Some time in the mid-'80s or so, after the Oakland Raiders stopped winning championships with tactics so violent as to make the Marquis de Sade blush, the Super Bowl ceased to be a sporting match and graduated to the far grander status of American Cultural Moment (brought to you by British Petroleum). Bucking the long-standing convention of the participants determining (by dint of their team affiliations) the composition of the fan base, the Super Bowl stopped concerning itself with Your Team versus My Team and began to focus on that which truly defines us as a nation.

Namely softcore pornography and two-minute online pet store commercials.

Having abandoned the old prerequisite of having something emotionally invested in one team over another, the big game is now simply a spectacular excuse to eat dodgy fried poultry remains, wear your jammies in public, discuss half-time beer advertisements with a level of metacritical analysis rarely brought to bear in one's philosophy classes, and consume onion dip as if it might cure obesity.

To that end, the good folks at IC After Dark are hosting the Super Bowl party to end all Super Bowl parties (well, at least those Super Bowl parties hosted by student organizations at IC). Check 'em out on that Face-type book the young people are always going on about.

All the essential elements of football viewing will be in place, including

• huge TVs!
• pizza and wings!
• some football tossing something or other for contextual verity!
• two sets of risers on the off-chance that some actual Cardinals fans might show up to buck the trend!
• a digital hook-up featuring up-to-the-minute odds and the over-under from Vegas! (I kid -- gambling is illegal. Do something smart with your money, like short-selling Chrysler.)
• crafts! (Any party that takes sports widows into consideration is okay by me.)

The shenanigans kick-off (oh, the cleverness!) at 5:30 p.m. on Sunday at Emerson Suites. They're even raffling off tickets for next year's Cortaca Jug, which is a much better prize than tickets for last year's Cortaca Jug, which really won't do you much good at this point.

Bring me back a wing. From a chicken, if possible.

Ithaca College students came together today by the hundreds in one of the biggest crowds this campus has seen since, well, Election Day, to celebrate Barack Obama's inauguration.

Crammed into a standing-room-only Emerson Suites, students actually stood up when Obama recited the oath (despite an embarrassing fumble by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court).

In the videos below, you'll see the crowd's reaction, followed by three students' opinions on this historic event, as well as comments from a student affairs organizer on the massive turnout.

And here's what Doreen Hettich-Atkins, coordinator of special services and programs for the Division of Student Affairs and Campus Life, had to say about the turnout. Doreen was one of the organizers of today's viewing party, as well as yesterday's MLK Day celebration of service.

Let's cut to the chase: the inauguration today of Barack Obama as the President of the United States is likely to be the biggest event-generator on a Tuesday for some time to come. And even if you didn't vote for the guy, you'd be hard pressed not to marvel at the outpouring of hope and commitment to the ideals of this country. When was the last time people got this excited about Inauguration Day? Or, for that matter, the business of government?

It's safe to say that Ithaca, more than almost any city in the country, is by and large a land of very happy campers today. As the only community that voted for Obama in the NYS primary, it's not surprising that more than a few people feel vindicated and validated by today's events. And as Ithacans often do, they're going to get a bit rowdy because of it.

You

I won't lie to you, I've seen a few things of note in my time, but this is right up there with the biggest. Where once people would ask "where were you when Kennedy was shot/Armstrong walked on the moon/Cheech met Chong?" -- insert other cultural ephemera as you see fit  -- people will spend the next 60 years wondering aloud about what you were doing when Barack Obama became president. If you're lucky, the answer won't be "I was in line for the can at Starbucks because my phone was off and my watch stopped and I thought the damn thing wasn't happening until later."

Whatever you end up doing, make sure you tell us about it using the comments tool. We want to know how the IC community spent this historic day, especially if it's likely to make us laugh so hard the Guinness comes out of our noses. What can I tell you, we like the jokes.
 

Day

Much to the chagrin of tavern owners in blue state communities across the country, the actual swearing-in ceremony happens not during prime drinking hours, but rather at noon. There are countless opportunities to share this historic moment with friends and strangers alike, including

• Right here on campus at Emerson suites. From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., the presidential shenanigans will be shown to the gaping throng, most of whom (if they're anything like me) will be sitting around in a state of catatonic amazement, muttering the same refrain: "Really? No, really?"
• Pixel Lounge in Collegetown, for those of you who have decided to ditch class from a greater distance. Big kids only (21+) are encouraged to bring lunch and a thirst for democracy (and beer). Doors open at 11 a.m.; celebratory gestures of falling down likely to kick in around 12:15 p.m.
• If for some reason you find yourself at that other school this morning, the Straight is doing something or other that probably involves wearing "Lynah Faithful" shirts and yelling about Harvard.

Whatever you do, if you really want to see President Obama (wow, just...wow) try to avoid watching online. As much fun as it potentially could be to interact via various social media gizmos and such, the simple fact is bandwidth is being crushed today. So far today the web is crawling like a red-nosed drunk the morning after the night before, and it promises to get a lot worse. Good old fashioned TV is your best bet for clear pictures and resonant Zeitgeist.
 

Night

Inauguration balls will be raging throughout the night, and our little satellite of democracy seems hell bent on behaving in kind. There are parties galore tonight, including

• Mine, a.k.a. Inaugurate This! I'll be spinning (I use the term loosely -- there's a laptop involved) at Korova from 10 p.m. til close, featuring some favorites from the new president's iPod, as well as some tasty tunes particularly suited to the funky moment. There promises to be a surfeit of "hell yeah!" and "whooo!"
• The aforementioned Pixel Loungewill be graced by DJ Fuzzy Duck, who (if previous experience holds) will be droppin' old school beats and generally shakin' it for those who can't shake it themselves.
• Felicia's Atomic Lounge will be promoting the art of fabulousness as they always do -- they'll just be doing it with a bit more gusto and a lot more "Baracktails" than usual.

There are probably numerous booze-free events going on as well, and if you find them please let us know. Let's just say some of us (who are of age, natch) can't quite envision this event without a stiff drink and a lot of hollering.

Alright, enough of my yakkin'. Go forth and embrace democracy, and if you can, let us know how it goes. Pictures are welcome, as long as they include enough fabric to sew a loin cloth if need be.

I used to live in Washington, D.C. Had a little hovel at 14th and N, right in the middle of what had been the open wound left in the wake of the riots that followed the 1968 murder of Martin Luther King, Jr. (more on him in a minute).

33 years after that nightmarish series of events, life in the neighborhood was, in many ways, only just turning around. Unfortunately I arrived just in time to see a pretty horrific (if temporary) backslide. During my brief tenure a mere eight blocks or so from the White House, I lived through 9/11, the anthrax attacks (as opposed to the Anthrax reunion tour, which would have been fun), a sudden and violent downturn in the job market, and the sale of my apartment out from under my sorry broke self.

So, you know, fond memories all around.

I'm a big believer in the pendulum theory of life -- the farther it goes in one direction, the more dramatic the back swing. And babies, I am hard pressed to imagine anything more dramatically different from that dire autumn of 2001 than what we're about to witness in our capital in the next four days. 

Before we can get to the business of the inauguration, there is of course the small matter of celebrating the life and hard work of the man who played a key role not only in making the 2008 election result possible, but also in several of the most pivotal moments in Washington's (and the nation's) history. When Martin Luther King Jr. introduced "I have a dream" to the American idiom, I'm not sure even he imagined that a little two-year-old boy living in Hawaii that day would take that dream and run with it. Yet here we are, 80 years after the birth of one of our most inspirational leaders, staring the living drama of U.S. history square in the mug.

Suffice to say it's always important to breathe new life into King's dream of peace and justice, but this year the timing is almost cosmic.

Thus, to kick off what promises to be one of the more festive Monday-Tuesday combos we'll see for some time, IC presents "A Day On, Not a Day Off" -- a celebration of service to honor the spirit of Martin Luther King. Eat breakfast, watch movies, and dive into topics so hot they'll make you forget all about this weekend's sub-zero temperatures. Cap it all off with the third annual School of Music MLK Day celebration concert at Ford Hall. Maybe even break into a round of "Happy Birthday."

And then get some sleep, because Tuesday promises to be entirely off the chain. More on that soon.