Ospreys in the Superbowl

Last Friday, I caught part of the "Ellen" talk show. She was having a big pre Superbowl Extravaganza. I came in quite a bit late but was amused that so much of the show was dedicated to mocking her own ignorance about football. She had a contest with a few audience members called "Kick the not round ball through the goalie thingies." She also gave advice for a play, complete with dry erase board markings, that included having a player get up from the bench mid-play and run out and catch the ball. You'd think that these clues would have tipped me off for totally disregarding anything Ellen said on that show, but nooooooo.

She kept referring to the two teams that were playing as the Steelers and the Ospreys. I haven't kept up with football in quite a few years so I assumed that the Ospreys must be a newer NFL team. I told Scout, who was going to her In-Laws house for their annual Superbowl party, that the Ospreys were playing.

I tuned in to the game just to see what was happening, then saw that it was the Seahawks that were playing against the Steelers. I laughed thinking that I had most likely missed the part of Ellen's show where she probably joked that there was no such thing as a Seahawk; that they were really called Ospreys, and had continued to use the term the rest of her show. Then I thought about Scout and wondered if she had used the Osprey term to anyone at the party.

She called me later and asked if I had set her up. She figured I must have been pulling her leg and yes, she did mention to someone at the party that she "knew" one of the teams playing was the Ospreys. I laughed so hard at this. One, because I could picture her face when she was told there was no such team and two, that my ignorance had been passed on to a totally innocent person and one that I love so much.

The moral of the story is to check your sources before foisting your wisdom on others, especially when your information comes from a professional comedian. Thanks, Ellen!