The Boy-Girl Guide to the Super Bowl
Saturday, February 05, 2011
It's that weekend. Yes, the one with the game, but more to the point, the one that often pits men and women on far sides of the culture divide. How do two of GoLocalProv's editors, Scott Cordischi and Tracey Minkin, look at Sunday's game? We asked them.
What do you most look forward to on Super Bowl Sunday?
Scott: Football and food! To be warm and fuzzy, I could throw friends in there as well. But I’d be just as happy watching the game alone. It’s the Super Bowl – the pinnacle of the season for the greatest single sport and league known to mankind! They say that baseball is America’s favorite pastime. Not even close! Football and the NFL dwarf Major League Baseball in popularity because every game is an event and the Super Bowl is the ultimate event.
As for the food, I’m not fussy. Chips, dips, wings, pizza, you name it! Behind Thanksgiving, Super Bowl Sunday is the second biggest eating day in the United States and it’s number 1 in snack food consumption. How great is that?
Tracey: Will I be exiled to a non-NAFTA country if I confess i don't really look forward to SBS any more? If the Patriots are in it, I've got a certain adopted hometown interest, or if any of my friends who cook much better than I do are
Where do you want to be for the game?
Scott: I have been very fortunate to have attended 5 different Super Bowl games and there is nothing like being there if your team is in it.
However, if I can’t be in Dallas, then in front of a very large High Def TV is where I want to be! I have been to Super Bowl parties at friends houses and I have hosted them myself. This year I will be watching the game at Wicked good Bar & Grill at Twin River. As long as I have a good view of the game, I don’t care where I watch it.
Tracey: I'm obsessed with flat screen TVs, so in front of anything high-tech, slender, and high-def. And I'm a fan of Texas barbecue, so I'd take ticket to Dallas.
Who's playing?
Scott: No self-respecting red-blooded American male needs to be asked “who’s playing?”. It’s the freaking Super Bowl! Unless you just crawled out from under a rock, you know that this year two of the league’s most storied franchises – Pittsburgh and Green Bay are playing in Super Bowl XLV.
We New Englanders are still upset about the fact that our Patriots aren’t in Dallas but we’ll get over it. What would be hard to swallow is a Pittsburgh win. It would give the Steelers and Ben Roethlisberger 3 titles in the last 6 years putting Pittsburgh on par with New England as “team of the decade” and Roethlisberger on par with Tom Brady with 3 rings each. We can’t have that. Go Packers!
Tracey: The only reason I know who is playing is because I ran a food story about great bars to watch the game, and my excellent contributors Ann and Michael Martini mentioned the teams in the piece. Sorry guys. I'm just not a pro football girl. I do love that I get to think about Roman numerals once a year, though.
What doesn't the opposite gender "get" about the Super Bowl?
Scott: Well, I can only use my wife as an example here. When asked by yours truly who is playing in this year’s Super Bowl she responded, “the Jets and……..I don’t know.”
Granted, she doesn’t represent the entire female gender. I know many women who are avid football fans. However some, like my wife, are more excited about the Super Bowl party, where it is, who is going to be there and what kind of food should we bring?
Tracey: Unfair question. Guys "get" the Super Bowl because it was invented to sell beer to them.
How important is the halftime show?
Scott: Generally speaking, I could not care less about the Super Bowl halftime show. Unless, of course, there is going to be some type of wardrobe malfunction.
Seriously, I generally have no interest in the halftime show but there was one that actually brought me to tears. At Super Bowl XXXVI, U2 played at the Superdome in New Orleans at halftime of the Patriots-Rams game. This country was only a few months removed from 9-11-01 and when they scrolled the names of all of the victims of the attack on a large screen as U2 played “Where the Streets Have No Name,” there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. I still get goose bumps just thinking about it!
Tracey: The halftime show is pretty much a letdown. Give me marching bands and drumlines and pictures that come together with little moving bodies. I love rock bands, but not on a football field.
Do you care about the commercials?
Scott: I do like the commercials. Maybe not as much as my wife does, but I do like the unique commercials that companies spend millions of dollars on to air on Super Bowl Sunday. However, if I do have to visit the men’s room, I will do it at the expense of the commercials and not the game itself.
Having said that, my money is on Bud Light for having the funniest and most memorable commercials of the Super Bowl because they usually rank in the top 3.
Tracey: I used to LOVE the Super Bowl ads when I was younger, but now it seems like there's more hype about the ads before they show, and by the time they hit, it's anticlimactic. Although I remember the Big Brother ad from Apple. I remember when Cardi's was on during the Super Bowl.
What would make you leave the game?
Scott: Nothing, zilch, zero! It’s the Super Bowl! Why would you want to leave the game? Whatever it is can wait a few hours. Barring a family emergency or something catastrophic, I will watch the game from start to finish.
Tracey: It helps that it's usually sub-zero outside. I tend to stay where it's warm and brightly lit. If the onion soup mix dip holds out, so will I.
