Super Bowl

The Super Bowl. The game that is by America and for America. Many argue that it is the greatest event in American sports (I disagree and think that the Final Four is the greatest event in American sports.) When I was growing up, I remember the Super Bowl announcers bragging about the Super Bowl being a world wide event. I believed it too and thought that there were huge Super Bowl parties all over the world and envisioned Chinese people eating nachos, pizza and drinking beer. I thought that everyone celebrated and cared about the game like we did and laughed along with the commercials.

This is my 5th year of being in Europe while our holy game takes place. I have managed to watch 4 games and only missed last years because we had a game that day and I fell asleep because I was so tired. While I was sleeping, my wife watched the game because that is what you are supposed to do as an American. I have watched the game in French, Italian, German and English.

Through my experiences, I have to say that the world does not care about the Super Bowl or American football in general. In fact, the only time you will see football highlights on tv is when there is a fight or when someone gets hurt. Through a recent conversation with one of my teammates, I found out that football is unattractive to them because it does not have enough action and it is too slow. I told him that he needs to stop watching the University of Wisconsin and Big Ten football games. Now this is just one European's point of view so don't criticize me for it. I also found the obvious lack of interest because the game is on so late over here.

My first year in Lugano I watched the game with my French teammate Zay. He went to school in the USA so he knew football and knew how big of a deal the Super Bowl was. Zay would randomly laugh at the French announcers watching the game and remark about the stupid things they would say. Apparently they would just explain the rules in very simple terms and talk about the fans with their shirts off.

Europe is however making strides towards the broadcast of NFL games and trying to create interest in the league and the sport. In Massagno, I was able to find games on an Austrian tv station broadcast in English directly over from the NFL Network. Likewise, I have found NFL games on the French tv station, Sport Plus.

I have no idea if the sport will take off in Europe but I think Roger Goodell hopes that it happens. I will be up late tonight watching the game for sure. I am leaning towards watching it on my Slingbox rather than French tv because I will be able to watch it in English and see the commercials. Win-win.

Watching the game is an easy decision but who I want to win is not. I am unfortunately a Lions fan and have been all of my life. Being a Lions fan, I grew up hating the Packers. I had never heard of Green Bay before and I thought that their team colors were terrible together. I also went to college in Wisconsin and saw the state's love for their Packers. All of these factors mixed in with my jealousy for their winning ways have caused me to not like them.

I have mixed feelings though now. One of my old teammates from Massagno is friends with Aaron Rogers. He speaks very highly of him and I really admire the way he handled the whole Brett Favre situation. I also like Charles Woodson because he played at Michigan and Greg Jennings because I played AAU with him. My wife is a Packers fan as well and if they win it will make her very happy. For these reasons, and only these reasons, I want the Packers to win the Super Bowl tonight. I never thought I would think this, let alone make it publicly known. If I ever buy a cheese head then I will have serious problems.

The question has to be asked. If the Packers win, it means the Lions could have won the Super Bowl this year right? That makes complete sense to me.