Sunday, February 2, 2014

Happy Double Holiday, USA!

Normally we don't have any posts on Sunday, but I felt this day was worth noting.  This Sunday marks a double holiday in the USA.  February 2nd is Groundhog Day, when the world famous Punxsutawney Phil comes out of his tree in Pennsylvania to predict the upcoming end of winter in North America.  I'll have to ask some of our Irish friends what they think about this strange rodent-based national holiday...

The big one, of course, is the Super Bowl.  Super Bowl Sunday is a classic American holiday, almost bigger than Thanksgiving.  People beg Congress and the President every year to declare Super Bowl Monday (the day after...) a holiday so people can get crazy with the cheap beer and greasy food during the game without fear of Super Bowl Sickness hurting their work productivity.  Studies show that workplace productivity is WAY down on the day after the Super Bowl anyway, do it, Congress!  You have the power!

Even non-football fans tune in for this highly publicized event.  The famous all-new television commercials with their record breaking prices always attract speculation and memorable moments.  Many people watch the commercials and wait for the game to resume before going to the bathroom or getting more food.  Remember Terrible Terry Tate?  Michael Jordan and Larry Bird playing HORSE for a Big Mac?  How about the annual GoDaddy "Too hot for TV" ads.  Spectacular.



Also attracting the non-game fans is the always-getting-bigger halftime show.  This almost hour long spectacle seems to get longer and more surprising each year.  The recent trend has been to introduce surprise guest stars and cameos to the advertised star's performance.  Remember Beyonce and the pop ups of the other hip hop artists and the reunion of her Destiny's Child gang for the finale?  What happened to the one I remember best from my childhood, Michael Jackson singing Heal the World?


Can it be 1993 again?

Because of the late kickoff time, I'll have to be watching The Game starting at almost midnight Ireland time.  With the extended commercial breaks and crazy halftime show, that puts me in bed by... maybe 05:00 Monday morning... But I know it'll be worth it.

Happy Groundhog Day and Super Bowl Sunday, USA.  Have some chili dogs and nachos for me!

2 comments:

  1. One of my favorite memories of my trip to Ireland was ducking into a pub in Galway - mostly because NFL football was on and my husband was starved for any US football. There was a group of 4 young Irish lads at the table nearest us. One apparently had spent time in the US and been bitten by the football bug. He was trying to sell his pals on the game. They were not buying, but it was not due to of lack of effort on his part.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know his pain on feeling football deprived. There is a small following of American football here, and the big game scores are usually included in the sports roundup on TV and radio, but the majority of sports fans are more into soccer, rugby, and Gaelic games.

      Thanks for sharing your story, I can just imagine what it looked like in that pub.

      Delete

Please leave a comment, we'd love to hear what you think! Comments are word verified to prevent SPAM.