An American Tradition

It is amazing to me how big the Superbowl is. Superbowl Sunday may as well be an American holiday because everyone is into it. Other than New Year's Day, Thanksgiving, and the 4th of July, I'd have to say Superbowl Sunday is the one day all Americans acknowledge for the football game being played.

Men, women, boys, girls, they all watch the Superbowl. Even if you don't like football...you like funny commercials, maybe the halftime show. If you don't even want to watch anything, you like the Superbowl party. If you don't like the NFL, you still watch the Superbowl. People could not watch a single snap of football all year, but they've got a party planned to watch the Superbowl.

I turned on the news Sunday morning and they are in Dallas for the Superbowl. It's not just ESPN, it's everyone. It's like, take a break from life...today is Superbowl Sunday. They say the day with the least crimes is Superbowl Sunday...it just goes on.

This year you had the Steelers and Packers. Now those are two storied franchises, and there's plenty of history coming into the game. But one team is from Pittsburgh, the other from Green Bay, Wisconsin? If this were baseball it would be the Pirates and Brewers. I know those teams play in the same league, but if a World Series were played with teams like that no one would know it's going on! If baseball doesn't have the Yankees or the Red Sox, some big market teams, forget about significance and ratings. The NBA brought the Lakers and Celtics to the Finals last year...not much meaning to non-NBA fans. But the Superbowl - it doesn't matter who is playing, the game is big and everyone is going to watch. And for sports fans, the two weeks leading up to the Superbowl are all about that one game. Game 1 of the World Series is probably the 3rd story on Sportcenter that day.

The Superbowl is huge. It really is staggering to me how big it is to America. At church, they reference the Superbowl. Women, they watch. All other channels, play repeats and chick flicks to catch the one girl sitting alone not invited to view it with friends. It unbelievable.

JB