« Greetings from Torino | Main | Dinner time »

The Super Bowl, Italian style

Every year, the Super Bowl is the one event that I schedule my life around. I just can’t miss it. No matter the teams, the story lines or even the halftime show, you can book me a seat on the most comfortable couch around.

The Super Bowl has everything, from entertainment to advertising to sex appeal (well, at least before Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction). I usually watch the game with a large group of friends, who consider themselves avid sports fans. The game isn’t complete unless there are at least a few dozen wings, a variety of snacks and enough salsa to fill a small pool.

However, I watched Super Bowl XL at the Shamrock Inn, a small pub/restaurant in downtown Torino and those essentials were tough to come by. The Shamrock had been advertising the game all week with flyers, attracting many newly arrived Americans, since they were able to get a feed of the game in English.

That was the only constant among all of my Super Bowl experiences.

Everyone knows that the Italians love their football, but it was amazing to me how little they actually cared about our American football. On two floors, holding over 100 people, the pub was captivated by general celebrations for exciting plays, but the roar of each conversation surpassed the game analysis of the commentators. I couldn’t even tell you who the commentators were.

The Italians heavily outnumbered the Americans, who were easily visible in NFL gear. Despite their presence, it seemed the Italians were more interested in each other and the overall enjoyment of their surroundings, rather than the competition between two great teams.

I was very interested in the game, although I do not consider myself a true fan of the Steelers or Seahawks. I did think it was ridiculous that a current player, New England’s heroic Tom Brady, assisted with the pre-game coin toss. The NFL may want the Patriots in the Super Bowl, but honestly, he did not deserve to play a role in a Super Bowl which his team didn’t make. No current player deserved that.

Besides the great competition between the two best teams in the league, I thoroughly look forward to the commercials every year. I would love to tell you which was my favorite this year, but the game I saw was broadcast through an Italian station which replaced the time slots with Italian commercials. It was a huge disappointment, especially to most of the women at the Shamrock, a few of whom told me the commercials were the only reason they decided to watch the game.

Also, the six-hour difference between Providence and Torino really tore apart the audience as most people left after the censored halftime performance by the Rolling Stones. I was a trooper and watched the entire game, despite an early workday that followed.

I was truly amazed that the Italians knew all of the words to the songs by the Rolling Stones. An Italian friend who didn’t speak much English, sang aloud and knew every word perfectly. Music seems like the perfect learning tool. I wish I had listened to some Italian music before venturing to Torino.

My viewing of Super Bowl XL seemed unauthentic, but will be remembered as an Italian version of an American pastime. I watched the game in a place I had never been before, with people I had never met before, but they all provided a new and exciting atmosphere that happened to work out well.

Posted by Marco Santini  at 12:50 PM | Permalink

Comments

Posted by: Kelsea at February 10, 2006 07:27 AM

Posted by: JKW at February 10, 2006 09:05 AM

Post a comment

Name:

Email Address:

URL:
Remember Me? YesNo

Comments: (you may use HTML tags for style)