Super Sunday is a party day in America complete with gathering friends, extensive dip selections, cursing at the TV, watery beer, and the inevitable disappointment. The disappointment for me comes knowing it’s seven months until football season again, sometimes disappointment in a boring, lopsided game, and for others it is the disappointment of being the supporter of a losing team. For the lucky few who support the winning team, it is pure exhilaration of bragging rights for the whole year (despite having done nothing to contribute to the winning cause except second guess every 3^rd down play and pretend to support the time they went for it on 4^th and goal). As we know, all games need to have a loser (except in that rather excessively gentlemanly game of European football, where draws leave a sour yet satisfactory flavor in the mouth of its fans).

But this post isn’t about winning and losing, it’s more about the community of the game. At any time during Super Sunday, you can be sure there are chips, wings and beer being consumed. You can be sure there is a myriad of pickup games, or a pre-game catch being played across the country. The people watch the game even if they hate the two teams. The party happens even if they have an early meeting the next day. Faithful know not to expect high church attendance, men can’t go shopping, mow the lawn or do anything but watch the four-hour pre-game. Although not every man in America watches this game, the ones who do find pure spirituality in the peace of one Sunday a year put aside to relaxation and competition.

I have always found the Super Bowl a time to measure a year, a time to know where I was that year and with whom I was watching the game. One year, it was my first week in Austin, when the Eagles lost to the Patriots. One year, it was a whole day spent with my Dad before watching Joe Montana.

This year was my first Super Bowl outside of America, and it felt different to watch the game on Monday night after work, but watching with friends and food always feels good. This will be the year I ate Ramen during halftime and drank soju instead of beer. This will be the year where we made it happen no matter what. This is my first Super Bowl without commercials or a halftime show. This was a Super Bowl to remind me how good it is to have friends, people to laugh and enjoy life with.

I miss my friends in America, appreciate my friends in Korea and understand that being around people who both share common goals or interests while also sharing their disparate aspirations and activities helps people grow themselves. Sports bring people together in a fierce atmosphere.  Competition is good and healthy. At our “English teachers weekly game night” a.k.a. ‘Winnsday’, we all want to win, but usually, the laughs are the most important part. After all, in charades, it’s not if you win or lose but how silly you can look while doing it.