Roman Numerals

Anyone with a passing interest in the practice of deep-frying, saucing and consuming chicken wings with celery and blue cheese knows the dish was created in Buffalo, N.Y. Pinpointing how the Super Bowl and chicken wings have become inextricably linked in the public's mind is another story. Maybe when Super Bowl M (1,000 for those who can't remember their Roman numerals) rolls around, watching it while munching chicken wings will seem as traditional and patriotic as turkey at Thanksgiving.

They arrive as individuals, impeccable in matching blue uniform tops, steaming styrofoam coffee cups in hand. They gather in a semicircle, bright eyes fixed on their field general, awaiting his direction. They've blended into a team. On an early morning four days before Super Bowl XLII, on a street of red-brick ranch homes in Baltimore County's Nottingham neighborhood, the six key players of Direct Audio & Video huddle for their version of a game-winning drive before screaming throngs.

If you thought solving the year 2000 computer glitch was going to be tricky, wait till you hear about the year 1999 problem.Never heard of it? Neither had Marietta Nelson -- who now wishes she hadn't.A reference librarian at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg -- one of two official U.S. timekeepers -- Nelson routinely fields queries from people wondering how to correctly express times and dates.Last month, the Miss Manners of chronology opened her e-mail and found a doozy: How do you write the year 1999 in Roman numerals?

If you like hearing football players answer dumb questions, this is a great week to be alive. I say this because even as the Indy Colts get ready to play the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XLI in Miami, the media are getting ready to hit the players with the usual dopey questions heard every year at the big game. (By the way, can we stop with the Roman numerals for the Super Bowl now? It was pretentious enough when they started doing that back in the sixties. Now it's just plain annoying.

Mr. Flip, who strongly believes in the sanctity of marriage (except when a Ravens fan goes out of species to marry a Steelers fan), has frankly been troubled by the assault on the honorable estate this NFL offseason. We pause first to lament the end of the nuptials of New York Giants defensive lineman Michael Strahan and his former blushing bride, Jean, whose seven-year union came to an official end Thursday in a New Jersey court. Say this for the Strahans, who have twin 20-month-old daughters: They know how to make their divorce proceedings entertaining.

Q: What can you tell me about Madame Alexander dolls and their values?I have a Scarlett O'Hara doll wearing a white dress with a hoop skirt and black shoes. Although I don't have the original box, she is in good condition.A: There is quite a disparity in prices of Madame Alexander Scarlett O'Hara dolls. They can range from under $100 to well over $1,000. For instance, a 1970 (14-inch) version, in a white gown, lists at $87, while a 1939 doll, in the original velvet coat and hat, is valued at $625.

Elena and Genady Zolotnitsky are two painters married to one another but not in their art. Each makes his/her own works of art, and their two-person show at Galerie Francoise demonstrates that while there are similarities between them there are also differences.The immediately recognizable similarities are their highly colored palettes and their technical ability. Natives of Moscow who graduated from art colleges there but who now live in this area, they are obviously strongly grounded in their discipline.

THE New York Times is pleased to announce the publication of issue number 50,000. To push its serial that high has taken the Times 143 years and 177 days -- including the absence of a Sunday Times at first, and strike shutdowns in the 1960s and 1970s.Along the way since Vol. I, No. 1, the Times' masthead has shed the hyphen (New-York, the spelling used to be) and the culminating period (Times.). Unlike almost every other U.S. daily, the Times has continued to print its top-of-Page 1, left-hand side Vol. (years, in Roman numerals)

"To excite, animate, enlliven at any price -- is that not th watch-word of an enervated, over-ripe, over-cultivated age?Nietzsche -- Super Bowl XXIX is here. We do not count our money as we count Super Bowls. Our computers, birth dates and anniversaries are not marked by Roman numerals. It seems odd how a country that rejects the metric system embraces strange and outdated numerical signs to name its biggest social event.One theory holds that the NFL owners and television networks use Roman numerals to promote the classical status of the Super Bowl.

If you like hearing football players answer dumb questions, this is a great week to be alive. I say this because even as the Indy Colts get ready to play the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XLI in Miami, the media are getting ready to hit the players with the usual dopey questions heard every year at the big game. (By the way, can we stop with the Roman numerals for the Super Bowl now? It was pretentious enough when they started doing that back in the sixties. Now it's just plain annoying.

Mr. Flip, who strongly believes in the sanctity of marriage (except when a Ravens fan goes out of species to marry a Steelers fan), has frankly been troubled by the assault on the honorable estate this NFL offseason. We pause first to lament the end of the nuptials of New York Giants defensive lineman Michael Strahan and his former blushing bride, Jean, whose seven-year union came to an official end Thursday in a New Jersey court. Say this for the Strahans, who have twin 20-month-old daughters: They know how to make their divorce proceedings entertaining.

HOW TO TAG the Super Bowl? The ultimate game? Duane Thomas cured us of that. An unofficial American holiday? Sure, we all agree. How big is it? It's intergalactic, planetary (note pathetic attempt to be cool by quoting a 7-year-old Beastie Boys song). It's a pageant (note pathetic attempt at indie cred with Wag the Dog movie reference). The NFL gives it those mock heroic Roman numerals - thankfully not being used in The Sun - usually reserved only for Rocky movies and old-money heirs with homes in the Hamptons.

ARLINGTON, Va. -- Maybe it's appropriate that Super Bowls are numbered with Roman numerals. Super Bowl XXXVIII on Sunday featured a halftime show that could have served as a backdrop for one of Caligula's orgies. Remember Super Bowl XXXIV? The halftime entertainment was produced by Walt Disney Productions. This year's was put on by MTV, and the difference was as stark as that between heaven and hell, between good taste and garbage. The commercials also reflected what the networks apparently think about our remaining "community standards."

Anyone with a passing interest in the practice of deep-frying, saucing and consuming chicken wings with celery and blue cheese knows the dish was created in Buffalo, N.Y. Pinpointing how the Super Bowl and chicken wings have become inextricably linked in the public's mind is another story. Maybe when Super Bowl M (1,000 for those who can't remember their Roman numerals) rolls around, watching it while munching chicken wings will seem as traditional and patriotic as turkey at Thanksgiving.

If you thought solving the year 2000 computer glitch was going to be tricky, wait till you hear about the year 1999 problem.Never heard of it? Neither had Marietta Nelson -- who now wishes she hadn't.A reference librarian at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg -- one of two official U.S. timekeepers -- Nelson routinely fields queries from people wondering how to correctly express times and dates.Last month, the Miss Manners of chronology opened her e-mail and found a doozy: How do you write the year 1999 in Roman numerals?

25 years agoMr. and Mrs. Charles Lohoefer, Mt. Airy, were frightened Saturday night when a shot came through the window of the living room where Mrs. Lohoefer was watching television. A piece of the flying glass hit the arm of Mrs. Lohoefer. Shots were fired at other homes in the vicinity the same evening and $H recently several mail boxes have been knocked down. It issincerely hoped that the police will find out who is terrifying this neighborhood. -- Community Reporter, Nov. 27, 1970.50 years agoArthur M. Zile, manager of Borden's Ice Cream Co., of Westminster, and John G. Shipley, one of the route salesmen, attended a dinner at the Southern Hotel in Baltimore given by the Borden Co. of New York in honor of the men and women of the company who have been in the service of the company 25 or more years.

25 years agoMr. and Mrs. Charles Lohoefer, Mt. Airy, were frightened Saturday night when a shot came through the window of the living room where Mrs. Lohoefer was watching television. A piece of the flying glass hit the arm of Mrs. Lohoefer. Shots were fired at other homes in the vicinity the same evening and $H recently several mail boxes have been knocked down. It issincerely hoped that the police will find out who is terrifying this neighborhood. -- Community Reporter, Nov. 27, 1970.50 years agoArthur M. Zile, manager of Borden's Ice Cream Co., of Westminster, and John G. Shipley, one of the route salesmen, attended a dinner at the Southern Hotel in Baltimore given by the Borden Co. of New York in honor of the men and women of the company who have been in the service of the company 25 or more years.

I know I've always wanted to see Barbara Bush hanging in her underwear off a White House balcony, and, dammit, I'll bet you have, too. And that's why "The Naked Gun 2 1/2 : The Smell of Fear," was right up my alley, first lady-wise.It's about half as funny as the original "Naked Gun," but that nevertheless makes it one of the funniest movies of the year. (It has seven fewer laughs than "City Slickers," but no male bonding.)Created by one third of the Zucker-Zucker-Abrahams team (David Z.)

THE New York Times is pleased to announce the publication of issue number 50,000. To push its serial that high has taken the Times 143 years and 177 days -- including the absence of a Sunday Times at first, and strike shutdowns in the 1960s and 1970s.Along the way since Vol. I, No. 1, the Times' masthead has shed the hyphen (New-York, the spelling used to be) and the culminating period (Times.). Unlike almost every other U.S. daily, the Times has continued to print its top-of-Page 1, left-hand side Vol. (years, in Roman numerals)

"To excite, animate, enlliven at any price -- is that not th watch-word of an enervated, over-ripe, over-cultivated age?Nietzsche -- Super Bowl XXIX is here. We do not count our money as we count Super Bowls. Our computers, birth dates and anniversaries are not marked by Roman numerals. It seems odd how a country that rejects the metric system embraces strange and outdated numerical signs to name its biggest social event.One theory holds that the NFL owners and television networks use Roman numerals to promote the classical status of the Super Bowl.