Issue date: 2/1/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Pauline Baniqued Football fans pack Cavanaugh's to watch the Superbowl last year. It turned out a sad day for the City of Brotherly Love as the Eagles fell to the Patriots, 24-21. Who will be victorious this year? [Click to enlarge]

For Americans, there's July 4th, there's New Years Eve - and then there's the Super Bowl.

Between the game and the grub, this annual showdown between football's best has become what amounts to a national celebration for football fanatics and novices alike.

But for students at Penn, opinions about the big game seem to vary as much as the number of countries they represent.

Some, like College freshman Rochelle Lipsky, feel more obligated than compelled to watch the big game.

"I feel like I should [watch] because it's the Super Bowl," she said, adding that "I'm watching for the advertisements and not for the game."

Others, like Nursing sophomore Sarah Montemarano, watch "for the entertainment portions of [the game]," preferring the pre-game and half-time performances to gametime play.

And then there are those international students, like College freshman Trisha Low from London, who simply have no prior knowledge of the game.

"I don't even know what the Super Bowl is," she admitted, adding that she was somewhat lost on Thursday in her Sociology of Gender class during a discussion of the stereotypes of males and females in football.

The regular viewers, meanwhile, are keeping to their annual traditions, everything from heading down to Cavanaugh's Restaurant and Sports Bar on 39th and Sansom streets to watching the big game on the big screen at Hillel.

Traditions among groups of friends are also popular.

"I'll probably crash a friend's place or something like that," Engineering senior Brian Hom said, adding that he and his friends will most likely order in the classic pizza-and-wings combination.

With Northeasterners in the majority at Penn, Super Bowl XLII is likely to be a popular one to watch, even among viewers on the west coast.

"I think the Super Bowl is larger than the teams that play in it," said Corey Miller, a College sophomore. "It's an American thing."

It also doesn't hurt that one of the teams, the Patriots, is attempting to make sports history as only the second team in football history to go undefeated for an entire season, a feat not achieved since the Miami Dolphins did it in 1972.

You might want to check it out - Sunday at 6 p.m. on FOX.

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