Super Bowl Sunday. What a day. It is a day where dreams are fulfilled and champions are crowned. It is a day of emotion, passion, and love for a common game.  For many across the grand, old USA, it is a national holiday. Parties are thrown, delicious food is consumed, and football fans from all over come out to support the two teams talented and lucky enough to have made the game. Those football fans include me.

Admittedly, I am not a huge football fan. While I enjoy watching the games and support the Giants regularly, it is not a passion of mine. To be honest, because I know little about many teams, the way that I chose which team I will be rooting for in any given game is by looking up pictures of the quarterbacks. I then pick the team with the more attractive quarterback to be the one that I support. Surprisingly, this method has worked out quite well for me.  But, the Super Bowl is a different story.

As a kid, for me, the big game was all about the food and the commercials. My mom would cook up a delicious feast of appetizers and, sometimes, if my siblings and I were lucky enough, my dad would make milkshakes. It was a meal to look forward to! And then, the commercials. It is no secret that the best advertisements of the year are shown during the most popular television event. I would eagerly await these commercials all year, and I would make a point to only leave the room when the game was on, so that I wouldn’t miss any.

However, as I have grown up, I have come to love the Super Bowl. I find myself looking forward to the game, eagerly watching the playoffs (even when the Giants miss making it by a mile), and throwing my support heavily behind one team. So while I cannot tell you all of the players in the NFL or even all of the rules in the game, this year I will be rooting passionately for one team and quite possibly yelling at my TV.

But, the Super Bowl is more than the game, the commercials, and the food. For me, it is about the sense of passion, unity, and patriotism. There is something comforting about knowing that millions of people are watching the game and having the same experience with you. All over the country, people are cheering for their team, screaming at their TVs and cautiously hoping for a win. Heck, millions of people are even using the bathroom at the same time as you. Toilets across America will be flushed 19 million times during halftime (yes, that is true). Not to mention the thousands of fans who are sticking out the cold New Jersey weather for the experience of a lifetime witnessing the game in person.

The Super Bowl is not only the biggest bowl of the year, but is also an American tradition that represents the best values (passion, spirit, competition) of our great country.

~Rebecca Jaeger