But we don't really follow football. Me, my ex-roommate. We're just girls. You know why we're watching the Super Bowl? For the commercials. And yes, I did wait breathlessly for the Budweiser ads. And yes, I did laugh at the new EDS commercial. But no, I don't feel good that this is the priciest advertising there is. Would you pay over a million dollars for 30 seconds? Maybe you would. But I don't have a million dollars. So I probably wouldn't. But, hey, don't let that stop you.
Honestly, I didn't even know who was playing in the Super Bowl before this evening. Mostly because I didn't care, but also because I don't follow football. Now I know it's the Baltimore Ravens and New York Giants. But that still didn't change my excitement level. But... Who's going win?
When I was a senior in high school, we went to swim regionals in Soldotna, Alaska. The year before, our boy's team were the favorites to win Regionals against the SoHi Stars, who'd won Regionals the past 16 years in a row. But it all went horribly wrong. There was so much PAIN in that pool. It was worse afterward when our coach showed us the Boys Regional Champion t-shirts he'd already pre-made.
All that pain made the next year so much better. It was close the entire meet, and it all came down to the last event. A 400 yard freestyle relay. We out-touched them at the finish. We only won by hundredths of a second. But somehow, it didn't seem real until they announced it over the loudspeakers. And our entire team ran around hugging and crying and screaming. It was a victorious time. I felt like we'd actually ACCOMPLISHED something. And that's a really good feeling. Really good.
So when I think about sporting events like the Super Bowl, I sometimes get a little bit of that feeling back. I remember back to that swim meet and I know what the players are feeling. But not all the time. And not enough to watch the entire game.