Super Bowl | Like Lions playing in the World Cup final every year – Why is the Super Bowl such a huge event?

Washington

I moved To the United States at the turn of the year. Time set a natural goal: to begin to understand American football and its enormous national appeal.

The month-long NFL playoffs were just beginning and I had never watched a single match. The whole species had suspected me. Perhaps what was most alienated was the apparent violence and the disruption of the rhythm of the game that I found frustrating.

However, something essential had passed from me, I concluded, because a couple of my more civilized friends had been hooked for years.

First introduction did not convince. The NFL was in the news mainly because of the disgusting scandals.

There are black head coaches redundant more sensitive than whites, even if they were more successful. According to the latest allegations, they have even been invited to job interviews just for the sake of sight.

Head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders erosi after being caught up in hostile and homophobic emails.

Only last year in the NFL gave up different compensation criteria for black and white athletes. The criteria assess the entitlement of former players to compensation for memory disorders resulting from head-on attacks in a violent sport.

Playmaker Colin Kaepernickin his career was interrupted, at least in part, because he used to kneel during the national anthem protest against police violence and structural racism. No club wanted to hire a hoax anymore.

Kansas City Chiefs supporters still make “Tomahawk attacks” at their Arrowhead Stadium, and the Washington team chose a new namebecause the old one was so racist. Even this step in the right direction was forgotten the very next day by a group of women witnessed In the U.S. Congress about the sexual harassment of a team owner.

Read more: This week, the most racist brand in top sports was permanently in history – How can the Finnish NHL team still play in the Indian shirt?

But on match days, all discipline is left in the background. It is difficult to look away. Even I began to understand how difficult players can perform.

The accuracy of the quarterback’s throws is startling. The winger stretches to the limits as they reach the passes. The best players care little about their shaking or the pressure of fading playing time.

They hold the whole nation in their grip.

The NFL Regular Series was played Sept. 9-9. January. Of the 50 most watched TV shows in that term, 48 were NFL matches. Spectator numbers are growing in the playoffs and season by season.

“The NFL has an ever stronger grip on America and its culture. It appeals to our fascination with violence, our need for great drama, and our desire to witness the splendor that erupts in the midst of extreme pressure. ” analyzes Sports columnist for The New York Times Kurt Streeter.

Went it turned out that I opened up the TV to the best possible viewing time – that is, throughout the 101-year history of the NFL.

The best weekend ever, was the general assessment of the eight-team division round, the Finnish semi-finals.

The leading positions of the matches fluctuated back and forth, and all four wins were settled on the final performance of the game – three at the end of regular time and one in overtime.

“If you can put up with the behavior of the billionaires in their pens and the costumes in the league office, the players and coaches on the field will make up for it all, weigh it down.” wrote Editor of The Washington Post Adam Kilgore.

“They get to emit sounds they didn’t know they could produce. They inspire you to send text messages with mere exclamation marks. They make you forget how long you have been pulling yourself out of your hair. They create a feeling they will remember for the rest of their lives. ”

Also in the conference finals, the last hurdle before the Super Bowl, the horizontal cups swayed exceptionally gradual.

Cincinnati Bengals succeeded in the biggest chase in the history of the round when it closed the 18-point gap and defeated the superstar who played in the last two Super Bowls Patrick Mahomesin Kansas City Chiefs overtime.

The Los Angeles Rams knocked out the San Francisco 49ers, even though they lost 7-17 in the fourth quarter.

It’s about is not just about the playoffs. Every NFL regular season match is a bigger spectacle than in NHL hockey, NBA basketball or MLB baseball.

With 32 teams in the regular season, there are only 17 matches each (82 in the NHL, 82 in the NBA, 162 in the MLB), so every round – and through that almost every performance – gets a huge weight.

In the playoffs, every NFL match is like the legendary of other leagues Game Seven: the decisive final match of a long series, both of which are victorious from the playoffs but are nowhere near always needed.

NFL popularity has been explained by a wage cap and equalization of income distribution, which also keeps the league steady and enables success elsewhere than in major cities. When the starting points are flat, the balance of power can suddenly rise within the match from the team’s tactical insight or the quarterback’s genius stigma. It breeds great stories that America loves.

Admittedly, the hokema of evenness is somewhat exaggerated for star game builders have guaranteed their teams success.

In its own class was Tom Brady, who led his team into ten Super Bowls during 22 seasons. He won six of them in the New England Patriots and one in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, last season.

Last week, Brady, 44, announced he would end his career and focus on his family with his wife, a supermodel Gisele Bündchenin with. It was the main news in the United States on the front pages of financial magazines as well.

Brady lost with the Buccaneers on a division tour to the Los Angeles Rams – after first arranging an incredible chase from 3 to 27 levels 42 seconds before the end. However, the Rams won the field goal four seconds before the end.

Before the settlement, Brady seemed to repeat a story he had written himself. His biggest reputation is the Patriots ’rise from 3-28 losses to victory in the Super Bowl in 2017.

I watched that final from a guy’s tip on Youtube as my first full game as I learned the rules. At the same time, I realized a trick.

The match usually lasts three hours, but the ball is only on average 11 minutes in play, so retransmissions can be wound through wisely without missing an essential. On the other hand, the interruption of the game is like being made live: ads can be shown frequently without disturbing the actual game.

What about that violence? There is so much momentum and power in the game that injuries and concussions often occur.

Every during the last seven seasons 23-49 ruptures of the anterior ligament and 79-110 ruptures of the lateral ligament have been reported – and dozens on top during each training period.

Concussions have been observed seasonally from 135 to 192 – and again over dozens in each training period. Nearly all NFL players whose brains have been examined after their death have been found to have dementia.

But the game is not won by a stronger one but by a more skilled or smarter one. And not all teams try the same. For example, of the teams in the second conference final, the San Francisco 49ers tried to run the ball toward the finish line, but the Los Angeles Rams have gone all the way to the Super Bowl as a quarterback Matthew Staffordin throwing.

Super Bowl will be played on Sunday at Rams Home Stadium. It is watched by about 70,000 people and probably more than a hundred million on TV in the United States.

The Super Bowl is the most watched broadcast of the year in the United States. Of the 30 most watched TV shows in the country’s history, 28 are Super Bowls.

It is a well-known fact that in the United States, the World Cup final in football is always lost in the TV comparison. But from a Finnish point of view, the Super Bowl as an event is not worth comparing to it. A better benchmark is the Lions in the World Hockey Finals.

It’s about the spirit of the festival, which draws groups of friends to get together on TV, regardless of a deeper interest in the sport. The difference, of course, is that the Finns get excited mainly about the success of the national team, but the Super Bowl is a celebration even for those Americans whose own favorite team has not survived to the end.

“It’s a cultural experience. People may not even follow the match properly. Everything around is important: being together with ribs, biscuits, ice cream and the like, ”says Adam Wolfan economics professional in Washington.

Serving is important. It can even be seen in newspaper ad inserts where grilled meats and ready-made dipping trays are traded specifically for Super Bowl Sundays.

The food genre has been copied tailgate-party, which is specific to American football: People grill and enjoy drinks in the back of their cars in the parking lot an hour before entering the stadium – and join without a ticket.

Wolf sees Super Bowl TV commercials as a key topic of expectation and discussion, with companies reportedly paying $ 6.5-7 million this year, or about $ 5.7-6.1 million for 30 seconds. Many are especially looking forward to the interim show, which is always a spectacle of the biggest stars. This year’s stage is for rappers: Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar and Mary J. Blige.

Wolf, 35, is from Dayton, Ohio, near Cincinnati, so he supports Bengals, of course. A group of Ohio residents living in Washington will reunite for the finals.

“We’ve been looking for tickets to the stadium, but the cheapest ones to the upstairs stand when we last checked in $ 6,000. The price is rising. ”

Bengals is the underdog against the more experienced and well-known Rams. The Bengals last played in the Super Bowl 33 years ago and have never won it.

Wolf recalls that the Bengals were a subject of ridicule for years. Ohio’s youth chose their favorite teams from other sports or other cities.

It was because of her long tapping that Cincinnati got her first turn at the spring 2020 booking ceremony and chose Ohio’s own son Joe Burrow’nknown for his confidence.

“I earn too much to own fakes,” he commented on his spectacular diamond necklace after the conference finale.

Burrow’s coming season ended with a rupture of the left and front bandage of the left knee, but now he “burns opponents like cigars in honor of the feast,” as The Washington Post described.

Whatever the ashes story ends, my month-long introduction to American football suggests that the Super Bowl is sure to be a breathtaking match.