Initiation XLVII: Super Bowl Sunday

It started in the costume shop with my colleagues asking what my weekend plans were, if any Super Bowl parties were on the horizon, whether I knew owt or nowt about the Event itself. I referenced Janet Jackson's faux pas of the past & left them to fill in the rest for me. 

 "Beer, chips & wings", it turns out.

Oh, & some American football on the side
     as highlights to a Beyonce concert. 

 Emily: "We just watch it for the commercials". 

This theory confused me at first. You watch a game in order to catch all the advert breaks? Then I found about how the commercials make their premiere that evening & the millions of dollars invested.
(This one from Budweiser on the night made me go all "War Horse"-soppy. Seriously cute.)

Packers, '97 ~ New Orleans

Furthermore, 

Me:  "Why are they called the 49ers?"
 
Doug: "Umm.... because ... it's.... I can't remember.
            I don't know anything about sports!"
 
Me: "Then why are we watching this?"
 
Doug: "Because it's Superbowl Sunday!
 EVERYONE in America watches Superbowl Sunday!"

(FYI, the Californians are the "49ers" after the prospectors from the Gold Rush of 1849.)

Out in the wider world, NFL controls rights to the name itself so related marketing has to use generic terminology like "The Big Game". And they absolutely do want to market - the above photo was taken by the sausages & mustard shelves of K.Roger. We're talking the second-largest day for U.S. food consumption after Thanksgiving. 
   The Manly Man definitely got that memo. We kicked off our Super Bowl celebrations as the pre-game coverage began at 2pm. The Game itself was not due to start until 6.30pm - by which point we'd already cleared plates of chips & dips (TMM's homemade Super Guacamole) plus skins & wings & there was still a chicken roasting & sausages for hot dogs. Seriously.   

As an end to the debate over whether buffaloes can have wings (technically they can,
if you trace the dish back to its origins in Buffalo, NY) or whether it'd be better phrased
as buffalo-sauce-dipped wings, we ate legs instead. Buffaloes certainly have those.

[The Manly Man coming in from the grill outside.]

Doug:  "You have charcoal on your face."

The Manly Man: "I'm trying to be like the football players."

Half six finally came,  

       "Turn it up, we've got to feel the bass!"

 Some final pre-game moments like the Sandy Hook chorus singing something which sounded familiar & which I enjoyed. Then Alicia Keyes sang something else & warbled a great deal & didn't really enunciate any of the words, causing me to turn & ask Katie:
"What song is that?"

Katie: "Are you serious?! That's The Star Spangled Banner."

Me:  "Oh. What was the other one then?" 

That one being America The Brave. Easy when you know what's what.  (Heathen.)

 
There was a kick off! They ran. Then as soon as they ran, they stopped again. It sort of looks a little bit like rugby except that the players never seem to go anywhere fast. Doug did know enough about sport to explain why they &/or the clock kept stopping.
   The boys wanted us to pick teams to cheer on. I went for the Baltimore Ravens as i) they're Northerners; ii) friend Joey had gone home to MD to watch the game so I thought I'd join him in spirit & iii) loyalty to Ginny. (Plus, iv) their team colour's Purple. I was almost tempted to swap when I saw the shiny gold & red attire of the 49ers but it turns out that - Life Lesson Alert - not even shiny pants can help you win a game.)
   (Katie & I borrowed a birdy hand movement from one of the players in the parade, to be deployed whenever the Ravens achieved something good, such as a touchdown. The boys retaliated with bravado & zest in pickaxeing us back when the 49ers also happened to score.)

One of the key elements of this particular game was that the coaches of the opposing teams were in fact brothers. Which meant that when minutes into the third quarter, part of the stadium was plunged into darkness, we reckoned it was Ma Harbaugh fixing it so that John would give his younger brother, Jim a chance to make a comeback. 'Poor Jimmy, he never gets a fair go...'
  Stadium Power Outage lasted about thirty minutes with all play suspended. Oops. Being sat by Mr. Electrics & hearing feedback from a bunch of witty techies from Facebook ("If you like it, you should've put a fuse on it") meant that their guestimate was on it having over-powered due to wrong panel/wrong sequence.  ~ Yeah, I'd thought as much too.
  Lucky for us, unlike the folks at the Super Bowl, there was a ready diversion in waiting. Puppy Bowl! God bless Animal Planet. (Hopefully this video link will work okay for you! Be prepared for the utter cuteness of the Cute Cam! And the hedgehog cheerleaders too; eeek!) 

I sort of slept through the last quarter & woke up to a silver trophy (named for the Packers' coach, Lombardi - we've seen his statue) being passed out, purple confetti & two slightly disgruntled boys. All that's gold does not glitter.

Go the Ravens!