There are many things that we American sports fans take for granted. Baseball, basketball, football on television, with the commentator teams that we know and love. So, what happens when we watch an American sport outside the US?
I had the pleasure of watching Super Bowl XLIX on French television. The first thing is that the game came on at midnight in most of Europe, thanks to a six hour time difference. The commentator crew were French, so included in all the usual commentary, these guys also explained the game of American football in between plays. Things like "There are 52 or 53 players on each team, although only 11 are on the field at the same time." They had to talk about how the game was played, and the different positions the players had. About the only position that didn't have to be explained was the quarterback, or perhaps I wasn't paying attention. The fun was when the play was bad. The commentary was usually started with "Oh la la la la la..." (it isn't what most Americans think of, this one is expressed with a tone of disapproval; it's great).
Missng the US feed also meant that we missed the commercials that were shown in the States. But of course now we can get those online, so it was good. We did get the half time extravaganza, and we wondered about those sharks dancing with Katy Perry just like many of you did back here.
By the time the game was over, it was 4 am, and naturally we were pretty bowled over by the last play. The commentators were also flummoxed by that last Seattle play and plenty of "oh la la la la's" were said by the guys. However, we were very very, very tired, so went to bed.
Quel Super Bowl...
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| The snacks were a bit different, too. I tried to record the commentary, but didn' t do a very good job. Just think of French guys talking about our American sport... |
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