The Super Bowl, the final game of each National Football League season, has become much more than just a sporting event. From the halftime show to the commercial breaks, the Super Bowl has become a form of a national holiday. Each year, Americans gather around their television screens to witness this over-the-top celebration of football: fans watch the annual game regardless of whether or not their teams have made it to the competition. This year, the Super Bowl was played in Miami by the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs. As of January 29, 2020, the 49ers had a record of fifteen wins and three losses, while the Chiefs recorded fourteen wins to four losses.
Differing from other sporting events, the Super Bowl gathers viewers who may know little to nothing about the sport of football. Parties, barbecues, and celebrations are almost as important, if not more so, than the game itself. According to Statista, an online statistics website for business, the 2019 Super Bowl was watched by more than ninety-five million people in the U.S. alone. As one of the most watched games of the year, Super Bowls are topics for conversation, from the tradition of having zoo animals “predict” which team will win, to the anticipation awaiting the halftime show performer.
The path to the Superbowl is made up of a challenging and rigorous sixteen game season, with teams from both divisions, the National Football Conference and the American Football Conference, vying for a spot in the postseason. In the postseason, there are four games: the wildcard, the Divisional Round, the Conference Championships, and the fourth and final game, the Super Bowl. The winner of the Super Bowl wins the Lombardi Trophy, a great honor. This year’s Super Bowl was the fifty-fourth Super Bowl ever played; the first Super Bowl was in 1967. Though recently, the NFL and the sport of football have struggled through many ordeals concerning both the safety of the game and its structure, the Super Bowl continues to be a staple of American sports.
Despite the fact that the Super Bowl is a competitive end to the postseason, it is renowned for putting on a performance that includes some of the best musical artists of all time. The list of famous singers who have performed at the Super Bowl Halftime Show includes Beyoncé, Michael Jackson, and Katy Perry. According to CNN, Katy Perry’s 2015 halftime show brought in more than 115 million viewers. The colors, choreography, lights, costumes, and songs make the show one of the most cherished parts of the Super Bowl game.
The commercials of the Super Bowl are widely-anticipated spectacles of creativity and humor. Indeed, they have become much more than advertisements: they are part of the game itself. From coining catchphrases to capitalizing on celebrity rivalries and jokes, Super Bowl commercials are deliberate and well-thought-out. Throughout the years, there have been a variety of ads, differing from heartwarming, to surprising, to downright hilarious, starring many famous celebrities such as Cardi B and Cindy Crawford.
Through games showcasing impressive athletic accomplishments and shocking victories, the Super Bowl has left a mark on the American culture of sports. Over the years, the game has come to represent the ultimate sport of football, musical entertainment, and performances. This year’s competition between the 49ers and the Chiefs was on the usual day of the Super Bowl, the first Sunday of February, known and cherished as Super Bowl Sunday. The game started off and the 49ers quickly took a three-point lead. The Chiefs bounced back, taking the lead 7 to 3 after they scored their touchdown. By halftime, the game was tied 10 to 10. With a fast-paced second half, the score went from 20 to 10 49ers to 31 to 20 Chiefs in the fourth quarter. The final score resulted in a Chief’s victory: 31 to 20.
Throughout the fifty-two years that the world, especially America, has enjoyed the spectacle of the Super Bowl, the game remains unique. Many teams have won more than one Super Bowl, and over the years, multitudes of surprising and memorable events have occurred over the course of the game. Moreover, although Super Bowls are just another championship game, they have an enormous impact and often are influenced by current happenings and the atmosphere of America. They are not only watched by millions, but they also signify a national unity, even when the country is enduring hardship. On the grand stage of the Super Bowl, normally watched by upwards of 80 million people, spectacular games have been played, difficult topics have been brought to light, and history has been made.
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