Football fans across the city were hyped up about tonight’s 57th annual Super Bowl, whether it was from the comfort of their homes or atop a bar stool at their favourite sports bar.
The 57th annual championship game of the National Football League (NFL) kicked off Sunday night at 6:30 p.m. in Arizona and featured the Kansas City Chiefs (14-3) versus the Philadelphia Eagles (14-3).
Although New York Jets fan Greg Reaney was admittedly disappointed that his favourite team didn’t make it to the big game, he was still looking forward to cheering from the sidelines at The Lockeroom in Barrie’s north end with his long-time pal.
“These two teams are not anyone that I would normally be a fan of, but I am still a fan of the sport,” he said. “I am rooting for KC because they’ve tried so hard to be there … they almost made it so many times, and I just think they deserve it.”
"Football is a sport that isn’t too fast-paced that you can’t look away and then miss everything. It takes a lot of guts, a lot of strength and a lot of power… it’s not an easy sport, and it takes a mind over matter kind of thing over just strength.”
New England Patriots fan Mike Wendelgass told BarrieToday he and Reaney have been friends for four decades, spending many Super Bowl Sundays together. Today, however, he was rooting for the Eagles, who he wagered would win by 10 points over the Chiefs.
“I am rooting for the Eagles all the way. I hate Patrick Mahomes… I am done with KC,” said Wendlegass. “Normally, we’d go to the Super Bowl, and we go watch college ball all the time. It’s 80,000 screaming fans… that’s the excitement, I think.
Last year’s big game brought in an average audience of 8.1 million viewers in Canada, with North American football fans spending about $1.3 billion on beer and cider.
Dana Parris, owner of The Lockeroom, told BarrieToday the whole day had been “awesome” leading off to kick off, and she was only expecting the evening to get better.
“The whole weekend has been awesome building up to it. Everyone is really into it; it’s great.”
The restaurant was getting close to capacity as the US National anthem began to play on the large flat-screen TVs around the bar.
“The energy is great. Everybody is here to watch the game, so you don’t have to worry about changing the TVs from one game to another because everybody is here for one reason. It’s awesome. It doesn’t even matter if people’s teams are playing or not, they’re into it, and they just want to watch.”
