Chiefs vs. Patriots Divisional Playoffs

Last week on Saturday the Kansas City Chiefs took on the New England Patriots for the first game of the playoffs. Your blogger was there.

Kansas City at New England

Tickets to AFC Playoff: Game 1

Train tickets to Gillette Stadium

If you ever wanted to know what the football field looks like from the topmost row in the stands, this is it. We're at the 50 yard line though, so it's an excellent vantage point.

Defensive tackle Alan Branch, #97, on the big screen warming up

Patriots portal

Got a Revolution!

Furled flag

The Star Spangled Banner

Chiefs vs. Patriots

Divisional Playoff Highlights

Note:  It's that time of year! Check out the link for more about football.

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Independence Day by Andrew Wyeth

Andrew Wyeth painted Independence Day in 1961. His model, Tom Clark, is cut off from the rest of the composition by a column. Even then, he is not centered in the space created but pushed over to the far left. His attention is fixed on the outsized flag, so large that it billows off the right hand side of the paper. On the porch he is mostly in darkness but the flag is bathed in sunlight.

It can't be an accident that Wyeth chose a black model for this painting. The year 1961 was an important one for the Civil Rights movement. It was a year of the Freedom Riders and ongoing attempts at integration. The composition isolates Tom Clark from the flag, but this flag is broad and expansive, and capable of extending freedom to all Americans.

Andrew Wyeth, Independence Day, 1961

http://www.sothebys.com/en/catalogues/ecatalogue.html/2009/american-paintings-drawings-sculpture-n08555#/r=/en/ecat.fhtml.N08555.html+r.m=/en/ecat.lot.N08555.html/18/

Andrew Wyeth, Independence Day, 1961

http://www.sothebys.com/en/catalogues/ecatalogue.html/2009/american-paintings-drawings-sculpture-n08555#/r=/en/ecat.fhtml.N08555.html+r.m=/en/ecat.lot.N08555.html/18/

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