It's Finally Here

Well the big day has finally arrived. As a fanatical football fan and die-hard Cleveland Browns fan – Go Browns! – I’ve been waiting for this day for two weeks. I know, I know, the Browns aren't playing, but I'll be watching.

Now before you leave, let me explain. Many Canadian males religiously follow hockey. I follow the NHL, but nowhere to the extent I follow American football. As I often say – hockey, it ain’t football. But I do love my Habs. I follow the NFL and for me, football and specifically the Super Bowl, are like Christmas, Easter, my birthday, Hanukkah, Ramadan, Kwanzaa and any other religious holiday you can think of, rolled into one. That definitely includes St. Patrick’s Day, if you know what I mean.

Today, like hundreds of millions worldwide, I will watch the game. I spend all week finishing projects and preparing next weeks work so I could enjoy the game guilt free with a few hundred close friends and a cold beverage or two.

The obsession is difficult for the non-football person to grasp, just as it is hard for me to understand why some people climb mountains, yodel or skydive. Why someone wants to jump out of a perfectly good plane is beyond me. But to each his own and fill yer boots - whatever floats your boat. My obsession may be a vice, but it’s harmless and for a few hours every Sunday in autumn, I don’t have to do anything but watch a game where grown men try to inflict grievous bodily harm to people wearing a different colour uniform.

As for today’s game, I reluctantly have to pull for Green Bay. Pittsburgh is in the same division as my beloved Browns and has had their number for the past number of years – okay decades. So it’s not in my DNA to cheer for the enemy. Final score: Green Bay 31, Pittsburgh 21.