this day was about two things: the impending snowstorm that would blanket our area and the super bowl happening later in the evening. since i'd be staying home all day today, there was no urgency to wake up early. when i finally got out of bed, i made myself a matcha latte with a bowl of sichuan paocai, a rather peculiar lunch but that was what i was in the mood in.

the snow began to fall by late morning. not heavy at first, but it quickly sped up and started to accumulate. by the afternoon i had some leftover drumsticks, scallion bread, and italian sausage. i watched the NFL pre-show. i took photos of the snow from my living room window and watched as the snow silently fell in large clumps.

in the late afternoon (4pm) i went outside to take some photos around my street. it was the kind of pretty snow that coated tree branches. there were no doubt plenty of other photo opportunities around the neighborhood, but with the super bowl just a few short hours away, i went back inside the house to get ready.

i was going to wait until it finished snowing by later this evening to shovel, but to my surprise, steve can out twice during the course of the day to shovel the sidewalk.

i went out once more around twilight to take some blue hour photos of the snow. it was still snowing, and my umbrella and jacket were covered in snow as i went back inside the house.

the super bowl started at 6pm. usually commercial breaks are for getting food from the kitchen or using the bathroom, but with the super bowl, the commercials are also an attraction, and i couldn't get away. i had to quickly run to the kitchen or bathroom during commercials i'd seen before, and even then there would only last 30 seconds. i grabbed some more leftover barbecue from last night for dinner.

so it was the kansas city chiefs versus the tampa bay buccaneers. i already decided a while back that i would root for tom brady after all. as painful as it is to see him win without the patriots, it was also the age old battle between age and experience versus youth and talent. no doubt mahomes is and will be a great quarterback now and for future to come, but tom brady is the greatest-of-all-times, and i was ready for people to anoint mahomes as the new greatest. the buccaneers were also the underdog, and i always root for the underdog when i don't have a vested interest in either teams. i also learned recently that the kansas city chiefs' owners donate exclusively to republican causes, while the tampa bay buccaneers' are split in their political loyalty. it's easier to just imagine them as the new england buccaneers.

both teams had stifling defense, and neither one seemed to be able to score. the chiefs put points on the board first with a field goal. the buccaneers answered with a touchdown. everything fell apart for kansas city in the second quarter though. they kept getting penalties after penalties, kept giving tampa bay additional chances to score. tom brady wasted no time in capitalizing, and scored 2 more touchdowns, while kansas city could only muster another field goal. going into halftime, the score was 21-6. interestingly enough, rob gronkowski scored the first two touchdowns, and antonio brown had the third. does tom brady only throw to former patriots?

it as lopsided, but everyone figured the chiefs would adjust and find ways to score. but that never happened, thanks to the buccaneers' defense. they kept pressuring mahomes, and he could never get into a rhythm, even though a struggling mahomes still made some amazing throws that gave his teams some chances to score. but that didn't happen. tampa bay scored 10 more points in the 3rd quarter, while the kansas city could only muster yet another field goal. in the 4th quarter - with the team up by 31-9 - tom brady and company played the clock, started going to their running game. the chiefs' defense seemed demoralized, they stopped plays, but the buccaneers still managed to get downs. neither team scored in the 4th quarter which meant the tampa bay buccaneers won the super bowl.

tom brady wins his 7th super bowl ring in 10 super bowl appearances. no NFL player has gone to more super bowls, no NFL player has won more. i'm happy for brady but it's also bittersweet. it would've been nice if he could've been a patriots forever. had he stayed, i'm not sure if we'd be going to another super bowl. after 2 decades, it seemed like a loveless marriage, and maybe it was inevitable - either brady leaves on his own or the team doesn't even bother resigning him, or try to sign him for cheap. i still trust belicheck though, and i'm excited about next season. if by some miracle we can get jimmy garoppolo back (and provided he's healthy, he's been shown to be not the most durable of QB's), and add some talent to the team, it'd be interesting to see a new patriots team.

after the game, i went outside to do a bit of shoveling. even though steve shoveled, he doesn't do a thorough enough job, and there was still snow on the sidewalk. i tried to get down to the pavement but it was late i didn't want to make too much noise so i did the best that i could.