The word carried a different meaning at different stages of my life, at least since as far as I can remember to have begun understanding the current affairs around me. For the most part I, quite obviously for an Indian kid, associated it with a grandiose event spanning over a thousand lanes with each game costing thousands of rupees and witnessed by millions of spectators. The name itself was enough to highlight the pride and honor that the contestants vied for and I used to imagine them sweating under pressure even in controlled air conditioned halls. Having played bowling in small arenas with just over fifteen lanes I could only imagine the clamor before each throw and the sound of applause at each strike. But then it all changed when I tried to fit in the infamous episode of Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake into my framework and it didn’t quite add up. At this point I find it superfluous to elaborate on the events that took place on Feb 1 2004 and all I shall say is that a stage performance didn’t seem to gel within a bowling arena. But it didn’t make me curious enough to dig deeper and I let that muddle sit at the back of my head.
And then, one fine day, I saw Ted from HIMYM being overly fanatic about Super Bowl to the extent of constructing a device to block any news of the game when he failed to watch the live version. Quarterback, football, yards, touchdown were a few words thrown here and there and when I collated all of them they all, indeed, added up and I at least got clarity on the sport that the event represented. It was only recently that I grasped the magnitude of the game when it was compared against our own world cup matches. Although the viewership was restricted to just one nation the statistics stacked up quite impressively with cricket world cup that spans about a dozen nations and is the most coveted trophy in India. Of course none of these tournaments can be compared to the magnificent soccer world cup that manages to keep two billion eyeballs hooked onto the screen!
So, on 5th Feb 2012 I decided to witness the sporting event myself. I was looking forward to it as I had learnt a few basics of the game quite recently and wanted to see if knowing the structure would help in building excitement. My friends had already reached Uncle Joe’s, a sports bar in the downtown and I joined them a few minutes into the first quarter. I was slightly surprised when I came to know that even though a quarter comprised of 15 minutes the timeouts stretched it to three to four times its size. Throughout the game I was trying to understand the strategy of the defense and the offense and discussed that with my peers who shed some more light on the feasibility of the moves we hypothesized. With the sheer wrath that the defense attacks the offensive “line” it seems remarkable how they are able to shield the quarterback who sometimes takes as much as 5-7 seconds to perfect the trajectory of his throw. It is hard to simulate, particularly for a newbie like me, the conditions under which the players play. With apparently no constraints or rules on how to tackle, cross, shield or intercept during the game I started to appreciate how the players worked through the scenarios that changed at lightning speed.
The Super Bowl game was between NY Giants and New England Patriots. During the game I got a chance to read about the enraging rivalry between the most able quarterbacks: Eli Manning of Giants and Tom Brady of Patriots, and I found it pretty impressive how Brady was able to maintain his calm in such a highly charged up atmosphere. This trait became much more evident during the final few minutes of the game when the Giants scored a match winning touchdown to lead 21-17 with just under a minute to spare. Now that I was familiar with the rules of the game and had information from the last couple of hours I could lay down the equation for Patriots to score a stunning win – about a hundred yards in under a minute. It had been taking about 3-4 minutes to cover that length and it would have been phenomenal were they to go through. The stress and the pressure was pretty apparent among the Patriots as we saw two incredible and extremely well calculated throws by Brady, with a potential to cover tens of yards, being dropped. Tension mounted in the bar and in the stadium as Brady took guard, seemingly determined to cross about 40-50 yards with just 5 seconds on the clock. With his “offensive line” firmly in place to shield him, he dodged the defense allowing him to concentrate and at the last second tossed the ball along his best calculated trajectory. The ball seemed well in line to cross the 100th yard and then bounced off several players before tumbling onto the turf – The Giants blasted onto the field in celebration.
Although the bar wasn’t packed to match the expectations that I had with an event of such scale it was comfortable to watch the game with everyone seated on their seats. Fortunately for me my first Super Bowl was as close as it could have got.
