As I got to know my Peace Corps work partner, Selvin Roches, during the first months of my project in Blue Creek Village, Belize, I often found myself talking about one of the things I missed most about being back home in Washington: watching football (which feels odd even qualifying with “American” in front of it, but I should anyways) on Sundays. I am by no means a sports fanatic, but after playing the game for over ten years, I have a certain affinity for the strategy, gamesmanship and efficacy of football. While the grandstanding, trash-talking and hard hitting playmakers certainly have their place, there is a certain beauty to the art of constructing complex offensive and defensive schemes that I have long admired and find particularly incandescent in the playoffs of the National Football League. After several months describing the game (particularly about my favorite player, Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis, and his merciless, power-hitting defensive style and endless charisma), I asked Selvin if he would like to come into town with me for Superbowl Sunday, the world championship of professional “American” (sigh) football between the New York Football Giants and the New England Patriots. While he was hesitant at first, he was sold when I told him that Madonna would be there to perform the halftime show.
As kickoff approached, I sat next to Selvin after we ordered our chicken and drinks at The Olympic, a thatch bar in Punta Gorda that has its mission statement succinctly stated above their rack of local rum (“Be Good or Be Gone”) and the game projected on the white cement wall of the bar. After the pomp and circumstance of the pre-game festivities, Selvin asked me which team “we” were rooting for (which endeared him to me even more that he already was), I informed him that while he was free to voice his support for either team, and I wouldn’t try to sway his support either way, I would be rooting for New York because, I explained, their coach isn’t a cheater, their rings aren’t a lie, and their quarterback isn’t a backup from Michigan.
While of course I can’t detail the events of the game because I have neither the expressed nor written consent of the National Football League, I can tell you that it was a fantastic, nail biting game with many tense moments and wonderfully clutch plays that resulted in a victory for “our” team, the New York Giants. It was wonderful to explain to Selvin the history of the game, from its post WWII roots into the game that it has become today, to the family football history between the Manning brothers, and how Tom Brady manages to get so many favorable penalty calls. “It was amazing to see how fast the game was, and how hard the players hit each other,” Selvin said after the game, and was especially impressed with Madonna’s half-time performance, going so far as to claim that it was his “favorite part”. “I never knew it was so much fun,” Selvin kept saying the week after the game, adding “Man, they hit hard.” He laughed when I yelled to the crowd of New England fans about the Patriots opening the game with a safety as they nursed their beers in a silence colder than a Sam Adams left outside on a January night in Cambridge, and he listened dumbfounded as I explained how expensive it was to have a commercial played during the game (the funniest of which to him was a car commercial that showed a sedan surviving a 2012 Maya Apocalypse). Even as I kept having to quiet his questions about “when is Ray Lewis going to play in tonight’s game” or “Why aren’t the Seahawks playing in the championship?”, we had a wonderful time together and he is very interested in attending more games next season.
Overall, it was a wonderful chance to get to know each other out of the village, and after spending many months experiencing Selvin’s culture, I was grateful for the opportunity to share a bit more of mine. I truly love watching the game with friends, and that is exactly what I got to do with Selvin that Sunday. We will absolutely try to see more games next year, and I have even asked my mother to send me an “American” football so that we can toss it around a bit after work. And despite Patriot receiver Wes Welker being hit so hard on a route that he probably needed a new haircut after the game, you might say that the “biggest hit” of the night was the impact this night had on our friendship.
No comments:
Post a Comment