So you didn’t make it to the big game. And chances are your team didn’t either with a 1/16 odd of making it in each conference. The hundreds and maybe thousands of dollars you could not shell out to make it to the big game came because of money, holiday time or family time, has caused you to take up hole in your house, another’s or a bar. 

You are surrounded by junk food, soda, booze, chips and dip and an assortment of platter foods you may not trust but hey, you’re hungry.Your company is an eclectic group:

There’s the: obnoxious “football” guy you don’t like or anybody does, the annoying “I know Everyhing” since football began guy, the “Stats” guy, “always on her phone girl”, “I get too drunk too fast and still have to drive bro”, the “I’m a football girl!” girl, the girl with RBF that not everyone is sure that they like, the snorer, the couple that’s fighting and awkward, maybe kids running around like they have zero sense and then there’s you! Mr. Rational.

You sit around a TV or Bar, waiting for the big game. You know it’s a big game because the media told you so. Countless hours of hyping players, “storylines”, projected outcomes, stupid stats of every Super Bowl played that has no relevance to the one being played today (seriously wtf does the 1979 Super Bowl have to do with the 2004 Super Bowl? Two different teams different rules and times just stop with the B.S. Stats please! They’re irrelevant!), headlines from teams outside of the Super Bowl that have nothing to do with the game and more rehashed storylines.

The national anthem is coming up by an artist irrelevant to your music awareness or radar to the point you’re asking, “They’re still alive?!” The game starts and everyone’s hype. You’re hoping it’s going to be a classic game, and if you don’t you’re gonna be pissed off and want to riot! Then 5 minutes in, you realize you don’t care because you’re teams not playing. ‘WTH am I doing here?’ You’re thinking. These people you either hang out with all the time, or are now forced to hangout with now because of this end of year celebration. And now you’re in it for the long haul. At least you have the commercials to look forward to. They’re hilarious and then on YouTube or Vine for the rest of life and you’re not missing anything except seeing it first. 

Halftime comes around. Another act that you couldn’t care less about. Like seriously, not any more less than you care now. The games coming to an end, close or not close you don’t really care unless you have money on it. 

The games over. A team won! But it’s not yours. The elation fades as you watch another team win the Super Bowl while you and your team are ‘at home watching’. The parties over. The people fan out. The memories fade. The tradition  lives on. Then you ask yourself, ‘Why? Why do I care so much if my teams not in it?’ Realization sets in…..

It’s because you’re a fan of the game. A sport you love. Whether it’s your team or not, no matter what the surroundings are, you will enjoy the game you grew up watching and love with the same admiration you had with your first big game. It brings people together no matter what the circumstances, and builds camaraderie amongst fans. It’s not about a game to you, it’s about being with your family of fans to enjoy the last game of the season on the grandest stage of them all, the Super Bowl. 

Enjoy the game everyone.

Photo courtesy of nj.com