Believe It Or Not, There Are People Who Didn’t Watch the Super Bowl

I am at the Torrey Pines Glider Port, overlooking a shimmering Pacific and an Oz-like La Jolla Cove in the distance.

The rest of outdoor San Diego is gripped by an eerie stillness that descends one Sunday afternoon each January. Traffic on Interstate 5 is thinned; Horton Plaza is languid; the zoo, the parks, the golf courses and the parking lots surrounding Mission Bay are depopulated.

The populace has gone indoors to watch Super Bowl XXIV on television. Many people are partying.

One survey says 37% of non-comatose, adult Americans are attending a Super Bowl party. I believe it; I also believe every single one of them was ahead of me in the checkout line at Ralph’s in Encinitas buying chips, dip and chili powder.

I have come to Torrey Pines to talk to those unaffected by Super Bowlism. I figure such a serene spot will bring a contemplative response to my query: What’s a matter with you, un-American?

I talk to Sue Eddington of Del Mar, who is reading a romance paperback. “Football is too aggressive,” she says.

I approach Bill and Mary Samuelson, teachers on holiday from Wyoming.

“He wanted to stay back at the hotel room and watch the game on TV,” says the wife. “I told him if he did, I was going to a nude beach without him.”

Other responses: “I hate football.” “I lost interest when the Rams were eliminated.” “Super what?” “What kind of question is that?”

I notice an older couple sitting in lawn chairs near the edge of the bluff. How beautiful, I think, enjoying the golden sunshine in their golden years.

I creep closer. Then I see it.

On his lap is a tiny television, maybe five inches in diagonal. The blue light flickers bravely in the midday sun, the announcer is analyzing a Joe Montana pass.

I leave unbidden. Devotion like that deserves respect.

Broderick Mansion Put on Sale

It’s all over town.

* Life goes on. So does real estate.

The December edition of Dicta, the magazine of the San Diego County Bar Assn., carried a full-page memorial for attorney Daniel T. Broderick and wife Linda, who were shot to death in their Hillcrest home on Nov. 5.

The January edition of Dicta carried a full-page ad for the Brodericks’ “exquisite Georgian mansion,” 4-bedroom, 3 1/2-bath, a wooded half-acre. Asking price: $1,375,000.

An agent for Park West Real Estate Corp. says response to the ad has been enthusiastic.

* Kathleen Brown, the daughter and sister of governors, slipped into San Diego last week to campaign quietly for state treasurer.

She lunched with downtown bankers at the University Club in hopes of persuading the gray-suit set that she is not her brother’s political heir. That Gov. Moonbeam stuff dies hard in conservative circles.

* The owner of Gamma Gamma clothing-and-trinket store along Highway 101 in Encinitas has bowed to city pressure and repainted his purple storefront a soothing tan.

He’s still being outrageous, however. The black-clad mannequins in his display window are engaged in acts of bondage, complete with handcuffs and whips.

At Last, Spuds Fit for Soviet Fries

Mayor Maureen O’Connor and McDonald’s magnate Joan Kroc are set to be in Moscow for Wednesday’s gala opening of the Soviet Union’s first McDonald’s.

The historic deal between the Soviets and McDonald’s-Canada, which calls for 19 more outlets in short order, was 12 years in the making. There were cultural, political and agricultural differences.

Among them: McDonald’s discovered that the native potatoes that are a staple of the Soviet diet, and supply starch for the famous Russian vodka, are not suitable for french fries. What to do?

McDonald’s imported farmers from the Netherlands to plant 60 hectares of Russet Burbank potatoes at four farms around Moscow. This year, 250 hectares.

Free enterprise is new to the Soviets. But they learn fast.

The Moscow City Council demanded (and got) 51% control of the joint venture.