Super Bowl Sunday

So another part of the American institution that I had to experience is the phenomenon known as 'Super-Bowl Sunday' which is the final of their national 'football' championships. The best I can describe it is like the Champions League final of proper football (don't give me any of this 'soccer' malarkey!).

This year was Super Bowl XLVII (I hope you are up to speed with your Roman numerals, but for those of you who are not it was the 47th) and took place in New Orleans, Louisiana at the Mercedes-Benz Superdrome between the Balitmore Raven's and the San Francisco 49ers.

I went to watch it round my Teamie's house again as her husband is a big football fan and I was hoping between him and his friends someone would be able to explain the rules to me so that I could understand them. I should be so lucky.

From what I can work out, it is like rugby in the following ways:

• Although called football it is actually throwing
• They have a scrimmage and not a scrummage (parallel universe example right here) but I think it is kinda played in the same way
• There is a big prong shaped goal thing (technical term) that you have to kick the ball between to score points

It is not like Rugby in these ways:

• You don't actually touch the ground to score a touch down (try)
• They wear a shed load of body-armour in spangley colours
• They seem to stop every 30 seconds or so

Some Key Factoids:

• The first Super Bowl took place in 1966
• It is the second largest day for food consumption in America after Thanksgiving.
• It is the most watched American television broadcast of the year.
• It is the second most watched sports programme in the world, behind the aforementioned Champions League.

The Half-Time Show is one a major part of the super bowl which is really hyped up. There is always a big announcement on who it is going to be and how well did they perform. This year Beyonce did her thing and was joined by the other girls from Destiny's child and to me it looked great and I was entertained. For true "football" fans though she didn't really seem to cut the mustard.

There was a lot of flashing lights and sparkler cannons and the such which seemed quite funny that it appeared as though she had used up all the electricity in the meter when the power went off for around 20 minutes in the second half of the game which worked quite well for the 49ers who came back into the game and managed to lose at a more respectable margin. The end result was Ravens 34 - 31 SF49ers.

The other thing I was told people watch for is the adverts. It is the most expensive slots of the year and so all expensive new adverts are launched here. I watched most of them and I laughed at a few, but on coming into the office on Monday and having people talk about them, I didn't recognise anything that they were saying. Obviously American advertising doesn't work on me. In the UK I see and advert for pizza and I want pizza.I see an advert for Carbury's I want chocolate. British born and bred!

So on the whole, what was my take on the day. Well, I enjoyed the company and the hype of it all. I enjoyed hanging out with my friends and eating until I was fir to burst, but the game - take me back to Blighty and give me the Six Nations please!

Monsters in the Cupboard ... well, Stadium Arena Actually

Angel's Baseball Stadium

So late last year, I was eating the most amazing Asian pair and Gorgonzola sliders (mini beef burgers for the folks back home - lets just call a spade a spade right?!?!) with the Teamies one lunchtime at a sports bar called Rudy's. Here you can watch as many different sports as you can in one sitting. One of the channels which captivated my attention was Monster Trucks.

To me, this is quintessential America. Yep, I am fully aware of that statement being a humongous stereotype but there you go. I decided that whilst I am living in the US I have to submerge myself in the local culture.

The Falcinella Family (aka the Teamie!)

So, upon declaring that I wanted to go and watch my Teamie Ro also expressed an interest and some weeks later after getting organised we booked tickets.

Front Row Seats Upper Level

The timing of the event was my Mum's last night in California. So, tactfully approaching the subject with Mum on how she would like to spend her last night with me and whether or not she thought that being in a huge stadium full of people with petrol fumes and potentially a lot of dust in the freezing night air would be appropriate? Sure, why not was her reply! Gotta love my Mum!

This is a Monster Truck

The Long Jump

So that is what we did. After stopping at Lucille's for ribs and southern fried chicken with the Teamie and her family we all headed over to the Angels Stadium in Anaheim (home to the Angel's of Anahiem baseball team) for Monster Jam.

Typically the tour begins in late winter each year and finishes in early March with a grande finale in Las Vegas. The competition consists of two rounds. The first is a head to head time trial with who trucks racing a short course to the finish line.

At the start line for the Head to Head

The second part of the course is a freestyle section where the competitors have 90 sections to show off there skills plus a 30 second bonus period on which they are then scored with a panel of number boards - but not exactly Len Goodman and his "Sev-en!"

I must say that I have no idea on how the scoring works. For me the first few drivers started getting better and better but their scores were getting lower and lower so I don't think they will be knocking on my door any time soon to be on the judging panel.

Titan won the time trial and Grave Digger - The Legend won the freestyle section and I must admit that even for a total novice spectator like me, he was pretty impressive.

The main theme for the evening was that bigger is better and the higher you jump the more excited everyone gets and if you total the car then you are a hero! It didn't disappoint either - there was plenty of carnage, but I am pleased to say no casualties.

There are man made jumps and ramps made from dirt and piled up cars, and also other obstacles to conquer such as buses and rows of other vehicles.

I had no need to worry about how much Mum enjoyed it either. Despite the cold she sat there for a couple of hours taking pictures of EVERYTHING!! She by far out papparazzied me!

Ooopsie!!

Mum in Action!

Crash Corner!

It will also be memorable for being a very loud event. Even walking up to the outside of the stadium you could hear the roar of the engines inside. But it wasn't too over powering at all - it all added to the spirit of the event. It was so much fun and so different and not something that I thought I would ever do in my lifetime. If you get the chance to go - do it! Y'all will have fun - we did!!!

This just reinforces my belief about this being a typical American pass-time! The driver was even in costume - Shield and all!