Yes, the title is deliberate. In Europe, which obviously extends to here in Afghanistan, the Superbowl (Professional American Football Championship Game) happens on Monday. Time Zones, my friends, time zones.
The European based military tradition is that Monday morning till noon is time off so that people can recover from being up most of the night watching the game.
In Afghanistan, the game doesn’t even come on till 0300 in the morning and you have to belive that there are a minimal number of screens devoted to ongoing operations and a maximum number devoted to watching the game.
The feed here comes from Armed Forces TV Network, Europe complete with infomercials replacing all those fun, high priced TV commercials that that cost millions; are made just for this particular occasion.
A long time ago, when George and I lived in St Paul and the Eldest was just a baby, we would host a Superbowl Party. The game was secondary to getting together with friends, eating spaghetti with garlic bread and salad, drinking a few beers and generally kicking back. Still – a good time was had by all. Moving to Europe in 1981 sort of put the kibosh on hosting a party, since middle of the night is not really my thing.
Now, wandering in early on Monday means that I can drink my morning coffee while concluding that there is nothing wrong with the Upper Midwest. If I can’t cheer for the Vikings – might as well enjoy the Packers.
I’m a public health freak, not a football fan (I never really ‘got’ football), so my attention was drawn to the White House’s Superbowl party menu.
And this, from a family which is supposedly fronting a healthy-eating, anti-obesity campaign (and, given the links between processed meat and bowl cancer, I don’t see why these things are not being phased out of the market altogether):
Bratwurst
Kielbasa
Cheeseburgers
Deep Dish Pizza
Buffalo Wings
German Potato Salad
Twice Baked Potatoes
Snyders Potato Chips and Pretzels
Chips and Dips
Salad
Ice Cream
Beverages including the following beers: Hinterland Pale Ale & Amber Ale ( Wisconsin ), Yuengling Lager and Light ( Pennsylvania ), White House Honey Ale.
Hey – not eating the wrong things for Superbowl is like going to a baseball game and passing up the hotdogs…..
agreeing it is not smart, but tradition holds sway..
Have some sympathy for we poor people from Pittsburgh !!! 🙁
No joy in the Steel City today……
Go Packers!
hope it was fun wandering around at 3:00 am to watch the game.
hey, you think the game was over by 0600 here? not a chance!
Well, I suppose this is where my only being 1/2 American comes out! I really don’t know anything about football (my father only watched one game a year: Army vs Navy). The few times I’ve ever watched the superbowl was in my last couple of yrs living in NYC and then it was with a party-filled room & only paid attn to the commercials!!
John and I watched football quite a bit in the early 80’s. I don’t remember why we fell out of the habit, but we used to watch the Sunday and Monday pro games. I don’t generally watch sports on TV with the exception of the Olympics. Actually, I don’t have time to care about it.
I agree, it was nice that the Packers won. There’s a sort of populist goodness about it – the heartlanders winning out over the East Coast establishment. Of course they are all the same, the owners and players, pretty interchangeable.
The folks in Dallas even had a Friday morning snowstorm to make the Packers feel welcome.
(In Dallas a snow of >1″ is remembered by the year it came.)
I too remember these game times and mini-parties while deployed. During Desert Storm, my cousin sent a VHS tape of the game, NY Giants banner and other fan paraphernalia for me. One of my best friends and co-workers was form Buffalo so we had a good time with the game. I continued to carry with me and hang that banner throughout the rest of my career and all of my deployments and it now hangs in my home office as a reminder that even during wartime, we can have and enjoy a small taste of home wherever we are.
This year I rooted for the Packers BTW
The Pack is back, as we Wisconsinites like to say. 🙂
I agree that it did have a great, populist feel to it. I would note, however, that it took good Midwestern talent, led by a Berkeley grad, to make it work.