Super Bowl LI. The ultimate football game of the year is looking to be a fierce fight between the Patriots and the Falcons on Sunday, Feb. 5 in Houston. If you go to virtually any United States sports site, the hype about it has already begun, with articles ranging from how Janet Jackson’s clothing malfunction still has an impact on the yearly affair to who is the best coach that won the Super Bowl. Here in Chile, there is none of the hype that there is in the U.S. There will be bars and houses with people watching the game, but it is not as big of a deal as it is in the United States. Personally, I think that is for the better.
I have never been a huge football fan and was always one of those people who watched the Super Bowl for the commercials and the company. The game itself just never seemed like a big deal to me. The whole season that already happened is really what is worth watching. The skill and execution that it takes to get to the Super Bowl should be what really counts. The headline shouldn’t be “Who is the best coach that won the Super Bowl?” but instead just “Who was the best NFL coach this season?” Why does the Super Bowl count so much? Shouldn’t the rest of the season be just as valuable?
And the real truth is, it doesn’t. Here in Chile — and in almost every other country that is not the United States — it doesn’t matter. Even in the United States, there will be talk about it for a few weeks before and after, but after that, it will all come down to the highlights. Who won the game, who lost? Who performed at the halftime show, was it a good or a bad performance? Who ran the most yards and who scored the most touchdowns? A few months after the game there will only be a few people who could answer all these questions.
So my question is, then why does everyone watch it? Not everyone who is going to watch the Super Bowl is a Patriots or Falcons fan. They are not watching it because they care who wins, because they wish it was their team that had a shot of winning the game.
Every year there is so much hype and excitement that goes into one game, but why isn’t there that much hype for every single game? Without the other games in the season, there wouldn’t be anyone in the Super Bowl and the teams would have no experience from the season. The game itself would not be such a fun game to watch.
Maybe this year, instead of having all the talk and the publicity for the Super Bowl, we could have the serenity that other countries have at this moment and treat it like any other game. Watch it if your teams are playing. Otherwise, just look at the score the next day. Go to bed early or get ready for the next day of classes. Instead of putting so much emphasis on this one game, just go about life as usual like this game is no big deal. Because when it’s all said and done, why is this game such a big deal?
