Most Surreal SuperBowl Ever

Last night was a little odd for me. Although I am not the world’s biggest NFL fan, I have been a regular SuperBowl viewer for many years and thus felt I needed to try and watch the game. I also still figure I’ll end up living in Chicago at some point in my life, so it would be good practice rooting for the Bears (though, for better or most likely worse, Cincinnati has turned me into a Bengals fan…). Anyway, because the time difference between here and the East Coast is 6 hours, that meant kick-off was at 12:25am for me. And thus, I found myself aboard a midnight tram to an English-speaking bar which was staying open for the event.

There were a few things that I didn’t know before entering the establishment. The first is that the game, though fed by CBS, was actually being carried by Sky Sports, a UK satellite service. Thus, no American commercials (ironically, the whole thing was sponsored by Coors, which probably would have been a conflict of interest with the rampant Bud Light spots).
I also learned that American football is apparently picking up quite a following in the UK, as they kept cutting to footage of the 4th annual SuperBash in London (I think) which was basically a giant party showing the game and providing entertainment including the Dolphin cheerleaders for British fans. Apparently, interest is enough on this side of the pond that there will actually be an NFL game played at Wembley Stadium this fall (when it was announced, the server abruptly crashed due to scads of traffic).
Perhaps the most bizarre part of the whole affair was that in addition to the regular commentators Sky had their own in-studio analysts. The first was Cecil Martin, a former Philadelphia Eagle. Maybe not exactly Deon or Boomer, but fine. The other was Don Johnson—yes, that Don Johnson from Miami Vice and Nash Bridges. He was about as qualified to comment on the game as I would have been. Utterly ridiculous.

Anyway, I watched through about half of the third quarter when the Bears finally regained possession... and then turned it over again. It was clear the Colts were in control (confirmed this morning). Then I walked home and made it to bed around 3:30am. While I’m glad I had the opportunity to see part of the spectacle (including the Prince half-time show with his Foo Fighters cover—payback for their version of “Darling Nikki”?), it did make me feel a little homesick. There really is nothing like a good SuperBowl party and Europe certainly doesn’t do junk food like America.