Americans and sporting events have become an ingrained ritualistic way to commune within our society. The difference between football and other sports is that football is a military metaphor. The Generals or Coaches run the show; everyone dresses in their battle uniform, and they fight each other to “take” the most territory. When enough territory has been “taken”, the one who crosses the magic territorial line with the inflated pigskin performs a ritualistic dance, much like a strutting cock, to celebrate the achievement while also emasculating their competition.
The Super Bowl has become one of the most successful secular holidays since Thanksgiving. It brings with it all the excitement, hype, and rivalry of any good old fashioned tribal competition. With the Super Bowl, it simply isn’t enough to show up and watch. At our house, there are weeks of planning. Whose house are we watching the game at? Who is buying what food and bringing it? The pre and post-game parties; are we having two parties or just one this year? Then there is the food and drink consisting of beer and junk food as the main staples.
Everyone arrives before the pre-game wearing their ritualistic “lucky shirt” that is needed to bring luck to the team they are rooting for. All the teens have their phones out texting their friends, their hair coiffed perfectly and tons of cologne to impress the cousins and neighbors that have joined the group. Following the traditional roles, the women spend their time putting out the snacks and cooking the food and gossiping about the latest family fopaw. The men open beer, the official masculine drink, and the teens open Pepsi’s, this year’s official sponsor. With drink in hand, they spend their time recounting great Super Bowls of the past reliving them play by play and discussing MVP’s, what surgeries they’ve had and what they are doing today in life and how they wish they could be them. Opinions and arguments