The Super Bowl and Lunar New Year usually happen within ten days of each other, but they never fall on the same day. One is decided by somebody in NFL, and the other is decided by the moon or some other celestial powers. The two don’t communicate with each other when the dates are determined, but somehow the two manage to form an annual juxtaposition and close proximity. Last year, when the Lunar New Year was unusually early, the Super Bowl mysteriously moved forward too.
For many years, I mistook “Super Bowl” for “Super Ball”. Since it is the championship game for the American Football league and it is about a ball, I assumed “Ball” is a more apt name than “Bowl”, but I was wrong. Now knowing a little more than before, I think that Super Bowl And Lunar New Year share some similar traits.
- Grocery Shopping Frenzy: Both events set off a collective rush to grocery stores, although ostensibly neither events are about food. During the frenzied time, people who never set foot in grocery stores will come. They wonder from aisle to aisle as if it is an alien landscape.
- Both are mythical, to me at least: I’ve tried to understand the rules of football and the difference between AFL and NFL, but I just can’t grasp them very well. Same with Lunar New Year. There are a lot of stories, legends, superstitions associated with it, but I’ve never been very good at keeping track.
- A lot of loud parties: Yes, it is true. Both are about noisy parties, impromptu chanting, fireworks, gathering. Most immigrants want to be part of this festivity of Super Bowl, but unexpected things happen. Most of the women can’t understand the football rules while most men are too into soccer. The problem is that once a person is into soccer, he is very likely to compare football with soccer, for no reason whatsoever. Soccer and football are entirely too different beasts. What’s the point of comparing them? So after a while, the Super Bowl viewing party is descended into a mahjong party.
- Overjoy and overeating are involved in both. Once finished, life goes back to the routine and drudgery just like before, but the weight gained through overeating cannot be easily shed. However, we believe it is worth it and feel good about ourselves.
Haoyan Do 