Super Bowl Sunday/Monday: Scottish Style
I watched the Super Bowl on Sunday in the Watering Hole (the student pub on campus).
First of all, it was much more crowded than I expected. The room I was in was completely packed, as was a second room.
Second of all, it was weird to think that while it seemed so late for me (kickoff at 11:25), it was just normal-timed back home.
The amusing part was seeing the reactions of the Europeans to the game. Some seemed to genuinely enjoy it, whether or not they understood it. Some just wanted any excuse to get trashed and watch people smash into each other. Others couldn't understand why it wasn't more like rugby. And then you had the people who just had no clue what the hell was happening, and didn't have American friends to explain it. I saw one guy call across the room to another, "Do you have any clue what's going on?" while pointing to the TV, and then shake his head with a look of complete bewilderment. When I asked the non-Americans, most said this was either the first American football game they'd seen, or one of the first. While that's completely understandable and I expected as much, at the same time it's so hard for me to imagine because it was just such a standard part of life in the States.
They kicked us out at 12:15 for 15 minutes(the beginning of the second quarter) to clean the pub, which would have been blasphemous in the states and definitely enraged some people.
Also, we didn't get the American commercials. So if you have any suggestions of where I can watch the good ones or can tell me which ones are worth watching (if any are), I'd appreciate the input.
First of all, it was much more crowded than I expected. The room I was in was completely packed, as was a second room.
Second of all, it was weird to think that while it seemed so late for me (kickoff at 11:25), it was just normal-timed back home.
The amusing part was seeing the reactions of the Europeans to the game. Some seemed to genuinely enjoy it, whether or not they understood it. Some just wanted any excuse to get trashed and watch people smash into each other. Others couldn't understand why it wasn't more like rugby. And then you had the people who just had no clue what the hell was happening, and didn't have American friends to explain it. I saw one guy call across the room to another, "Do you have any clue what's going on?" while pointing to the TV, and then shake his head with a look of complete bewilderment. When I asked the non-Americans, most said this was either the first American football game they'd seen, or one of the first. While that's completely understandable and I expected as much, at the same time it's so hard for me to imagine because it was just such a standard part of life in the States.
They kicked us out at 12:15 for 15 minutes(the beginning of the second quarter) to clean the pub, which would have been blasphemous in the states and definitely enraged some people.
Also, we didn't get the American commercials. So if you have any suggestions of where I can watch the good ones or can tell me which ones are worth watching (if any are), I'd appreciate the input.