I have been looking forward to Super Bowl 50 since I was a little kid and figured out what the Roman numerals meant in the Super Bowl logo. I remember thinking, “Wow, we are not that far off from the 50th. I bet that will be a big game!” Little did I know that “my team,” the Denver Broncos would be in the big game and I would be watching it from Sweden.
Now I admit I am not the biggest football fan in the world and could tell you more about the NHL than the NFL, but I am a Denver Bronco’s fan through and through. These past few weeks in Sweden I have been following all of the excitement leading up to the big game on the Denver Post app, reading any and every article about the Broncos. I even did a celebratory dance in the kitchen in front of my very confused roommates when I found out we won the AFC championship. “That’s my team! That’s my team!” Because that is what we Americans do, we have our teams. This was a different concept to explain with a Chinese language and culture barrier, but I did my best to explain that “No, I don’t own the Denver Broncos, but they are my team.”
From the very first day in Sweden I have received a little grief for American Football because it is not Futbol, or American Soccer, but I would just make a joke about how I did not name the game! And so while American football is not a big part of Swedish culture there still was a little excitement among all the international students who hang out together. Plans were made to stream the Super Bowl to one of our laptops and drink lots of coffee because the game would start at 12:30am our time.
It was a very different Super Bowl Sunday for me as there was no mention of the Denver Broncos when I went to church that morning as I know it would have been at least mentioned back home. Instead of football food preparation there was Chinese New Year food being prepared. There was no orange and blue clothing when I walked in town centre, but my Facebook feed was ALL orange and blue!
I did what I could to make this Swedish Country #Broncoscountry as I carried my Denver Broncos pendant with me and documented it with a few Swedish things. At 12:15am I crawled out of bed and walked to the apartment building next to mine to join the party. We all crowded around a tiny laptop and I brought my pendant to show my support for “my team”. We were an incredibly lively bunch at that hour of the night, let me tell you.
We enjoyed listening to the somewhat baffled British sportscasters until that live stream gave up on us. Then we watched the game with the French commentators, and finally switched to the German sportscasters in the 2nd quarter because most of the crowd at that point spoke German for their first language. They told me that listening to it in German was much better because the sportscasters took the time to better explain what was happening as they recognize the German fan base is not as experienced with American football.
What we all missed, however, were the awesome American commercials! It really took away from the fun of the Super Bowl I must admit. My friend Luisa and I are going to watch the best and worst commercials tonight. We are both marketing majors and cannot wait to analyze the commercials, and laugh of course!
Sadly I only watched the game until 3am, or until the end of the half time show, because I had to wake up for 9am class. I enjoyed waking up to the celebratory texts and Facebook posts. And so while I was hesitant to stay up and watch the game in the middle of the night, I would definitely say it was worth it though! Super Bowl 50 is one I will never forget.
“When they ask who the hero was…give them 53 names”. A big congratulations to the entire Denver Broncos! Especially the down to earth, God fearing and respectable Peyton Manning. Thank you for being a good role model!
Until next time!
BFit * BTrue * BYou
Your International FitMiss,
Lauren