Super Bowl Fever


Next Sunday, February 5, Americans will be hooked on their television sets to catch the 51st edition of the championship game of the National Football League, popularly known as the Super Bowl.

The Atlanta Falcons and New England Patriots will clash for the Vince Lombardi Trophy starting at 3:30 pm, California time, in Houston, Texas.

The Super Bowl not only features good football, but plenty of commercials which are being shown on American television for the first time. And the halftime show promises to be a big extravaganza with Lady Gaga as the sole performer.

Lady Gaga is best known to NFL fans for her passionate singing of the US national anthem, the Star Spangled Banner, during last year's Super Bowl in San Francisco where the Denver Broncos defeated the Carolina Panthers.

The game will be televised on all Fox networks throughout the US and naturally, Fox will use its NFL theme music which, incidentally, was used by Fox Sports Philippines for the pre-game introductions of the San Miguel Beer team that played in the ASEAN Basketball League, a league that was televised then by Fox for Southeast Asian audiences. You can hear the Fox on NFL theme at the 3:30 mark of the ABL video this writer posted above.

The use of the NFL theme by the ABL and Fox Sports was used with permission through Fox International Channels Philippines head Jude Turcuato, who made sure to get approval from Fox bosses in the US before using the music with the help of then-San Miguel sports director Noli Eala, who was responsible for forming the SMB team that won the ABL title but left the league after just one season to focus on its Philippine Basketball Association team. Eala was eventually replaced as SMC sports director by former PBA coach Alfrancis Chua.

While the Super Bowl is so popular here in the US, sadly, not too many people in the Philippines watch NFL football simply because basketball is more popular among Filipinos with the NBA and PBA games hugging much of the spotlight. TV5 did try bringing the last three Super Bowls to a wider Philippine audience by airing them live and even showing a new Smart Communications commercial which featured the song Everything I Own by the band Bread during Super Bowl L last year.

TV5's ad for the Super Bowl in 2014

Solar Sports and ABS-CBN tried airing some NFL games in the past and even the late sportscaster Butch Maniego was tapped to host these games. Unfortunately, most Filipinos shied away from watching the NFL and became more interested in the NBA.

But here in the US, there is so much anticipation for the Super Bowl that the NBA games are played earlier in the morning and afternoon so that everyone can watch the football game at home on primetime. And it's not a surprise that Super Bowl ratings are very high at this time of the year especially if the teams that are playing are the stronger teams.

I myself have a little knowledge of American football although I'm more into basketball because of my previous job as a sportswriter back in the Philippines. Still I'm looking forward to watching the Super Bowl because ever since I arrived here in California last March 2016, I'm trying as much as possible to get hooked into the NFL, which many say is America's Game.



Location: El Sobrante, CA, USA

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