Of all of the Super Bowls I’ve watched, I think this is the one I was the least excited for. Not because I’m not a fan of either team or that I really hate Tom Brady but it’s probably just pandemic-related and feeling like we don’t deserve “normal things”—aka football—while we’re in the midst of a global pandemic that is still raging. I appreciate that they highlighted and honored front line workers and health care workers, but I’m not sure if having 25,000 fans traveling from all over to attend a football game is the best thing to do? (Granted, 7,500 of those were vaccinated health care workers, but still.)

[cuts away from a packed stadium]

lets remember all the essential workers who sacrificed to get us here

— ☕netw3rk (@netw3rk) February 7, 2021

I spent most of the day leading up to the game watching To Catch a Smuggler on National Geographic, but once the Puppy Bowl I started, I flipped to that. I also helped make some of our snacks.

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My beer choices for the day were Ice Cream Man from Back East Brewery and Peach Lucid Dream from Rustic Brewing Company. Both were very solid options for the game.

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Overall, I wasn’t really impressed by the performances, the game, or the commercials. H.E.R.’s rendition of “America the Beautiful” was really good, and Amanda Gorman’s poem and tribute to the three honorary captains was amazing. Nothing about the game was super exciting, and once the Bucs scored their third touchdown, I figured the game was sort of over. And all of the flags and penalties the Chiefs were getting didn’t help.

The halftime performance was okay; the whole spinning in the gold area below the stage with all of those people gave me a bit of motion sickness along with everyone else in the country. I liked the medley of songs The Weeknd sang but it’s probably a halftime show I’ll forget about in a few years.

The diversity and firsts were a highlight of the night. The Bucs have two female assistant coaches—Lori Locust (assistant defensive line coach) and Maral Javadifar (assistant strength and conditioning coach/physical therapist)—and the team’s offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator, special-teams coordinator, and run game/coordinator assistant head coach are all Black. And we can’t forget about referee Sarah Thomas who became the first female official to work a Super Bowl.

I only liked a few of the commercials: the Dexcom one with Nick Jonas, the Bud Light seltzer and the lemons one, and the State Farm one with Drake. And for some reason, the song from the Oatly commercial gets stuck in my head.

I abandoned ship and went to bed in the third quarter. So overall, I’m just feeling sorta “meh”.

What are your thoughts on the Super Bowl?