September. The period directly following the Super Bowl is especially dead (in the U.S., anyway), and since I'm not much of an NBA fan... that doesn't leave much.

I just hope the game is good. Halftime should be more interesting than in recent years, since it's Beyonce performing. Let's hope for some skimpy clothing and maybe a wardrobe malfunction or two.

Go 49ers!!!