February 7th

Day 9.

My neck finally felt better today. I was so relieved.

We woke up at our normal time this morning and spent a couple of hours working (in Lori’s case) and writing (in my case).

By eleven, however, it was getting hot, so we decided to get into the pool. When we got there, we were pleasantly surprised to find our Danish neighbors there, as well as some new neighbors, a couple who lived up in the villas above the pool. The couple looked to be in their 30s, and they lived in England. He, a Venezuelan, worked as a freelance web developer, and she, a Brit, worked at a startup that sold a meditation and focus training app. They were a nice addition to our slowly building group, and all six of us lounged in the pool, beverages in hand, chatting away for the next four hours.

At four-thirty in the afternoon, Lori and I said goodbye, headed out, and went to Nativo. It was game time. When I sat down, I was given a free shot and appetizer. There were lots of people there, but twenty dollar seats at a bar never felt so good. I felt like I was royalty; I could envision a goblet of mead to my right, a plate of grapes to my left, and servants fanning me on all sides.

My fantasy lifted and the Super Bowl started. It was nerve-wracking. Peyton looked healthy, but the running game couldn’t push through as much as it could in previous games, and the passing game wasn’t very effective, either. On every third down but one, the Panthers’ defense left us coming up short and empty-handed. Most of the points we earned ended up being credited to the kicker.

The Broncos’ defense, on the other hand, was a force to be reckoned with and gave Cam Newton a run for his money, or this case, to prevent from being sacked, which eventually happened seven times.

It was an ugly game, but I fully expected Carolina to regroup at some point, figure out our stupidly simple strategy, and fight back. Everyone did. Once again, we proved we were stronger than we looked, and when the game ended and we were announced the champions, I was honestly dumbfounded. It felt hollow, like we had cheated somehow.

We didn’t win by throwing the most yards, or scoring the most touchdowns, or running the ball the farthest, or having the spryest quarterback or the winningest coach. We won by shutting down the other team.

It would be as if you owned a company and you rose to the top not by having the best products, but by eliminating the competition. I think all of us are very familiar with a corporation or two that exhibits these properties.

Perhaps this kind of behavior isn’t as deplorable as we make it out to be, though. If you think about it, it’s perfectly natural. After all, we as humans are at the top of the food chain. We know this, and we’re proud of it. How’d we get there? We were smart and we figured out how to congregate, to communicate, and to hunt down and kill the other animals.

Comparisons to game theory aside, after watching the Super Bowl, Lori and were tired, and went straight to bed after getting home.