U.S. Campus Life Super Bowl Sunday By Masako Yamada	フレームで見る  英文をプリントする  脚注をプリントする
地元チームがスーパーボール制覇 アメフトの王座決定戦スーパーボールはアメリカの国民的行事です。今年は、ボストン郊外を本拠地とするペイトリオッツが出場するとあって、ボストンの街が大いに盛り上がりました。アメフトに興味のない雅子さんですが、友人宅で開かれた「スーパーボール・パーティー」に参加して楽しい時間を過ごしました。

The week before last, our local NFL team, the New England Patriots, beat the Pittsburgh Steelers to gain a spot in the Super Bowl in New Orleans. The Super Bowl is the most important game of the football season, and victory-starved Boston sports fans were ecstatic.

During the playoffs, "Go Pats" fever caught on around the city and the city buses had "GO PATS" flashing on their digital displays along with their route numbers and destinations. Local newspaper sports editors, as well as local citizens, argued over whether Tom Brady or Drew Bledsoe would be the better starting quarterback.

The excitement rubbed off even onto non-football fans. One of my friends decided to host a Super Bowl Sunday party with her husband, in spite of knowing next to nothing about football. It's traditional to have chili, beer, dips and other hearty foods at Super Bowl parties, and she told us she would provide a lot of goodies. I decided to contribute by making a meat-loaf in the shape of a football, and a spinach pie in the shape of a football field. I don't care for football, but I knew this party would give us an opportunity to get together and catch up.

Since so many people watch the game, companies are eager to unveil their most creative new commercials during the Super Bowl. Many people look forward to these TV commercials as much as they look forward to watching the game itself. The pre-game and halftime shows are also highly touted, with top-notch performers providing entertainment. I knew I wouldn't be bored. So varied are the events surrounding the Super Bowl that one can almost forget that the Super Bowl is really about watching a bunch of big guys running around in tight pants and throwing a torpedo-shaped ball.

On Super Bowl Sunday I had to do some work at my lab, and although I felt guilty leaving before my colleagues, I told them that I wanted to watch the football game and that I had to leave. They seemed to understand. I arrived at my friend's house late, and the game was almost half over. I didn't care.

I went over to the buffet table and started to fill up on my friend's incredible creations: three or four dips, a special kind of chili, frankfurters in pastry, bratwurst appetizers, three kinds of cookies, a pear dessert. The hosts had projected the game onto an entire wall, but I completely ignored the TV screen while eating and chitchatting with the other guests.

Apparently, the game was a good one. I couldn't tell what was going on just by watching the TV, but my fellow partygoers gave me hints by yelling "Yessssss! C'mon, Go! Go! Go!" and "Noooooo!" every once in a while. One thing I could tell is that the team with the higher score in the end wins.

The Pats held the lead for most of the game, but toward the end, the two teams were tied. Seven seconds before the end of the game, the score was still tied, and even I figured out that this would be close. Everybody thought the game would go into overtime, but the Patriots' kicker made a perfect field goal in the last few seconds and the Pats won.

After the game, people flooded onto the streets as if on cue. Cars continuously beeped their horns. My boyfriend and I walked for about an hour, surrounded by honking cars with people sticking out their arms and heads and yelling "We won!" Many of them waved Patriots flags. Random people held out their palms so we could slap them. Some of the revelers started running on top of other people's cars, and I saw some police cars zooming across town, but things seemed to be under control.

Most of the people I saw on the street seemed genuinely thrilled to share their joy with strangers. One slightly crazy woman came over to us and said, "Yup, people are gonna wanna come to Boston now! This state's gonna get REVENUE!" I saw a man in a wheelchair and a blind man with huge smiles on their faces. Yes, Bostonians are a reserved bunch, but it made me feel happy to know that underneath it all, they have spirit. The Pats victory helped bring some of that out. Go Pats!

Shukan ST: Feb. 15, 2002

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