The National Day of Football
Today marked the 51st Annual National Day of Football, otherwise known as the “Super Bowl,” an event so deeply American that you might consider it a second Fourth of July. Beyond the pageantry, the half-time show, the commercials, and the game itself, the Super Bowl is an important — and increasingly rare — occasion where most Americans, for a few brief hours, are doing the same thing.
Nearly as many people watched the 2015 Super Bowl in the U.S. (114M) as voted in 2016 (139M). Nine of the top 10 television events ever in the United States were Super Bowls. (The one exception was the M*A*S*H series finale, which must have been pretty cool). All of this is important for two reasons.
First, there’s only one Super Bowl, which means that all Americans are watching the same thing. There’s no room for media bias or “alternate facts” (Deflategate notwithstanding). Everyone goes to work on Monday with a shared experience.
Second, the Super Bowl is a deeply patriotic event, from the national anthem to the flyover to the game itself. And in being a shared experience first, it’s a more authentic patriotism than its other more political expressions. It’s situated somewhere between the apologetic, insecure patriotism of the left, and the zero-sum, “America First” patriotism of our current administration. This sort of patriotism is both good and vitally important because it reminds us of what we have in common.
So as you’re nursing your Super Bowl hangover tomorrow — looking at you, Pats fans — take a minute to reflect on how big the Big Game really is.
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