Reporter’s Notebook: State of the Union 2022, the Super Bowl of politics

CAPITOL HILL – Some members of Congress may soon find themselves channeling Vernon Hargreaves III at President Biden’s State of the Union speech. 

The annual State of the Union address is about the president. He’s the one “on the field.” The president is “in the game.” In a normal, non-pandemic time, the House chamber is packed with lawmakers, aides, media, the diplomatic corps, Cabinet secretaries, Supreme Court justices, along with assorted dignitaries and guests. But this is the president’s show. No one else is really “in the game.”

Neither was Vernon Hargreaves. 

Hargreaves is a reserve defensive back for the Cincinnati Bengals. Hargreaves wasn’t in uniform when the Bengals played the Los Angeles Rams in the Super Bowl. But when the Bengals intercepted a Rams pass in the end zone, Hargreaves – wearing a grey Bengals sweatshirt and shower slides – loped onto the field waving a towel to whoop it up with his teammates.

Officials assessed Hargreaves an unsportsmanlike penalty – because he wasn’t even in the game.

Biden and his remarks will be the center of attention when he visits Capitol Hill next week for the State of the Union. But, like Hargreaves, it’s possible another “player” may command more attention than the president.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., recently announced that all members of Congress – House and Senate – may attend the speech in person. The president spoke last year to a fairly vacant chamber with just a skeleton crew of members present due to the pandemic. About 200 persons in all. The scant attendance robbed the event of its typical pomp and energy.

In many ways, the U.S. Capitol has been like anyplace else in the world during the pandemic. The Capitol has struggled with proper coronavirus protocols. Masks, vaccines, social distancing, remote…