Super Bowl from Singapore

So yesterday was the Super Bowl. The championship of football, played between the top team (according the playoff system, if not necessarily by record) of the AFC and NFC. The winner gets a big shiny trophy. Everybody watches the game.

Ok, clearly "everybody" is an exaggeration. It's a lot of people.
Also, "watches" may be an exaggeration as well. Many times, I have "watched" the Super Bowl and gotten to the end of the game without being able to tell you who won or what the score was, but being able to clearly articulate the line-up of songs performed at half-time, as well as the recipe for the dip that was served. 

But that's half the fun.

Now, imagine you are in a foreign country. Say.......Singapore. Hypothetically speaking. The ultimate football game is airing at 7am. You do not have ABC, CBS, ESPN or any other channel that might remotely be airing the game. You also do not have the ability to stream video because Singapore internet doesn't allow it. So ABC.com, ESPN360, etc. are all off the table as well. You do have access to one or two sports bars in town who are showing it, but due to limited space and high demand, they require reservations to get a spot. I know this based on a report from a friend. Seeing as the Seahawks were eliminated from contention, I gave up and quit paying attention to the football season. Therefore, at 7am, when the game was beginning, I was still sleeping because I was on a late night flight back to Singapore from a weekend in Vietnam.

When I got up and into the office, I caught up on the Super Bowl via the internet, saw the YouTube video of the halftime show. (Beyonce is rad.) Saw the recap of the power outage. (Srsly Nawlins?) And highlights from the game. (Go Ravens.) 

My co-worker (American, from Baltimore, big fan) took the morning off from work to go to the sports bar and watch the game. So when she got into the office, we discussed the game. And explained to everyone else exactly what the Super Bowl is, barely remembering to describe the sport as "American style football" so as not to confuse with soccer. And then we realized how silly the American football championship is in comparison to any of the soccer championships. So we started talking about Beyonce. 

Now there's a topic on which everyone can agree and a subject that transcends borders and backgrounds.