It was the season leading up to Super Bowl XX that I first became interested in American Football, and in particular Dan Marino and the Miami Dolphins. I stayed an avid fan for quite a few years and even went to an American Football Camp in 1988 where I was chosen to be the quarterback due to having the best arm! But then University and work took over and my interest waned. About 6 years ago I became interested again and even bought a season subscription from Pontel.com to receive the Dolphins game DVDs every week, back when Pontel did the NFL DVDs. Then in 2007 I went to the first International Series game at Wembley and saw the Dolphins lose to eventual Super Bowl winners: the New York Giants. My interested dipped again and some weeks I’d even forget to see if the Dolphins had won or lost.
It wasn’t until the Super Bowl (XLV) this past weekend that I became interested again, intended to watch the game on the Monday as I had the morning off. Thankfully I was able to watch it on the BBC iPlayer as I’d forgotten to Sky+ it! So Monday morning I sat, with my laptop, well, on my lap, and watched the first half of the Green Bay Packers vs. Pittsburgh Steelers. It’s worth mentioning at this point that I’d forgotten to avoid Twitter so I knew who’d won, but not the score.
The Super Bowl is always such an amazing spectacle and this latest instalment was no exception. Emanating from the $1 billion + Cowboys Stadium, which looked amazing. Lea Michele was great with her rendition of America The Beautiful, and Christina Aguilera not so much with her over warbled attempt at the National Anthem – wrong words aside! The Walter Payton Man of the Year Award always brings home the sad end to his life – he was one of the big stars of the NFL when I first started watching and was the MVP of Super Bowl XX, the first one I watched.
When the game started I found myself drawn to the Packers, probably on a subconscious level because I knew they’d won, but also because they played more of a passing game which I have always preferred – being drawn into the sport by Dan Marino that’s not surprising. After the first half I though the Packers were going to walk away with a huge score, if not for the last minute comeback by the Steelers who avoided going into the break with such a huge gap to make up. The interception from Nick Collins in the first quarter was particularly impressive as he ran the ball in for a diving touchdown – always nice to see something in real life akin to what you might see in a film.
Nick Collins returns an interception for a touchdown
The half time show, while visually impressive, wasn’t that great. The Black Eyed Peas can’t sing live and that was very evident on one of the biggest stages in the world. The highlight for me was Slash coming out to play Sweet Child ‘O Mine, though I have no doubt that Axl Rose threw his television out the nearest window when Fergie started signing. Slash’s amp needed turning up as his guitar solo was only just audible.
Back into the action of the second half and the Steelers seemed to have the momentum and came within a few points of the Packers on a couple of occasions. Without the 3 turnovers that the Steelers suffered this would have been a very different game, but in the end the Packers held strong, thanks not only to those turnovers but also the arm of quarterback Aaron Rodgers who rightly received the MVP award for the game.
This is the first full game I’ve watched in a few years and I thoroughly enjoyed it – so much that I questioned why I hadn’t taken more interest in those wilderness years. I’ll be interested to see the incineration between the Green Bay Packers and WWE wrestlers on SmackDown on Friday as they are due to be at ringside. I’ve also ordered the NFL Super Bowl Xliv Champions: New Orleans Saints Blu-ray
