So now I have watched an American Football match. Unt iit wass undebar.
The game was between Berkeley and Standford, two teams that "hate" each other, arch Nemesis's (or something) and who are fighting for the AXE of glory each year. (I don´t know what the axe symbolize, so don´t ask) Though I have to mention that Berkeley was beaten to a pulp by 14-46 by Standford so it wasn't a particular close match.
The stadium was filled to the brim with somewhere around 60-70.000 people, screaming and going wild at ever chance they got. The air was full of hot-dog smell and hands were raised in salute to their respective teams.
Yes, it was grand.
Apart from three reasons I now will endow on you:
1. The number one reason for why I think this game sucks is just the huge sell-out factor of the stadium itself. The commentators actually had to read commercials out loud! This made the game have a totally plastic fantastic aura and made me want to throw a can up the commentators box.
2. The second factor was the sheer number of people at the field! Most of them had no practical role at all it seemed. They just stood around shouting at the crowd to make them shout back... which failed utterly... I can understand the American need to be entertained though. The cheerleaders did a pretty good job, but what I can´t understand is why they want to be entertained WHILE the game is in session? There was so much happening at once, at all times that I had a hard time focusing at what was happening in the middle! This made me question the real interest of the game itself... is it so boring that they have to entertain the people ALL the time just to cover up the fact?
The half-time show was pretty awesome though!
3. The game itself was pretty boring. I get the rules about taking 10 yards, but stopping all the time does little to keep the intensity flowing.Apart from this and the fact that it almost made me wish I liked REAL football (soccer), it was pretty cool. I think most of my criticism comes from the fact that Berkeley lost the match and I was sitting in the middle of a sad/angry crowd.
Sportsmanship in the US is waaay better than in Europe though. No hooligans, lots of laughter and no chairs flying through the air above you.
Ah, yes. It is easy to make fun of American football, but it is hard to make fun of the people that watch it. Cheers to you.
So all in all; the game was boring, and too long with too much screaming from the dude in the box, but if you focused on the other stuff that happened on the stadium, you could have a pretty good time.
Like watching the cheerleaders... or the dude with the tuba being assaulted by the dude with the bear suit...
Song of the week is:
