I
know it's been weeks since the last Super Bowl game but this topic
has always been some kind of a mystery to me. I've seen this sport
event portrayed in many TV shows (e.g. How I Met Your Mother,
Friends...) and many people were discussing it on talk shows and
social networks and let me say that they seemed quite obsessed with
this game. It looked like EVERYONE watched it and they were even
discussing things like commercials and songs which were played
throughout the game. So I was wondering - why is it such a big deal
and why this particular sport? What do you think about that? Have you
ever been to the US during this time? Or have you ever discussed this
topic with anyone from the USA? (Maybe Professor Smith has something
interesting to say about that ;) )
And
what about the Czech Republic? Do you think there is a sport (e.g.
Ice hockey) which we can enjoy as much as Americans do their Super
Bowl or even more?
Yes indeed, the Superbowl is a huge event in the US, generally the single most-watched television broadcast of the year. Irena mentions the commercials. Big companies spend millions of dollars to buy 30-second advertising spots during the Superbowl, then millions more making the slickest, most sophisticated TV adverts seen all year to fill those spots.
ReplyDeleteSome of these commercials end up becoming more famous and better remembered than the game itself. For example, Apple Computer's famous commercial from 1984, introducing the "Mac" for the first time. This ad was also a tribute to George Orwell's great novel "1984." You can see it at http://youtu.be/r3EbwSOpw_A. The ad even has its own Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984_(advertisement). By contrast, not many people remember anything about that year's football game.
I'm not sure if I have a grand theory that accounts for the popularity of this event. Often the game itself isn't that good, although I guess this last year's was one of the better ones, with the San Francisco 49's falling way behind and then making a great comeback and ALMOST winning. (I didn't see it; it's on in the middle of night here.) I'll think about this some more and get back to you. I suppose if there's a non-American equivalent in terms of high interest, it would probably be a World Cup Final. When I was living in the UK, people were still talking about England's big win over Germany in 1966! This seemed almost as important to some people as England's big win over Germany in 1945, if you get my meaning. ;-)
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ReplyDeleteSorry, make that the San Francisco "49'ers." The name comes from a term that was used for prospectors who swarmed into northern California looking for gold during the "Gold Rush" of 1849. (That's also how California got its nickname, "the Golden State.")
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion each country all over the world has its "top" and the most popular sport or sport´s event. For instance cricket is the most popular sport in Australia; footbal, baseball or basketball in America; rugby in New Zealand. However, people probably have different views on this topic;) As for the Czech Republic, I think that football was our national sport. Nowadays, the Czechs aren´t as interested in football as they were a couple of years ago. Our National Football Team has underperformed and lost "the stars" such as Pavel Nedvěd or Jan Koller and these facts are probably the causes of decrease in popularity. Perhaps, it´s a matter of time when the Czech National Fotball Team will be as famous as Czech beer in the world. :) Personally, I think that ice hockey is definitely the Czech National Sport at the present time.
ReplyDeleteHmmm... I don't really think Czechs have a "national" sport. The popularity is shared between a few of them (such as football or hockey), but there's no number one in my opinion.
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