The Super Bowl has different draws for me and my kids: I’m an NFL fan; they like Taylor Swift and now Travis Kelce. Maybe they’ll become football fans.
As the lone male sports fan in our household, I’m used to turning to group chats and social media for companionship while I watch the English Premier League, NFL, or NHL games.
Sports are often on the TV in our NYC apartment, so it’s inevitable that my kids — ages 10 and 13 — are exposed to games, but it’s just background noise to them. On the rare occasion when I yell at the TV — mostly at the refs — it will earn me an eye roll or two from behind a book or an iPad, at most. They use the term “sportsball” to describe what I’m watching, and not in a complimentary way.They’ve watched the Super Bowl before, but mostly for the commercials
As a long-suffering Detroit Lions fan, I’m still mourning their devastating loss in the playoffs. The closest my kids have come to actually rooting for a team has been when they choose to root against my teams, which they think is hilarious. That’s how they became Tampa Bay Lightning fans, because the Lightning made a ritual of eliminating my favorite team, the Detroit Red Wings, from the playoffs every year.
Sure, we all watch the Super Bowl together as a family every February while I make a big batch of chili and friends come over, but it’s mostly for the commercials, the chili, and their pals.
