Sport, history, nudity and snacks...what's not to love?
Sunday saw Super Bowl 55 play out in Tampa Bay. Now I’m guessing that at this point in time, not many of you are American football and NFL fans. But please indulge me for the next few minutes as this particular Super Bowl made history in so many ways!
Also, I’d bloody love to entice a few of you over to the NFL fandom BECAUSE I LOVE IT, and you can never have too many people to share in what you love.
I’ve never been a particularly sporty person so you might be wondering how on earth I became a fan of such a big sport. I’d like to say it was my appreciation of the hard work and commitment it takes to play something so physical.
Sadly, the reality is that I first started to watch because it was an excuse to eat a shit load of snacks. I say sadly like I’m ashamed. I’m not. Behold our Super Bowl snack stash!
Note: The rest of the photos in this post are from Gettys Images. Unfortunately this means I can't use the usual alt text to make them accessible so instead I've described them within the content of the blog post.
I’ve watched the Super Bowl for years, but this one was special.
First off, Sarah Thomas became the first ever female NFL referee to officiate at a Super Bowl. Wowsers folks, that’s huge!
Here she is in this photo, in all her Super Bowl officiating glory.
Fan fact: Sarah had to get special permission to alter the uniform by putting a hole in the cap for her ponytail to go through!
And if that wasn’t brilliant enough, the winning team had two female coaches on their staff; Lori Locust, assistant defensive line coach; and Maral Javadifar, assistant strength and conditioning coach. This makes them the first women coaches to win a Super Bowl. Yassss Queens!
Secondly, this is the first time in all 55 Super Bowl matches, that a team has played the Super Bowl in their own stadium. The host stadium is chosen years in advance (we already know that SB58 will be played in New Orleans in 2024) so there’s no way of knowing which 2 teams will have played their way to the final. That’s already pretty special for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and their community, but then they only went and won it didn’t they! I mean, what a day for the locals!
Thirdly – Tom Brady. Even if you have no interest in the sport, his is a name to remember. This photo was taken moments after Sunday's game when he waved to the crowd in celebration.
He’s probably the greatest ever quarterback the game has seen. American football is undoubtedly a team sport, it’s one of the reasons I love it so much. But the QB is a very key player. He has to take control. He has a split second to make a decision and execute it before he gets smashed to the ground by the force of stampeding rhinos.
What’s so special about Brady? With Sunday’s win, he’s played in more SB’s than any other player (10) and he’s now won 7 of them. He’s won more SB’s than any team in its 55 year history.
And he’s 43 ladies and gentlemen. In normal terms that of course is not old, but let me put this into context for you.
At the weekend, this year’s Hall of Fame inductees were announced. These are retired players who really stood out in their NFL careers. One of these inductees was Calvin Johnson Jr, who retired in 2016.
When 22 year old Johnson joined the NFL, Brady was 30, in his 8th season and had already won 3 Super Bowl championship rings. On Sunday, when 5 years retired Johnson was announced a Hall of Fame inductee, Brady was warming up for another Super Bowl!
This was his first year with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Last season, the Buccs lost more games than they won, and weren’t really ever in contention for the championship. But Brady felt the team had the right weapons for him to join and lead them to victory. It kinda felt a bit arrogant….until he actually did it!
I can’t deny that at the start of the season I wasn’t rooting for them. Partly because I did wonder if Brady had gotten a bit too big for his boots. And partly because my own beloved team, the Chicago Bears, needed to beat them twice (and we did the first time, no one was more surprised than me).
Mainly though, it was because when Tom Brady is losing, he gets angry. And when Tom Brady gets angry, it’s really really funny to watch. It’s a meme dream!
But after a dodgy start to the season, they started to win games. Convincingly too. The realisation of ‘holy shit, this could actually happen’ opened my eyes to the possible fairytale before me. Why would I want someone to fail when I could be cheering on something that seems so impossible. When someone is winning big at a casino table, the crowd gathers to see how long their streak continues, not how quickly it ends. That’s where the fun is, that’s where the positivity is flowing, and that’s where I want to be.
So when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Kansas City Chiefs, took to the field on Sunday night, I was cheering for the home team.
The Chiefs were the reigning champs and had had the better season, losing just 2 of their 16 games. Their QB, Patrick Mahomes, is nothing short of a magician. This photo shows him in action on Sunday night.
There hasn’t been a single game of his where I haven’t been left open-mouthed at what he can do.
Watching the Chiefs as a whole, they are in a different league to the rest.
But it just wasn't their night. Despite playing with an injury, Mahomes still weaved some magical plays, but Sunday night was to be the Buccaneers fairytale ending.
The Chiefs will bounce back, I have no doubt about that. And Mahomes I suspect will go on to rival all of Brady’s achievements. He’s 18 years his junior so plenty of time to do great things.
There is a fourth reason Sunday's game stands out. And it's this guy. Not really the fact he streaked. Not even really his choice of fluorescent pink mankini or the way the security guard in this photo dived to take him down. No, the beauty of this guy's bare arse is that he placed a bet with the bookies that there'd be a streaker in the game. His friend ran out first to distract the security guards, meaning this guy could charge down the field. The dude won himself $374,000!
It’s 7 months until the new season starts. Lots can change between now and then as new players are drafted from college football teams, and transfers and trades take place. I’m nervous and excited about what this means for my Bears. But I can’t wait to see what the new season brings for Brady and Mahomes. And my Sunday night snack stash.
Lyds, out x
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