The Super Bowl.
It is one of biggest American sporting events of the year.
It comes complete with middle-aged men lathered with body paint in the colors of their team of choice, more deep-fried and fatty foods than a Southern potluck, mind-numbingly entertaining commercials and those foam hands that say “#1.”
But the Super Bowl is more than a game; it’s a cultural phenomenon. For one day a year, people around the country tune in to watch the ultimate game of football and commercials of furry, little animals doing adorable things for capitalism. They eat, they drink, they eat again; they’re merry.
Needless to say, fun is had by all.
But the phenomenon is hardly limited to sports bars and the hardcore fan’s living room, and it’s hardly limited to the superficial. Super Bowl fever— and the special meaning behind it— can be found right here on the Concordia campus.
Exhibit A: Adam Johnson, ’12.
He’s the average guy, the average sports fan with an affinity for football. Johnson was heartbroken when his beloved Green Bay Packers flopped out earlier in the National Football League playoffs (insert sarcastic groan here), but he’ll be watching anyway.
“I always tend to look at football as hope, if you’re really into it. It is a little thing that can keep you going from week to week,” Johnson said.
Football as hope, cultural phenomenon, mind-numbingly entertaining, furry, little animals doing adorable things: the Super Bowl is clearly more than just a sports event.
For deeper insight, take Exhibit B: Another Concordia student, who asked to remain anonymous.
This student sees the Super Bowl as a time to really focus on some of the important things in life.
“It’s about the booze, babes and football, bro!” The student then chest-bumped the guy next to him.
That is the essence of the Super Bowl culture: camaraderie. It’s the same at Concordia and all across the nation.
When you strip away the commercials, the excessive competitiveness, the enormous egos, the gritty hits, the endless amounts of fattening food, the dog-eat-dog mentality and such, what is left is camaraderie and what goes with it: hope, the little thing that can keep you going and bros.
It’s all about human connection.
That, and watching 22-plus guys clobbering the snot out of each other in between commercials of adorable animals selling commercial products.
But that first thing, too.
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