{"id":3087,"date":"2013-02-05T13:40:19","date_gmt":"2013-02-05T18:40:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/?p=3087"},"modified":"2013-02-05T13:40:19","modified_gmt":"2013-02-05T18:40:19","slug":"on-not-watching-the-superbowl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/2013\/02\/05\/on-not-watching-the-superbowl\/","title":{"rendered":"On not watching the Superbowl"},"content":{"rendered":"

I think a lot about what it means to be an American. That’s not because being American is a decision I’ve made — I was born in Massachusetts, and my family has been here for at least a couple generations. I’m a big fan of the big-shoulders brashness Americans have, our ability to say what we mean and go for what we want, and the fact that we talk loudly and wear sweatpants on airplanes.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Image: NFL.com<\/p><\/div>\n

In part, I think about “American-ness” a lot because my husband emigrated to the United States and nothing throws your home culture into sharp relief more than being around someone who’s not from it.<\/p>\n

But in much larger part, it’s because there are certain things that are an enormous part of American life in which I just have zero interest. And that, more than almost anything else, makes me wonder what it actually means<\/em>, this whole American thing.<\/p>\n

Exhibit one (and the biggest, fattest, one of all): I have NO INTEREST in the Superbowl, or indeed in organized sports in general. I know organized sports, and even hysteria over said sports, isn’t a specifically American thing (google “football riot” if you don’t believe me) — but, not surprisingly, we do it in a specifically American way. With binge eating\/drinking. And hugely expensive commercials.<\/p>\n

The dangers associated with football<\/a>, and the huge role the sport has taken in how we (as a nation, not necessarily you, or you, or you) raise our raise our children<\/a>, trouble me, yes. But that’s not what I’m talking about here. I feel like, in not being interested in the Superbowl — which is basically a big, fat affirmation of our “U.S.A!”-ness, I’m alienating myself from my countrymen and -women. And it’s not like I feel all churlish about it and would hold some kind of anti-Superbowl party with tofu wings, or make a big deal about the Puppybowl<\/a>. I just don’t care. Superbowl Sunday is, for me, just another day. And I don’t even look for the ads online. <\/a><\/p>\n

So here’s my question: What makes you Un-American? Or Un-Canadian? Do you hate french fries? Do you have no interest in Disneyland\/world? Do you believe the Protestant ethic is essentially invalid? Are you some kind of communist? (Just kidding on that last one.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I think a lot about what it means to be an American. That’s not because […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3087"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/75"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3087"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3087\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}