Declaring it a holiday of national significance greater than Christmas and President’s Day (put together), Kevin put in for a day of vacation (yes, after a mere five weeks, Kevin has already accumulated vacation time – another manifestation of the slackness of the Australian workforce, which will be dealt with at length throughout this blog). We set an early morning alarm and headed off to the CBD on the 7:32 am bus in the company of well-dressed commuters and in search of the camaraderie of fellow American ex-pats, which we found in large numbers at a sports bar called Cheers. Eager as we were, we became slightly dismayed to be two of five people waiting in line for the pub to open their doors. Our worry was quickly allayed as the place was standing room only by game time.
Judging from the display of jerseys and other team gear, the crowd was pretty well split between Bears fans and Colts fans. Those who didn’t have any football swag wore the most American t-shirt in their collection. I saw one for Budweiser, one for the Yankees, one for the whole state of Wyoming, and even an old Billy Joel concert t-shirt, which I thought the most clever. We stood with tears of pride for the National Anthem, a custom that quickly allowed us to gauge who was American and who was un-American.
I would like to point out one thing. Australians LOVE to gamble. Perhaps this arises from their convict heritage, as it doesn’t seem a particularly British trait. Every pub has slot machines (called pokies) and most have Keno. There are sports betting bars called TAB where you can lay a parlay on every type of racing imaginable, as well as on any of the myriad of national and international sporting events such as rugby, basketball, cricket, tennis, curling and of course, all the various permutations of football. I LOVE to gamble, especially on sports, so after some painstaking internet research - which followed the lines of “Hmmm, Devin Hester 34:1 to score the first touchdown of the game…well, I went to Hester Elementary school” - I placed several contradictory $5 bets.
I cannot describe the intense pain in my chest during the opening play of the game as my little heart nearly exploded from the rush of adrenaline when Devin Hester ran an amazing 92 yards for a touchdown. My $170 win (plus the $17 won when Indianapolis beat the 6.5 point spread and kept the total score under 48.5) more than covered the expenses for the day, including the round of drinks we bought for some college students from Samoa and New Jersey and the delicious Pork Bulgogi we got on the way home.
Overall, an excellent Super Bowl and a great day, as evidenced by the smile on Kevin’s face during a much needed nap on our preposterously ugly sofa.
And for those of you inquiring as to whether I drank tea or coffee during the game…what, are you kidding?
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