For many this past weekend was focused on The Super Bowl. The Chiefs were playing the 49ers in the biggest football game of the year. America was watching!
The Super Bowl is one of those cultural moments. The type of moment that dominates conversation the next day, and often a couple of days after that. This year, there were the traditional fans who were intently watching the game. Some people went to a party to socialize, eat the delicious food, and casually watch while the game served as background noise. Others were watching for the halftime show and the commercials. And some tuned in to the Super Bowl for the first time ever, just to see Taylor Swift on their TV screens.
Regardless of what people's reason for watching the game was, at any point during the game an average of 123.7 million people were watching! Let that sink in for a moment. I am not exactly sure how they calculate that number. How do they count the people who watch? Is it the number of people in the world or just the United States? Let's assume that it is simply the United States... There are approximately 341 million Americans. So according to those numbers on average about 36% of Americans were tuned in. That doesn't sound like a high percentage of our population, but according to some sources, this was the most-watched program of all time.
Quite a few people decided to boycott the Super Bowl this year. Some didn't like, or care about, the teams that were playing. Some did it because they were tired of watching a football game and hearing about Taylor Swift. One thing is for sure, regardless of whether they watched the game or not, people were all talking about it a lot this week.
In the end, the Chiefs were able to beat the 49ers, in overtime, in a very exciting game. The best part though, was that I was able to watch the game with my girls for the first time. And they watched the game, asked questions about the rules, and cheered for the Chiefs. (As an Eagles fan, I can't not cheer for Andy Reid) Not sure whether they were watching the game to watch the game, or if they were watching to see Taylor Swift. In my mind, it doesn't matter. We spent time together, as a family, watching the game and eating wings and nachos.
I could not have asked for more.
Instead of being upset that new viewers are being brought to the game by Taylor Swift's mere presence in the stands, maybe we should be thankful for moments like this that bring families, like mine, together.
We need to stop constantly looking for things to be irritated with in this world, and start focusing on the positive outcomes!
