Decidedly un-American American Football

Sunday night, the nine of us traveled across Nottingham to seize our birthright as Americans: the right to drink cold fizzy beer, eat extremely unhealthy food, yell loudly at TV's, and watch the Super Bowl. The Nottingham Hooters will never be the same. Let's list off the accomplishments of the evening.

1- We watched the entire game, from roughly 11:35 to around 3:00 AM or something. But considering we showed up somewhere around 10:00, we were there for nearly 5 hours. I was pleased that the Colts won, but in reality, would it really have mattered?

2- In true American fashion, we gorged ourselves on approximately 100 chicken wings, and a few orders of curly fries. Additionally, some of the ladies had some desserty type things.

3- In a salute to both Dr. Michael K. Smith and the premier advertiser of the Super Bowl commercials as well as our own proud heritage, we drank (censor) pitchers of Coors Light and Budweiser. Don't worry, I was fine.

4- We experienced a quintessential American phenomenon in a quite un-quintessential way. As Kevin so eloquently stated on his rival blog, the British would be more likely to "pour scalding tea into their knickers than watch a match of American football." True to that form, Hooters was filled with Americans, wannabe Americans in random NFL jerseys, and those who had no idea what was going on. There was one guy in an Arizona jersey who, although seemingly British, could easily have passed for American with his diet of probably 20 or so chicken wings, God knows how much beer, and a whole rack of ribs. There also was one dude who lamely wore a Cleveland Indians jersey. The game was carried on Sky Sports, and featured the commentating talents of Curtis Manning (former running back) and Don Johnson, of Miami Vice fame. After marvelling at the LSD induced pregame show, we all had a moment of awkwardness when Billy Joel came on to sing the national anthem. Strangely enough, the din of the restaurant actually lowered when the Piano Man started to sing. Aside from a smattering of boos when they showed footage of troops stationed in Iraq, it passed without incident. As kickoff approached, testosterone levels rised accordingly with random yelling directed towards the starting lineups. And the rest is history, so they say. A great moment of misunderstanding came in the first half, when Peyton Manning threw a touchdown pass to some receiver who had broken through the two cornerbacks guarding him. Some ignorant British guy started yelling "HE CAN'T DO THAT, HE'S OFFSIDES." For the uninitiated, it's a soccer rule that the Colts were seemingly breaking. Wrong football dude.

Anyways, the Super Bowl is over. Back to reality, being class, band, and this lame Paideia paper due on Friday. But more importantly, it signals that spring training is right around the corner.