Kyle Berg

Paul went to great lengths to hook up my Slingbox in the hopes that I’d be able to watch the SuperBowl over the Internet. All his work was to to avail though because my connection wasn’t fast enough to support video streaming. Thanks anyway Paul! As a result, I watched the game on ESPN Vivo. Normally, one can use the SAP button to toggle between Spanish and English audio. However, my less than high definition TV lacked what I thought was the most basic of controls. At first I was frustrated, but it turned out I was able to understand quite a bit! I was pleasantly surprised.

Regardless of the language, watching the SuperBowl in another country pretty much sucks. The only people here who even knew it was happening were probably US expats. It was akin to being an Argentine in the US during the World Cup final, except worse. I watched the World Cup final in the US! There were even commercials with explanations of the most basic rules of American football. It sounds strange, but yesterday was the most I’ve missed home during my stay here. I missed having a SuperBowl party and eating way too much pizza. I missed the US commercials and making fun of Prince’s halftime show with everyone else. It was the same way with Vikings football or Twins baseball when I was in Tulsa. There is something about sports that bonds us to and reminds us of home.

I made the best of it by ordering a pizza and enjoying the game. They don’t have pepperoni here, but I finally discovered a topping that’s kind of close–calabresa. (But I still don’t know why they dump a pile of olives on every pizza).