Sundays are the worst. It's like waking up on the day you leave from vacation. You wake up. Enjoy whatever is left of your time away from stress and responsibilities. Then clothes are packed and vacation becomes a memory. Similar to Sundays. But one thing makes Sundays bearable and worth the wait. Football.
Waking up on Sundays during the season, I have an extra pep in my step. Instead of tossing and turning in bed, I make my way downstairs, throw on my jacket and head to Dunkin to start my day filled with now America's game. From my bed, to East Milton Dunkin', and into my recliner. It is like my last day on vacation with a late check out.
But one Sunday trumps them all. This Sunday gives you that extra day of vacation bliss. Where we escape from the anxiety and stress in our lives to gather around our plasma screen televisions for one singular event. The Super Bowl.
My favorite day of the year, besides Wrestlemania and my birthday, where the party begins when you wake up, and usually ends with Tom Brady hoisting the Lombardi trophy as confetti rains down on him. Food, football, and gambling are just a few of my favorite things that occur. It is the only day where talking about one subject for over twelve hours is still not enough time to analyze every bit of information that goes into the game. There is a reason that they drag it out for two weeks. Besides giving the players a rest before the biggest games of their career, it gives media outlets a chance to tell the stories of certain players who would not usually be in the spotlight during the regular season. Journalists get to hear the stories of die hard fans who are going through a difficult time in their lives, but their fandom of a specific team has given them an escape and avenue of brief happiness. It delays the depression football fans will have once the season ends for one more week. They are given an extra week of vacation.
My first Super Bowl memory is the first positive one for Patriots fans too. Four year old Pat Pitts attended his first Super Bowl party. Obviously I do not remember everything from that game or party, but I remember three things specifically. The first is courtesy of Ty Law. His interception off a badly thrown curl route from Kurt Warner. The house erupted. I walked up the stairs looking for some chips and a Pepsi, instead I watch on the ten inch kitchen TV Ty Law giving the Patriots the lead. First time I have ever seen a pick six. Not the last time I have seen a pick six.
Adam Vinatieri knocking it through the uprights gave me my second. After Tommy Terrific led one of the greatest drives in Super Bowl history against the Greatest Show on Turf, Vinatieri's field goal gave the Patriots their first Super Bowl and my first father son moment. Dickie Pitts gave me a bear hug as I jumped up and down on my parents' friends' couch. I had no idea the magnitude of the situation, but having that be my first sports memory is pretty cool.
Oh, and their was a third thing. Reenacting the entire two minute drive in the middle of the Red Jacket North Conway lobby. It was two weeks after the Super Bowl. My parents and I went on vacation to New Hampshire, God's country. Every year, we stayed at the Red Jacket along with six families. We were the smallest family of the group. These families became my family through these trips. The grandmother of one of the families would give us quarters to use in the arcade in order for us to leave her alone. The grandfather did not have the same fortune. As he sat reading his paper, he had no way to get rid of a young Patty Pitts.
As I waited for my mom to bring me my breakfast or money for the arcade, I decided to do what every four year old does when they are bored, recreate the final moments of the most recent Super Bowl. Classic. I didn't realize it, but I had an audience.
As I sat to write this story, I brainstormed every memory I have from that moment. I decided I needed some help. I called the one person I know who tells the best stories. Nancy Fig. My mom's best friend who is basically a part of my family. I asked her for the details I may have missed due to the fact I couldn't even write my own name at the time. This was her memory of that important day in my childhood.
I walked into the foyer and see my father, you, and your dad. Red(her father) is trying to read the paper, but cannot stop looking over at you reenacting the Super Bowl. I watch you and you're screaming, "Brady over the middle to Brown. Antowain Smith has it, but is tackled. Brady throws it and IT"S CAUGHT BY TROY BROWN!" Red puts down his paper and starts to strictly focus on you. He was fascinated on how you were just putting on a show for everyone in the room. As you become Vinatieri, my father is on the edge of his seat. You kicked it and screamed, "IT'S GOOD PATS WIN PATS WIN!" And you're father did not look up from his paper once. It was hysterical.
At four years old, Dickie Pitts knew the best way to shut me up was to not pay attention. Well done, dad.
That day was an important day in my life because it, along with the Pats win, is my first sports memory. It was the day, if I realized it or not, I wanted to do exactly what I am doing now to make it in the sports world. From then on, my sports obsession grew and ultimately led me to my true passion, football.
The Super Bowl is the single greatest single day sporting event. By a long shot. There is no other event that has the insane amount of media coverage dedicated to one sixty minute game. How much media coverage you ask? Enough that they dedicate TWO weeks to it. Two weeks of storylines, interviews, talk shows, discussions, and social media content go into creating the beast of a day they call Super Bowl Sunday.
The game itself makes it one of the best alone because of what goes into it. The two weeks are not just for the media. It is precisely used by the head coaches to spend extra time preparing, practicing, and resting for the biggest game of their lives. Some of the greatest players to step on a football field have never felt what it was like to be playing in football's championship game. It is that difficult to make an appearance at, let alone win it. It is the best way to send the fans into the offseason looking forward of what lies ahead.
The fans are the other half of the recipe of this dish. It does not matter about who is playing in the game. The score on the screen does not matter either. It is a day created by humanity to be a combination of a couch potato and gracious party host. It is a foodie's dream day for the opportunity to put on a "Super Bowl" type performance in the kitchen. It is a dedicated host's fantasy to plan out a party around this day. It is an excuse to throw a party centered around a game that combines sports, entertainment and news for a single day.
I have talked a lot about why the Super Bowl is the greatest sporting event to grace us since the Olympics, but I have my own reason why it is the greatest day of the year.
*Well besides my birthday. oops.*
Waking up on Super Bowl Sunday puts an automatic smile on my face. I say good morning to the guy walking into Dunkin' instead of burying my face into my iPhone. Friends gather around to watch my favorite sport. It is a day where gambling is encouraged. Gluttony is promoted. And overreactions are common. I could go on and on, but you get the idea.
Yes, it sucks to not watch the Patriots in the Super Bowl this year. However, it is time to give someone else the spotlight. Pat Mahomes is the next face of the NFL and Jimmy Garappolo deserves a chance at winning a Super Bowl by being on the field, not warming up Tom's spot on the bench. I could not be more excited for this game. There's a reason it is called the Super Bowl. On Sunday, the hype will be over and it'll be time to watch the new wave of the NFL take center stage.