In a few hours, the culmination of the 2012-13 NFL season will commence with Super Bowl XLVII. The game features the AFC Champion Baltimore Ravens squaring off against the NFC Champion San Francisco 49ers. The game promises to be an exciting one, with Niners QB sensation Colin Kapernick running the Pistol formation against Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, Haloti Ngata and the vaunted Ravens defense. Or, if you prefer, the running attack of Ray Rice against Patrick Willis and the tenacious 49ers defense. I could go into plenty of platitudes about each team in general and the season as as whole, but that’s not the purpose of this post. The purpose comes from an opinion piece I saw on CBS News Sunday Morning earlier today from contributor Conor Knighton.
In the opinion piece (which you can find in prose here), he laments going to a Super Bowl party and having to pretend he knows what he’s talking about. He waxes poetic about how much time watching an entire season of Ravens games would take, not to mention how time consuming watching football itself is. It’s a bit mind-boggling, but not for the reasons you may think.
I find it mind-boggling because…well…why do something you have no interest in? If you don’t watch football, don’t go to a Super Bowl party because you think you’re obligated to do so. That’s like me watching the newest Lifetime movie because Erica Durance is in it. I’m sorry; I don’t care how fine I think Erica Durance is, I ain’t watchin’ her in a Lifetime movie. Allison Mack? Maybe. Erica Durance? No.
Look, the bottom line is this: don’t complain about “having” to go to a Super Bowl party, because you don’t HAVE to do anything but live until you die from it. Just don’t take that enjoyment away from those of us who do like football. The side-eyes you would receive from that would be enough to obliterate both the Louisiana Superdome and whatever structure was built to replace it.
Now, as far as my rooting interest goes…as I’ve mentioned before, I’m a Washington Redskins fan. Have been for 25 years, and don’t plan on dropping that support anytime soon. That being said, Washington’s season ended when Rookie of the Year Robert Griffin III tore both his ACL and LCL on the crappy turf at FedEx Field (thanks, Dan Snyder…bloody moron). So, since Washington’s long gone, I’ve decided to throw my support behind the San Francisco 49ers.
Why?
Well, part of it is because I like Jim Harbaugh. Sure, he’s borderline psychotic, but he’s an emotional coach, and he loves his players. Another part of it is that the Ray Lewis lovefest is about to make me throw up. But, it’s mostly because of my best friend of 17 years. He’s a die hard 49ers fan, and I think it’d be cool to see him get the chance to celebrate a Super Bowl victory again. Although, it’d be cool to see Ray Lewis win a title so he can kneel at the 50 yard line and ascend directly into heaven.