With football, it's a psychological phenomenon (thank you college social psych, although I cannot remember the name of it at the moment...) that people tend to feel a personal connection with their favorite team/celebrity/what-have-you. When their favorite team wins, people talk about the team as though they're a part of it, "we played well" or "we really crushed them" or etc. When their favorite team doesn't do well or loses, it becomes "they didn't do this", "they really played shitty", etc. People try to dissociate themselves with a "loser".
So what happens when you live in a state who's team is not in the Superbowl this year and didn't necessarily have a great season of football? You get a state divided by hidden (or not-so-hidden) loyalties due to old stories, old lives, histories, better looking players, or more meaningful colored uniforms (did that sentence make sense? I just mean that people have loyalties to teams and you might not always know the reason, or you might assume they like a team for the wrong reason).
I've had fun this week asking people at work who they plan on voting for, if they're even going to watch the game, etc. My main finding this week: people either love or hate Peyton Manning. I can't say I'm informed enough about football to have an opinion, but I do know that analysts agree that he's had an amazing season. The Broncos are boasting the best offense this season and the Seahawks are boasting the best defense this season. This should = a great game...Peyton is 36-years old, and being in the health world, part of me wonders things like, how his rotator cuff is doing, how much weaker his left side is than his right, and how he must have great physical therapists. But dude, seriously, 36? Rock on, man, rock on.
And let's be honest, we all really watch the Superbowl for two things: the halftime show and the commercials. And so we can pig out. So can't we just all get along?
(Did I really say anything worthwhile in this post? Oh well, excuse my musings...beesrunfastsnowlightposts)