The Super Bowl is America’s biggest sporting event. It is an unofficial national holiday and has become one of the world’s most watched sporting events. This event is more than a final game in a championship or a tournament, the Super Bowl is on a completely different level.
To be fully honest, most sports don’t fully appeal to me, despite growing up in a household that loves American football. Yes, I’m European, and American football isn’t exactly big outside of the US, but somehow my parents loved American sports like baseball and American football. So, in order to write this article, I decided to do the smart thing and call my parents, specifically my dad, to ask the one question everyone is probably asking right now, so what’s the deal with the Super Bowl?
Let’s start of by explaining what the Super Bowl is exactly. First of, the US has two leagues when it comes to American football. The National Football League, and the American Football league. Leading up to the Super Bowl the teams in these leagues play games within their leagues, but also against each other. Who wins in their league gets to go to the Super Bowl, meaning that the Super Bowl is essentially a game between the two leagues.
What’s important to realize when it comes to the Super Bowl as well, is that American football is almost never played outside the US. Sure, there might be some small teams in different countries, but none of these teams have really reached the level that the US does. This means that the best teams in this world are in the US, essentially making the Super Bowl a World Cup of American football. This makes the Super Bowl bigger than just a national sporting event, but a competition for worldwide American football dominance.
The Super Bowl has also been very much commercialized. The half-time show is always a major artist, with Justin Timberlake performing this year, the commercial time is the most expensive time to buy. Millions of Americans watch it every year while eating specially advertised Game Day foods like chicken wings, chips, pizza, etc. In a sense the Super Bowl is important because it is so important to the advertising community in America. It is a culturally significant component of the United States, and has often been shrouded with controversy due to some of these advertisements or artist performances.
So what’s the deal with the Super Bowl? Well statistically, the Monday after the Super Bowl is the day most Americans call in sick. However, the Super Bowl is a big deal simply because it has something for everyone to enjoy. Even a lack of knowledge of American Football can not stop you from enjoying Super Bowl Sunday.You have an excuse to eat copious amounts of pizza and wings, and somewhere in between your tenth slice of pizza and twentieth chicken wing you get to watch Justin Timberlake bring sexy back. In all honesty, what is not to love about that.
The Super Bowl will be broadcasted on live television starting at 6pm. For those of you without cable access, there will be multiple live streams of the game in both English and Spanish. Tune in and support the New England Patriots!
