XLIII

After last week, I have come to the conclusion that the Super Bowl is best consumed while on American soil. Not that I have much to complain about, mind you. My team won its NFL record 6th Super Bowl, and the game was incredible, but...

For one thing - I had to watch the game at 7 am on Monday morning. Since it was a work day, I had to take a personal day from work, which kind of stinks, but I couldn't miss THIS game. Also, since the bar I was at had an international feed, they didn't show the commercials. I was kind of bummed, sometimes they are better than the game. 

The place I watched the game was a large sports bar in Shanghai, one of several such Western style bars that cater to foreigners like myself. There were quite a few people watching the game, I assumed they were all missing work like me. I met and/or counted about 20 Steelers fans and 3 Cardinals fans, so I felt like I was watching it at a bar in Pittsburgh. I even had the chance to teach a small Chinese boy that was there with his father how to wave a Terrible Towel. 

I have to say that hearing the American national anthem sung , while in a foreign country, was a special experience for me. Its something that I took for granted living in America for 31 years, but hearing that song caused patriotic emotion to come bubbling up that I haven't felt in quite a while.

By the way, the Chinese refer to football as mei shi gan lan qiu, which translates to "American style olive shaped ball". Ha! Doesn't quite have the same ring, does it?