How Do Australians Celebrate Super Bowl Sunday?
Super Bowl LVI, who else can't wait? I'll be watching the big game 7,502.19 miles away from SoFi Stadium. To me, that's 12,073.61 kilometres in my language. The game kicks off at 6.30pm on Sunday, 13th of February LA time. For me thats Monday 14th of February at 10.30am in the morning.
Yep. I'll be enjoying the game in totally different circumstances to how you'll likely be watching it. Last time I watched the Super Bowl with a group was Super Bowl LIII, before all the COVID restrictions. We all watched the game in our work boardroom where we gathered and watched Super Bowl LIV. It was actually a frustrating experience as nobody else had a clue what was going on.
Passing a football forward down under is unnatural. In rugby league it results in a turnover of possession. In Australian Rules football, it's illegal to throw the ball and you've got to handball it. To handball a pass you've got to punch the ball from your hands to deliver a legitimate pass. I had to explain to everybody what the purpose of the quarterback was and why he's allowed to deliver forward lobs.
When Travis Kelce caught a wide open reception in the endzone for a touchdown he threw the ball onto the ground. My colleagues were perplexed how it counted as a score and after he just threw the ball away. Aussies are used to grounding the ball over the ball line to score a "try" in rugby league, as opposed to just crossing the goal line at the front of the endzone.
During Super Bowl LIV the 49ers pressured Mahomes with four sacks. On each of those, I made comments like "Wow, great sack Buckner". My colleagues thought I was talking about someone who lost their job.
The biggest thing my colleagues couldn't get their head around is just how little game time of actual play there was. For those that stuck around for the 3 hours of football, they were critical of the 11 minutes of actual play time. They couldn't appreciate the other aspects of the game - the replays, the play-by-play breakdowns, the hype before third down plays and clock management.
The Super Bowl in America attracts close to 100 million television viewers, about 30% of the population. Worldwide there are about 50 million people watching the big game. In Australia close to 400,000 will watch, about 1.5% of our population.
Some people might watch it at the pub. It's more of an excuse to have an early morning schooner before lunch. Nobody's really having a Super Bowl party over here. It's on a Monday morning and we're just planning our working week out.
Definition: Schooner = A 425 ml glass, equivalent to 15 imp fl oz, or three-quarters of an imperial pint pre-metrication.
The Super Bowl doesn't exactly stop our nation, and some of those are only watching to see the halftime show. Unfortunately we dont get to see the ads that cost upwards of $6.5 million for a 30-second ad. In Australia they only show local ads in place and they aren't interesting. And no, those ads are not about Vegemite, shrimps or barbecues.
We don't grow up with American football. Introduction to the game for most of us is playing the Madden video game series. That's how I learned the game, carefully crafting an understanding of the physical equivalent of chess. Honestly @chessbrotherspro American football is tactically similar to chess!
I cannot wait for Super Bowl LVI. I'd love to see the Bengals win their first ever Super Bowl. They won AFC championships in 1981 and 1988 but couldn't win the big game. But I'd also love to see a 34-year old Matthew Stafford win his Super Bowl. After 12 long and unsuccessful seasons in Detroit he could never win a playoff game with his time at the Lions.
How am I going to watch the game?
I was thinking of watching it with my colleagues at work. On second thoughts, I think I'll just take a "sickie" and watch it from home. From the comfort of my own home, I can absorb the game and don't have to worry about casuals pretending they know it all.
I don't have to worry about those who have zero clue for the game, ignorantly criticising American football. For many of us who love the game in Australia, we'll just be watching the game by ourselves.
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Wolfgang Sport started in 2017 as a way to connect my passion for American and British sports. Today it's evolved into a blockchain sports blog pushing the boundaries into the crypto world and embracing Web3 technologies.
Damn. Rugby seems like a really great sport. I did watch few snippets here and there. Unfortunately, I don't have any channel related to sports at home. For really weird reasons... But it'll be awesome to get a cut. Not like i know anything about the sport but, It's the one sport I think I could sit down for...
Good comparison! Maybe it's also as strategical as chess, too.
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Ah Schooners and pots!! That brings me back to my Australian living days 🍺🍻
I've never stayed up for the Superbowl as it's on until Stupid O'clock in Ireland typically.
What's a schooner in Ireland called?! What time is the Super Bowl on out your way?
They don't exist. You can get a half or a pint. Only women typically drink halves and most women drink pints too if they are drinking beer or Guinness.
When I lived in Australia I drank pots and schooners regularly though as pints got too warm unless ya skulled them!
Super bowl started at 23:30 so I only watched half of it.
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As an expat Australian I enjoyed reading this. It's true that most Australians have zero understanding of American Football - myself included. However a sneaky morning beer makes for a very good reason to suddenly be a super bowl fan once a year!