Now, I’ll be the first to admit, I have never been a diehard football supporter. This may be due to a few reasons. I was raised in a household by two parents who are not Americans and therefore were not into watching any classic American sports. Sure, I went along to football games on Friday nights with friends in high school, but that was just to socialize. I never really had any idea what was actually going on in the game.
Suddenly, I find myself sitting in an apartment of one of the sisters in my sorority, surrounded by other sisters with a plate of wings and tortilla chips on my lap. The hardcore Pats fans in the room are screaming at Tom Brady like he can hear them perfectly, yelling at him to run faster. I was really in it for the “adbowl,” a term coined for all the advertisements that are released for the purpose of being aired to the masses during the game. I really found myself appreciating and remembering the Audi commercial because it touched on equal pay for both men and women. Which in the current economic climate is something that is so important and relevant.
As the game progressed, you could feel the tension in the room as the Pats were obviously losing. All of a sudden we are in the fourth quarter and the Pats have had some sort of turn around. Touchdowns are being made left and right, and suddenly they were catching up. The screaming of all the girls around me was deafening. Overtime had all of us sitting in front of the TV with baseball caps flipped inside out for good luck. Then the team won and tears and screaming occurred as people ran around the apartment calling family members.
We quickly made our way outside. As we were up at the Hynes Convention stop, we decided to avoid the craziness of the T and walk down Boylston. We were met with other large groups of Pats fans. People screaming, running across the streets and honking their horns. Even the famous Prudential Center was lit up in the Pats colors. It was incredible to feel this entire city come together to support their team. The passion and overall feelings of excitement were so palpable within these crowds.
Will this push me to become an avid football fan? Probably not. But it was really cool to feel a part of something bigger than me.