Next Sunday a lot of Americans, including residents of the Bay Area, will be glued to their seats watching the game, overeating, drinking too much, and occasionally regressing to a subspecies of human.
Not me. I loathe the sport.
I don't advertise this fact. I realize that I would find myself denigrated and demeaned if I let the whole world and his uncle know about my dislike. So let's keep this a secret just between us.
In fact, I find the world "sport" a real misnomer for this spectacle of the overpaid thudding around a field in pursuit of a little leather ball. Considering the size of the padding vs. the size of the ball, I suspect some serious psychological problems with Freudian overtones are endemic in both the players and the spectators.
Starting in January or maybe even earlier, the TV is filled with instant experts, all mouthing sports talk - they rival the current political debates in their trivial, inane and repetitious commentary. The conversation is so boring that even drying paint would fall asleep listening to it.
Unfortunately for drying paint, it can't get down off the wall and escape, but we can.
In the Bay Area there are a lot of options for those of us who want to avoid the contemporary version of gladiatorial games.
The museums are full of wonderful shows and they are open on Sunday. Many of the museums have nice cafes where you are not bombarded with televisions announcers blaring a minute-by-minute rehash of what just transpired. Then, regurgitating it back again in even louder and more excruciating detail.
Here are just a few of my current picks:
The Sculpture of Stephen De Staebler Jan. 14.-April 22. A posthumous survey devoted to the beloved Bay Area sculptor who applied ceramic materials and techniques to sculptures with non-sectarian religious and humanistic overtones. De Young Museum, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco. (415) 750-3600, www.famsf.org.
Question Bridge: Black Males Jan. 20-April 22. Hank Willis Thomas, Chris Johnson and several other artists produced a video montage from interviews with 150 African American men across the social spectrum, creating illusory dialogues that illuminate their shared concerns. Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak St., Oakland. (510) 318-8400, www.museumca.org.
Andy Warhol: Polaroids Jan. 27-May 20. Spotlighting a gift from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, these photos represent the most personal side of the pop maven's output. Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way, Berkeley. (510) 642-0808, www.bampfa.berkeley.edu.
Tables of Content: Ray Johnson and Robert Warner "Bob Box Archive" Jan. 27-May 20. The late enigmatic, famous-for-not-being-famous Ray Johnson gave collagist Robert Warner 13 boxes - the "Bob Boxes" - full of ephemera. Warner will arrange their contents here for whatever meaning they might generate. Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way, Berkeley. (510) 642-0808, www.bampfa.berkeley.edu.
Walker Evans Feb. 1-April 8. A career survey of vintage prints by the immensely influential 20th century photographer. Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University, Stanford. (650) 723-4177, www.museum.stanford.edu.
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