By Alan Marsden

Our unofficial national holiday is just days away.  It’s almost mandatory we stop talking about Rod Blagojevic and economic stimuli and focus on Super Bowl XLIII.   While many of the pre-game headlines focus on Hines Ward or Bruce Springsteen I can’t get my mind off those blasted roman numerals.  On Action News, Wednesday, we ran a Web poll asking viewers what is the best part of the Super Bowl:  The game?  The commercials? etc.  I’m sorry but I’m going to be negative and talk about my least favorite thing about the Super Bowl:  the aforementioned blasted roman numerals.

All those X’s and V’s and I’s seemed pretty cool in the early years of the huge championship game.  It made sense when the game was being played in places like the Los Angeles Coliseum.  It gave the ultimate in football games a gladiator feel - Super Bowl VII.  And let’s be honest, who could have foreseen the problem we face four decades later?  Back then we could work it out in our minds almost instantaneously.  V equals 5, I equals 1.  Five plus two ones equals seven, Super Bowl Seven!  Easy!

Fast-forward to 2009 and the Cardinals and Steelers play in Super Bowl XLIII.  Not so easy, is it?  Where did the L come from?  What the heck IS L, anyway?  Actually, that’s nothing.  Remember Super Bowl XXXVIII? 

Besides introducing us to the term "wardrobe malfunction," it was also a record setting championship game.  Not for anything the Patriots or Panthers (or Janet Jackson) did on the field but for the number of digits in the title, seven.  By the way, I predict that record will be broken in the year 2054 with Super Bowl LXXXVIII.

NFL fans need more than a roman numeral refresher these days.  We all need to enroll in Roman Numerals CI, i.e. Roman Numerals 101.

Here are the basics:

I  = 1

V = 5

X = 10

L = 50

C = 100

D = 500

M = 1000

Okay, so let’s see if I can get this right.  The current year, 2009, would therefore be expressed as MMIX.  Try this one:  I was born in the year MCMLXIII.  Go ahead and take a few minutes to work that one out.  Just to be clear though, XXL is not a roman numeral.  That’s my shirt size, though I’m working to get back to size XL, which, by the way, does not mean size 40.  See?  It makes your head spin.  I can’t wait for Super Bowl L.  My head needs a rest.

(want to figure out your birth year in roman numerals?  use the link below)

http://www.onlineconversion.com/romannumerals.htm

When George Washington passed the presidential torch to John Adams in 1797 the world was amazed.  Why would this famous and revered man willingly give up the most powerful position in the new nation in favor of retirement?  The precedent-setting act has been repeated more than forty times since and on Tuesday the world will once again witness the peaceful transfer of power in America.  I can’t wait.

Not because I’m like those people who, for the past year or so, have expressed their sentiments for the 43^rd president with the simple and subtle bumper sticker – 01/20/09.  No, I simply love the pomp and ceremony that symbolizes the greatness of our nation.  Presidential inaugurals are simply a remarkable thing and on Tuesday morning I will be up early with the TV on, taking in every minute of the historic day. 

While I clearly remember the re-election of Richard Nixon in 1972 I do not specifically remember that inauguration.  I do remember January 20^th, 1977.  I was a young teenager as I watched Jimmy Carter take the oath on the Capitol steps then walk down Pennsylvania Avenue to occupy his new home.

 Four years later, as a high school senior, I watched a dejected and weary President Carter stoically participate in the ceremony that placed his political opponent in the office he had hoped to retain.  We learned later that day that Carter had been up most of the night working the phones in an effort to finalize the release of 52 Americans held hostage for more than a year in Iran.  The release did happen that day, but only after Ronald Reagan was sworn-in as the 40^th President of the United States.

I have paid attention to this marvelous and unique American tradition ever since.  Political parties may battle it out in the houses of Congress and on the campaign trail, but on January 20^th, every four years, we celebrate our Constitution, our history and our freedom.  For me this is neither corny nor cliché.  I am a first generation American who is proud to call himself an American.  I am not ashamed to say we all should be proud to be Americans.

I fully expect to feel an enormous sense of pride as I watch Barack Obama Tuesday as he swears to “…preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States” and becomes our 44^th President.  This is not an indication of who I voted for.  It is an acknowledgement that he is the choice of the people and he has my support.