“Pro football is like nuclear warfare. There are no winners, only survivors.”
It’s a sunny but cold winter’s day, typical for this time of year. From my den perch, I can see the brown leaves barely fluttering so the day is a calm one. My sister in Colorado got two feet of snow, and it was 3° last night. Compared to her, I live on a tropical island. The house feels warmer today. I know it’s psychological as the temperature in the house doesn’t fluctuate, but cloudy days make me feel colder.
Super Bowl Sunday has finally arrived. Yesterday I saw more men than I’ve ever seen shopping at the grocery store. Carts were filled with chips and dips and ribs and all sorts of game day food. My cart was no exception. I’m making a Boboli pizza with goat cheese and pine nuts and a cheese dip you bake in the oven. I’ll haul both of them down the street to my friends’ house. They too will have game day treats. After this, I’ll have to start practicing my cheering for the Pats and my booing for the Giants.
I don’t have Patriot’s or Bruin’s gear. I just have Red Sox and Celtics sweatshirts and t-shirts. I don’t know why no Patriot stuff, but I’m not a hockey fan which explains my lack of Bruin’s gear. I went to a hockey college and saw almost every home game, but that was cheering for my team and had little to do with the game itself. I know about icing, offsides and high-sticking but that’s it. I am hockey ignorant. I know baseball best of all.
My nephew played soccer starting when he was five and finishing after four years on a full scholarship at Oregon State. My sister talked hockey every phone call for every one of those years. We couldn’t have a conversation without the latest game news, a description of Ryan’s spectacular plays and a run down on the teams themselves. I feigned interest and made joyful noises at all the right places. I made the trip to New York, to Marist, to see him play. It was my only chance to watch him. He waved when he saw me, and that made the long trip worthwhile. I watched a game about which I knew almost nothing. I knew about using your head or feet, red cards, offsides and penalty kicks and I knew the target was the net. That was it. I was not a soccer fan. I was my nephew’s fan.
Tonight we’ll be screaming and complaining and maybe even swearing; okay, we’ll definitely be swearing. I hope at the end we’ll be on our feet cheering a victory for the home team!
Explore posts in the same categories: MusingsTags: booing, cheering, game food, New England Patriots, Super Bowl, the home team
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February 5, 2012 at 12:47 pm
It was much less cold here today, around 11F but a nasty wind made it feel much colder than yesterday 🙂 It has snowed almost all day but it’äs the kind of snow that sort of never seems to land anywhere. I can’t say we have more snow on the ground now than we had yesterday.
I know absolutely nothing about american foot ball. I know they every now and again kicj it towards a goal way up in the air but that they almost all the time runs around with the ball in their hands and that sort of makes me wonder about the name 🙂 🙂 American rugby had been a better name to be honest 🙂
But I do like to watch our foot ball, soccer. My favorite foreign foot ball team is scottish and is called Celtic 🙂 But I prefere to see it with someone else, no fun shouting alone 🙂
Sweden won the world cup in Bandy today! I didn’t see the game but I heard it was almost lost but suddenly everything changed and sweden won over Russia 🙂
Have a great day!
Christer.
February 5, 2012 at 1:40 pm
Christer,
No snow here and none expected-I’m not unhappy about that.
The goal posts are in the ground but there is a space between the posts-that’s where they want the ball to go. It’s 1 point after a touchdown when it goes through and 3 points for a field goal.
My sister and her family would join you to watch soccer!
February 5, 2012 at 12:59 pm
Well . . . I would lend you my Redskins pull over but that’s what I’ll be wearing. Good luck!
February 5, 2012 at 1:41 pm
Thanks Z&Me, but I probably wouldn’t wear it. I figure cheering will have to be enough!
February 5, 2012 at 1:43 pm
The great thing about football, the super bowl kind, is the controlled violence of the game. As George Carlin described in his comparison with baseball, football is simulated war. Everyone loves a good war except the men and woman who have to fight in a real war. The fans are observers watching on TV from the comfort and safety of their couch on the home front.
Football is a system sport as opposed to baseball which is a more individual sport. In football the head coach is like General Eisenhower was in World War II, the supreme allied commander. He develops the system and has his field general execute the system through the game plan. The quarterback is the field general. He is like General George Patton was in World War II. He is in the action but is usually protected by the lineman. The offense and defensive lineman are like the marines or infantry grunts who take most of the punishment during the game. They are the largest and strongest players who are the ones who love to hit and injure their opponents within the rules. The receivers are like the artillerymen. They are using their athletic skill and accuracy to score points rather than brute force. The kickers are like the air force fighter pilots. They use individual technical ability, rather than speed or athleticism to score points. This is why football is so popular. It has something for everyone. If you tire of the violence you can always enjoy the skimpy clad cheer leaders. Every war needs some sex mixed in somewhere to offset the violence.
Soccer will never catch on in this country because the game is not real simulated warfare on the field. However, it is among the fans. Soccer fans in Europe have to be separated from the field by fences and even moats so that they don’t kill the players only each other. I can understand their frustration. Imagine watching your favorite team run up and down a field kicking a ball without touching with their hands it for ninety minutes and only scoring a goal or two. Although the EU was formed to prevent a future war in Europe, soccer has replaced real warfare among the fans. It’s very a civilized and boring game so the fans become angry. They don’t have a good halftime show and no half naked cheerleaders. So, the fans get drunk, get rowdy and simulate American football in the stands against each other.
May the best team win tonight! Since I have no loyalty to either team. I will enjoy whoever wins and I will enjoy the half time show and the cheerleaders. I enjoy watching a beautiful young woman bounce up and down, after all I am married not dead. I hope the Pats win so you can celebrate and I hope the Giants win so that my few remaining relatives who used to live in New York can cheer.
February 5, 2012 at 2:00 pm
Bob,
What a great comparison in your second paragraph. It makes sense to me and gives me a better perspective. I never thought of the coach as a general.
I have seen the news pictures of the fights at soccer stadiums, they are so violent and so many people are involved.
I disagree that soccer fans emulate Amercian football fans by getting rowdy in the stands. I have never seen a fight in the stands. I have seen guys puch each other and within a heartbeat security is there to take them away. I suspect the parking lot is where most of the taunting goes on and maybe some figts, but they aren’t reported.
I think pro-football doesn’t need cheerleaders.They don’t do a thing for the fans. In high school it’s different as the crowd responds to the cheers.
I am a so so Madonna fan but I am looking forward to the half-time show and also to the commercials.
February 5, 2012 at 2:11 pm
Kat
Madonna grew up in our very middle class community of Rochester Hills Michigan and attended Adams High School, a terrific school close to her home. She will sometimes reference her “street” upbringing in Pontiac, a very challenged community to our west….not so…nice house and terrific school.
for the second time Mr Bob has wandered in to an area where clearly he is not terribly well informed. when so many souls perished at Hillsborough a decision was made to upgrade the stadia and eliminate most of the terraces. To play in the EPL you must be an all seated stadium. games are family events, and fighting is relatively rare. Hillsborough was such a serious issue and football responded appropriately. The days of fences goes back twenty years and is no longer part of the landscape, and hasn’t been for many years.
where I come from a familiar post is COYS
good luck with Team Brady tonight
February 5, 2012 at 2:02 pm
Bob, please search Hillsborough Disaster and the ramifications, it was in 1989 and completely changed the face of what you call soccer.
You might also note that Fox (and not Fox Soccer) have shown two live EPL games on consecutive Sundays with significant ratings.
No one says that you have to like, or watch the sport, however, with no disrespect you are just plain wrong with your theory of moats and fences.
Oh and if you want to discuss war between fans I will be happy to wander through the issues in the 70s and how football was a platform to express social disconnection. you might be interested in reading the role of Mubarak in the events at the football stadium in Egypt.
Not trying to be a pisser…..
February 5, 2012 at 2:11 pm
Everyone has an opinion just like they have a posterior. The reason for better ratings for soccer in the US on TV recently is the large number of immigrants that have come here in the last twenty years. Unfortunately, like previous waves of immigration, their children will give up soccer along with their language, dress and customs as they become more American and will embrace our version of football.
February 5, 2012 at 3:36 pm
Bob,
I think that soccer is popular with everyone in different parts of the country. In Colorado, it is a more popular sport for kids to play than football. The best athletes go out for soccer. My nephew was just indicted into his county Hall of Fame which includes some who went on to professional spots. One of Ryan’s classmates was on the Olympic team. None of them are from immigrant families.
Around here, football is king. This year’s HS team was the state champion in their division. Soccer is more popular with the girls.
I do believe that soccer is becoming more popular in this country.
February 5, 2012 at 2:30 pm
Strangely immigration doesn’t actual require migration to football at the expense of other interests. For what it is worth I have been going to Detroit Lions games for 31 years and continue to support Tottenham Hotspur, and my children have an interest in all teams Detroit and the events in North London….oh well
February 5, 2012 at 3:37 pm
My Dear Hedley,
That would be my sister’s family. My nephew’s son who is five will tell you his favorite teams are the Red Sox, the Broncos and Manchester United in that order.
February 5, 2012 at 4:32 pm
Kat,
The Manchester United football club is the most valuable team in all sports. The selling of the brand is extraordinary and reaches across the world with young supporters like your nephew who will enjoy the years of success.
Tomorrow is the anniversary of the Munich Air Disaster when so many of the Busby Babes perished in the snow. Matt Busby rebuilt the team and they went on to win the European Cup in 1968. At Old Trafford the Munich Clock is set to the time that the plane crashed.
February 5, 2012 at 10:28 pm
Kat, my condolences to you and all the Patriot fans in New England. This was one of the most exciting Super Bowl games ever played. The season that the Giants had this year culminating in this close win which came down to the final seconds is why NFL Football is so popular everywhere it is seen.
While eating lunch on December 12th in China I had the pleasure of watching the Dallas Cowboys play on Sunday Night football. The game was being shown on a big screen TV with Chinese announcers.
February 5, 2012 at 10:44 pm
Thanks Bob
That was a great game but ended far differently than I’d hoped. We moaned and groaned right up to the last few seconds.
I had hope that maybe Tom would pull it out-he didn’t and we grieved!
I woder what the Chinese announcers had to say.
February 5, 2012 at 10:54 pm
My Dear Hedley,
My nephew’s son is only 5 but he has his favorites and stands by them. Because his father played soccer, Ryder loves the game so he watches it often on TV. His father, Ryan, coaches a high school team and Ryder plays as well. They are a soccer family.
February 6, 2012 at 7:50 am
There is no joy in Mudville today….
Well, it’s only a game. Tom Brady still has Giselle and their 25-million$ mansion in California. There are other more important things happening in the world today.
February 6, 2012 at 10:49 am
Bill,
You stole my line! I was going to open the blog with that line and make no other comment about the game.
Yup, Tom will survive!