It was somewhat spooky to switch on Sky’s Super Bowl coverage to find the exact scene I had described…four men squashed into a small studio/sky box. The only thing that I hadn’t mentioned the patronising attitude of some of the American guests to the token British journalist/analyst. At one time he appeared to be getting all excited taking about how it reminded him of the 80’s and the studio went silent… Now this is interesting as most people in the States have never been to a pro football game and so their understanding of the game comes through the TV and so the British journalists enthusiasm had the same level of validity as the average American – yet the vainly hidden scorn. Or am I reading far too much into the whole thing…probably.

As for the game you couldn’t ask for more. All the predictions were wrong. The weather was fine, the game was so un balanced as to remind one of the Broncos of the 80’s/90’s. To quote the great philosopher of the time Homer Simpson…” the Denver Broncos..??!!??…” on finding he had been given them by an arch villain he had been working for. The start set the tone…the Broncos first possession and they screw things up and give away a safety. After that it just went down hill and I swear that on one of the super slow mo close ups of Peyton Manning you could see the realisation dawning on his face that he will always be the second best quarter back in the Manning family after his little brother Eli. It was just so wonderful.

So enough of this gloating at another man’s misfortune, if a multi millionaire sportsman really knows what misfortune is. By the end of the third the Broncos scored but they never looked like making any real come back and sure enough they didn’t. One final question – who was the Donnie Osmond impersonator who did the half time show? Last year they had a true superstar Beyoncé but this year…I have no idea who he was…however given the middle of the road pap he seemed to be turning out I guess that Simon Cowall might have something to do with him…I must look this up. (I’ve just looked him up and it seems that he has developed all on his own – still what the hell do I know about music and I guess he doesn’t care on jot about my views and good on him for that)

So overall worth the sleep deprivation. Roll on next season.

Simon Marchini
http://www.simonmarchini.co.uk