COLUMN: They play fooball in the Super Bowl?
Tom Brady? Adam Viniateri? What are you talking about? Game? What game? “Oh yeah, I think I remember hearing something about some game. It was football right?”
OK, so most people have some sort of basic knowledge a game is played on Super Bowl Sunday, but it’s only a small part of a much larger event, for some people at least.
I gave a basic Super Bowl quiz to10 males and 10 females. The results were interesting:
Questions: 1 and 2) Who played in and who won the Super Bowl? I am pleased to announce that all 20 of our Super Bowl spectators were able to answer these first two correctly.
3) How did the Patriots win? Once again, our subjects did well on this one. Eight of the 10 women got this one right, and all 10 guys knew the New England Patriots’ kicker made a game-winning field goal as time ran out. But the question of who made the kick was not quite as clear.
4. a) Who is Adam Viniateri? b) Who is Tom Brady? Seven of our 10 males and a disappointing zero of our females knew that Adam Viniateri was the Patriots game-winning kicker.
The females did a little better knowing who Tom Brady was. Four girls either knew or were able to guess Tom Brady was the Patriots’ MVP quarterback.
I’m proud to announce that once again our guys were a perfect 10 for 10 on this question.
Answers for this question ranged greatly. “Weren’t they the two different coaches?” one woman asked me.
When asked about Adam Viniateri, another female informed me he was “the Rams’ quarterback,” (sorry Kurt Warner).
5) What was the key reason to the Patriots winning this game?
While all 10 males said that either “turnovers” or “defense” was the key factor, our astute females gave a much wider range of answers:
“The Patriots just didn’t give up.”
“Great team playing.”
“Will power.”
“Determination.”
“They just tried really hard,” junior education major and football expert Robyn Varga said.
“The Rams didn’t have a good record. They were just crappy and shouldn’t have even been there,” a female freshman said in reference to the Rams obviously inadequate 16-2 record going into the big game.
6) (Here’s where the girls started to gain some ground on the guys) Who sung the national anthem?
Seven girls answered this question right. Many of them even told me what she was wearing. Only four guys knew who sung the national anthem. Business graduate student Rob Peterson knew Mariah Carey was the singer, but when I asked him what she was wearing he could only recall she was wearing “clothes for the first time in her life.”
7) What is your favorite part of the Super Bowl? Half of the guys said the actual game was their favorite part of the day. The majority of the rest said the yearly Super Bowl party was their favorite.
One guy said his favorite part of the day is gone now. “The Bud Bowl,” he said. Every girl interviewed said either halftime or the commercials were their favorite.
The Super Bowl is much more of a holiday than a game. In years past, players footing on the field has been poor because of the damage done during the halftime show.
If there was a big figure skating Super Bowl event, they wouldn’t have a halftime ice fishing show where holes were drilled in the ice. This is because people who watch figure skating watch because they enjoy the sport. Many Super Bowl fans could care less about football. So they are willing to sacrifice the quality of the playing surface so baton twirlers can stomp around the field.
Many of the girls who told me “I hate football,” wouldn’t miss the Super Bowl for the world. What Christmas does for Christian families and what Hanukkah does for Jewish families, football does for football families which consist of friends, family and drunk people giving high fives.
So who cares if you’re a football expert. How many of us know the actual history behind Valentine’s Day? I don’t. All we know is that it’s a good excuse for a guy to get a date and a girl to eat free dinner.
Super Bowl (not necessarily football) fans are no different.
Just because you don’t know the first thing about Vince Lombardi, Tom Brady or Adam Viniateri, since when did we need an excuse to have a holiday?
Clark Jessop is a sophomore majoringin broadcast journalism.He can be reached at clarkjessop@cc.usu.edu