American football is a competition of sheer brute force and skill not seen since the days of the gladiators, and like the Roman’s before us, we build it into a spectacle so big, it eclipses the game itself.
Perhaps all sports are some times guilty of this, but non more so than American football and it’s Superbowl.
Approximately 151 million people watch at least part of the Superbowl, throughout 232 countries/territories; Americans consume 325.5 million gallons of beer that day; and approximately 1 billion chicken wings are eaten.
Such is the commercial draw of the Superbowl that a 30second-advertising slot during the game will cost around $2.8million.
So what’s all the fuss about? America is the only country that really celebrates ‘Football’ as a mainstream sport, and although countries such as a Canada and the United Kingdom have leagues, ‘Soccer’ is generally regarded as the most popular sport.
Yet it seems rather silly to compare a national competition in a country the size of America with a similar competition in a country the size of the UK. But even a continental competition such as the UEFA Champions League doesn’t have the class, the excitement or the grandeur that the Superbowl has. There is no such thing as a Champions League halftime show, but in the Superbowl this year, The Who rocked out Miami’s Sun Life Stadium in what can surely be one of the most surreal gigs of their careers.
Even the FIFA World Cup doesn’t have the same presence as the Superbowl, despite it being a complete competition between every country in the world. Then what makes the Superbowl so special? It isn’t the game itself. To me, American football is one of the most annoying sports to watch, with its stop-start nature you get taken away from the action every few minutes.
Then is this a different matter? Not a matter of one sport being more exciting than another, but of one nation being more passionate or more excitable about their chosen sport?
It doesn’t matter.
This year’s Superbowl has a bigger meaning. Playing against the Colts is a team that a matter of years ago represented a broken city. New Orleans has been decimated by Hurricane Katrina, yet the successes of their sports team have shown to the world that people and places can survive; can be rebuilt. The people of New Orleans united behind their team, and have shown what can be achieved.
Perhaps this can give some hope to the people of Afghanistan; of Iraq; of Haiti. These countries have been shattered, one way or another, but perhaps New Orleans and the Saints have shown how the human mentality can survive and overcome these issues.
The score is almost irrelevant; but lets not tell the players…