A chance to learn about obscure rules
After a six hour pre-game show (which we didn’t watch) followed by four hours of knuckle-biting action, the game has finally ended. Even if you don’t follow the action, weekend by weekend through the summer and autumn and onset of winter, football offers up a great show, with none bigger than the Super Bowl. I guess that’s why they named it that way. Actually, they didn’t, but let’s let the magic stay in place for now.
Should we have to dedicate a song for this evening’s efforts, my nod goes to “It’s Now Or Never”. I learned about whole new chapters in the rule book (which must run to hundreds of pages). I saw that a personal foul can have an effect on the outcome, more than the bulked up physical weight of player X, or the injury to some obscure muscle group suffered last week by player Y. If you don’t play “nice”, the team in the striped sweaters will play their version, and they’ll win without ever having their name on the scoreboard.
Even the musical interludes, where Faith Hill served as a starting act for Jennifer Hudson, and where the Boss came to play with all his friends, served as entertainment for the whole family. No need for wardrobe malfunctions or complicated mechanical stages; talent trumps those every time. How about the guy that catches the guitars from Bruce? Great hands!
From a football point of view, we saw interceptions carried back down the field for a full hundred yards (too short for the Canadian version, but good for a touchdown when played before millions). We saw a team trying (and managing) to break out from their own end zone. We saw a balanced game that wasn’t over until the final seconds. And we saw technical turnarounds that will serve as a lesson for future teams. Good game!
