Super Bowl

Today is Super Sunday.  Its the Super Bowl.  Its like Super Tuesday except more people are interested.

The Super Bowl is, without question, the biggest sporting event in America.  No other sport has the same “umph” as the Super Bowl.

You don’t see to many “Tour de France” parties.  Why?  The race is too long.  Its usually tape delayed and . . . its cycling.

Major League Baseball is huge, but it can’t compare.  Part of it is the schedule of it.  With a 7 game series - when do you get together?  No average fan has time to get together all 7 nights.  You can’t just plan to get together for game 7 either - what if it doesn’t make it to 7?  Your big party is ruined.  

Basketball is the same thing.  The NBA may be “fantastic” and it may be “where amazing happens”, but it ain’t gonna bring out anyone other than basketball fanatics.

I, personally, love golf.  I even like to watch golf on occasion.  For most people, however, watching golf is only a little more tolerable than being waterboarded.  Not too many people paint their faces and get together to watch the Masters.  I do, but not most people.

Undisputed - its the Super Bowl.  Its a one and done game . . . and its in the middle of the winter - what else do you have going on?

What I love about Super Bowl parties are all of the non football fans who are drawn into the mix.  In fact, non sports fans participate in Super Bowl parties too.  But why?

Its the commercials.  Or is it the snacks?

Its the commercials.

When have you ever talked about the funny commercials with your co-workers on the Monday after game 3 of the NBA Finals?  When have there been television shows that rank the top U.S. Open Commercials of all time?

What’s funny about Super Bowl Parties is how loud it is during the game and how all of the non sports fans give a collective “SHHHH” everytime the game goes to commercial.  I’ve got to admit that the commercials are usually humorous, but . . . would I really get together with my friends just to watch funny commercials?  NO!  I have a DVR and I spend most of my tv viewing actually skipping the commercials.  Why would I want to highlight them for 6 hours?  I wouldn’t.  It seems that the Super Bowl has become so popular because of commercials.  Its really the Commercial Bowl.

Or is it the snacks?

In addition to the game . . . and the commercials, the game is really about the snacks.  When, other than Thanksgiving, do you call a bunch of people that you don’t usually hang out with and say, “Hey, lets get together and eat until we’re sick!”

“Let’s see, I’ll bring Nachos and wings and doritos and cheetos too.  I better bring something for dessert . . . brownies . . . and I guess cookies too.  Oh, yeah and a float would be nice.”  Everyone else empties their fridge as well . . . and don’t forget the pizza!  A really good party has pizza delivered in the first quarter and then again after halftime.  We wouldn’t want someone to go without food for more than 30 seconds.

We don’t eat like this at any other sporting event.  We don’t stuff ourselves like this while watching the Boston Marathon or the Olympics.  It would make us feel too guilty.  We wouldn’t want to watch all of those highly trained athletes in perfect physical condition do their thing while we . . . wipe French Onion dip off of our shirt . . . or see how many Oreos we can fit in our mouth at one time.  That would just make us feel . . . awkward. NFL players are in shape too, but we see them in pads and it doesn’t look the same.  We also focus on the bellies Offensive Lineman and tell ourselves that we are just eating like a champion.

Super Bowl parties are fun.  The game, however, is secondary.  We are all there to eat and we’re there to laugh.

Have a great time tonight.  Enjoy the Food.  Enjoy the Commercials.  

Enjoy the collective “SHH!” from the non sports fans.

Hope you enjoyed my thoughts.

JJ