Star spangled Superbowl

Heavily outnumbered again on the male to female ratio, there was a slight caveman vibe as we walked into The Star casino, Sydney for the 47th (and our 1st) Superbowl this morning. Was it me, or were there mutterings of ‘womaaaaaan’ as Gold Coast Blonde and I moved through the crowds to see if we could get a seat? Then again, I did decide to wear bright red trousers to show my recently established allegiance to the 49ers, so perhaps the looks were just querying my fashion choice…

Next realisation, even though we were in Sydney, it was a full house, standing room only remaining. Aussies, Canadians, Europeans, a few token Brits… Hang on, I thought only Americans liked ‘their’ football? Not so it would seem. Oooh a great sporting occasion was bubbling. The MC was busily buoying the crowd, not that he needed to. As always, an American accent on the mic just made everything sound more polished… and then the local TAB guy got up to announce the odds. Oh shh Bruce – we could almost have been in New Orleans there.

It was only 10.30am in Sydney when the game kicked off, but revellers were already tearing into the Buds and Miller’s. But after having a quick flutter on the first touchdown scorer, GCB and I decided we could probably only handle a coffee at that hour and perched at the edge of a table near some of the smaller screens as our attempts to source seats by the big screen failed.

Despite this being our first Superbowl, we were carried along with the crowd as the Ravens established their commanding lead. GCB and her purple and yellow ensemble, as a nod to the Ravens, was feeling she’d picked the right team (were we shallow enough to pick a team based on wardrobe options? Surely not…) She quickly latched on to quarterback ‘Flacco’ – his surname sounding like it wouldn’t be out of place being bellowed in an Aussie school ground ‘Oi Flacco, you’re doing it wrong, this is AFL.’

The first 2 quarters played out and Baltimore were running away with it. The Ravens fans in the crowd were having a ball, but was this going to be it? Come on 49ers, let’s try and make a game out of this – let’s cause some controversy and excitement.

Well I didn’t have to wait long. Black out! After an overwhelming performance by Queen Bee and her DC3 girls, and the hysteria of Jacoby Jones’ 108 yard kick return to score Baltimore’s 4th touchdown, a power outage hit the New Orleans stadium. Well you asked for controversy AliBonne.

The coaches of both teams looked on the verge of heart attacks, strokes and general organ failure as the minutes ticked by and the tension mounted. I just kept thinking ‘someone’s head’s gonna roll for this’.

Eventually things got back on the road, and the switch in momentum gave me the game I was hoping for. The 49ers charged back into contention and the crowd were going mad – nothing beats that feeling of a comeback, even if it does require a half hour black out to make it happen!

On and on they went, and as the scores got closer, it dawned on me – I might end up with the slow motion, will-they/won’t-they, finger tip scraping, crowd screeching final touchdown to steal the victory. So American sport really IS like the movies? I KNEW IT! Woohoo!

Alas for the 49ers, the fairytale comeback wasn’t to be, and the Ravens held on as the final seconds ticked out – a definite fairytale for them and Ray Lewis however. I imagine it’ll be a bit awkward around the Harbaugh Sunday lunch table for the next couple of weeks though…

No joy with our first touchdown scorer flutter!