Hold the front pages. America, I have a confession. For a very long time now, probably around about eight years to be fair, I have been a staunch critic of most things American.
It's not that I dislike Americans. Far from it. Pretty much all the Americans I've ever met have been genuine, friendly people. It's that it has been the popular option for anyone outside of America to hate America. After all, every evil perpetrated on the world became their fault once they elected that monkey to office. To be fair, for that act of stupidity they deserved scorn.
Now however, Bush is gone, and we live in the age of Obama, a man whose reputation has him built up like some kind of marauding Jedi Knight here to save us. His name kinda sounds Jedi too.
So therefore the cool thing to do, is no longer slag off the Yanks. That in mind then, this last Sunday night I settled down with a couple of cold ones for my first ever Superbowl, and oh boy, did I enjoy it!
The whole thing is a massive spectacle. This is not just about the game itself, like the FA Cup final over here is, but more a celebration of the American ideals and way of life. It's a true display of pagentary, in a country often derided for its lack of history. The thing is, knock them all you want for having very little of it, what they do have they're damn proud of.
The presentation of hero of the hour Chelsey "Sully" Sullenberger and his flight crew, who had only last week saved the lives of 155 passengers and countless others on the ground by landing their plane on the Hudson River, should be a reminder to any nation that's shy to praise it's heroes. Over here we chastise our celebrities, look for any reason to detest and despise them. Over there, they champion people. Would we have seen a presentation of a similar hero at any English sporting event? No. Should we? Probably yes. Sullenberger is, without question, a hero. People like that deserve our adulation and praise, and America gets that. Over here, we'd be moaning about people's luggage being ruined, and the possibility he might have swore a little on the descent.
There was also the appearance of Jennifer Hudson, who's family had befallen such terrible tragedy at the back end of '08, and she was met with the sort of dignified and rousing respect she deserved. Again, America's conscience came through trumps.
There was of course a lot mention for America's troops abroad. America, like Britain is a country full of people who questioned the right to invade both Iraq and Afghanistan. America however, is a country that supports its troops without question. A country that understands that it's boys have a job to do, for right or wrong, and again hails them as heroes, be they dead or alive. We're only interested in doing that if they come home in a body bag. It's that sick, mournful nature we've adopted post Diana, that only the dead are worthy of our compassion.
But the main draw for me, was the game. I had no grasp of American football. I've never watched it. I'm not of the opinion that it's a game for poofs and pansies, padded to the hilt. I've seen the injuries if inflicts from my Uni days, when a number of very good friends were part of the American Football Team, and each week a different lad would come hobbling in on crutches to the bar with some sort of spiral fracture up the leg.
The game however, I had no idea about. I knew it was a bit like Rugby, but was daunted to be honest that it might go over me. It didn't. It's relatively simple. You have a certain amount of attempts to reach a certain distance, and ultimately the end zone. If you don't, posession swaps hands. You can of course steal the ball to win posession, but in essence that's it. Easy.
It's compelling viewing as well. Wonderfully tactical, but at the same time brutal in the upmost, it's the closest any sport could have come to full on warfare. And as for drama! Any game where the last two minutes can last for fifteen really builds the suspense. Fantastic. I won't lie, my heart was racing at the end of the three hours, and for a game with so many breaks in play, that's no mean feat. In the end, the Cardinals lost out to a Touchdown in the last minute to the Pittsburgh Steelers. We also saw the longest ever return touchdown in Super Bowl history. Brilliant.
The problem being however, that since my taste, I've been hooked. And to be a real fan of NFL, I need a team. Now, I'm not from the US. I've never been. I have no persuasion for my choice of team, but I know I want one. So how to pick one.
The fairest way I've come up with is to email every NFL team, and ask them to convince me as to why I should pick their team, and become a loyal fan. I've already had a number of personal responses, my favourite perhaps being the Seattle Seahawks response which was simply; "Pick the Seahawks. We have the best quarterback." Nice.
What I'm really looking for is freebies, and to that end I attached my home address so a clever PR person might send me a fan pack or something. Maybe even a shirt. Maybe even a flight over, accomodation, and tickets for their opening game next season.
I'm not saying that would guarantee me as a fan, but I'm sure it wouldn't hurt.
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