There aren’t many times during the year where all of America shuts down. Most of the time, the high-spirited American work ethic can trump every holiday except maybe Thanksgiving and Christmas. However, one day is sure to shut down the entire country for about four hours, and it’s not even marked on the calendar: the Super Bowl.
Post-game celebration of Super Bowl XLIV — Photo courtesy of Michael Dorausch
On February 3rd, 2013, expect to see the streets in your home town cleared once again around sundown when Super Bowl XLVII kicks off at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. This will be the tenth time New Orleans has hosted the nation’s biggest sporting event, which only makes sense. New Orleans is as American as it is unique and odd, which is exactly what the Super Bowl offers: a strong dose of Americana and a little bit of weirdness.
Being the winner-takes-all championship game of the NFL, odd things have a tendency of occurring during the Super Bowl. Trick plays, surprise onside kicks and chokes of epic proportions have an odd way of creeping up and biting the two teams doing battle down on the turf. However, sometimes it’s what’s in the stands that will catch your eye. Take a pair of binoculars into the stands and you might catch a glimpse of a sitting president in one of the suites. If you, for one reason or another, don’t care for politicians, then spy around a bit more and maybe you can even catch your favorite actor or actress enjoying the game. Celebrities of all calibers attend Super Bowls, so you never know who you might spot.
You may even catch the Never Miss a Super Bowl Club somewhere in the stands. Three men have never missed a single Super Bowl, dating all the way back to 1967: New England Patriots fan Don Crisman, San Francisco 49ers fan Larry Jacobson and Pittsburgh Steelers fan Thomas Henschel. Others have not had the good fortune to receive or earn a ticket to every game, but the fanatics are easy to spot, decked out in team colors and Super Bowl pins.
The Mercedes-Benz Superdome, host of the 2013 Super Bowl — Photo courtesy of Infrogmation
The location of the forty-seventh Super Bowl is even more impressive than the people who will be attending it. The Superdome was constructed in 1975 and has since become an icon of New Orleans, hosting events of all kinds. Former super star quarterback Brett Favre described the dome as “the most hostile environment I’ve ever been in” due to the extremely loud noise created by rabid fans and the stadium’s roof reflecting sound back down onto the field.
In 2011, the New York Giants won a nail biting and unorthodox Super Bowl XLVI against the New England Patriots, and so far the 2012 season is shaping up to be a doozy as well. With so much riding on the line – and literally the entire country watching – the Super Bowl is where history is made one way or the other, so be sure to be there to witness it.
