THIS IS SUPER BOWL?

This evening I watched my first Super Bowl, ever. Like most at the party I went to, my viewing was loose and casual. I was amused at the seriousness that the broadcasting network takes all this; with the film-style promos, interviews with players, bios, etc. It was so over-the-top it was funny.

It's just a game, after all... and it is not ice hockey. That I realized half way through the game. There is not that excitement you get when watching a battle between two teams in the NHL playoff finals. Two guys visiting from England were at the party and one of them blurted out towards the end of the game -- before there was some interest generated through some dramatic scoring by the NY Giants -- something about sitting for a couple of hours and "watching nothing". (Overseas people care not for the game.)

Sitting with this happy and fun crowd made me realize that I'm not alone in not understanding a lot of what makes North American football run. There were quite a few questions thrown out for others to answer about how some scoring is calculated and what a "tight end" is exactly.

What is amazing to me is how big this day is to many (but not all) Americans. The rumours were true. Super Bowl Sunday and the game itself are terribly anti climactic and not particularly exciting. It really is an issue of selling -- constant selling.

And then I read this morning that this game has been called, in some quarters, "the greatest Super Bowl ever".

What?! Really?!

That is the bar?!

How some people are happy with so little. It's no wonder the game is all but unknown outside of North America. (The truth about the ratings is that very few outside of NA watch the Super Bowl. It is a myth that one billion people, from all over the world, watch the game.)

It would appear to me as if the Super Bowl is not so super, after all: Full of sound and fury, signifying... not a heck of a lot.

(But does my friend Chris know how to throw a party! He and his girlfriend were great hosts. I particularly liked all the food that was passed around.)