The music tonight was great - Ray Charles opening with "America the Beautiful", and even opening it with the second verse that the crowd was rather befuddled listening to. Great stuff.

Emmylou seemed to be beset by technical difficulties. From what I saw, it seemed she attempted to adjust the vocal mic, and had problems requiring her to hold it for the remainder of the performance. She DID try strumming once or twice at the beginning, but the mic kept slipping out of position.

At the very least, it was a creditable example of the 'happens to the best of us' cliche...

Oh... as to John in Hull's long ago question... In Aussie football, rugby and the like, there's a LOT of contact. But the game's designed to be a very free moving, fast paced open game. The contacts will occasionally be VERY harsh and crushing, but for the most part it's openfield tackles, scrums and the like. US football, on the other hand, is designed to HURT the other player. As a defensive player, you're out to take the other side down as quickly and effectively as possible - not avoid them, eliminate them.

Thus, padding becomes useful.

Personally, I'm not much of a fan of either sport. I'm nominally rooting for Arizona in the games, mainly because it'd just be TOO DAMNED TRITE for NY to win. I want reality to be reality, not some sappy made for TV ratings tear jerker. As it is, I get the feeling from watching some of the interviews with Seattle (the primary TV viewer in the household is a MAJOR sports addict) that they more or less decided that the Yankees not only might win, but should win. Watch the interview with the GM after the first game in NY. That was not a man expecting to win, or even to put up a good fight.

Oh well. I'll go back to my hockey, now. Go Ducks! Breathe that rarified non-cellar air!

M