As I write this, Super Bowl 2014 will start in about two hours. My team was eliminated and will not be playing. Obviously, a lot of people’s favorite team has been eliminated. However, most of us will still be watching? Why? It is a ritual. It’s been happening every year since 1967! That’s long enough for anything to have become a ritual.

You would be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn’t know that the “Big Game” is being played today. If you live in America, if you are over the age of 16, if you have engaged in a conversation with a sports fan in the last month, you know. Even if you are not a sports fan, you know. 

My point is that this ritual is one of the things that ties us together as Americans. It is one of those ties that bind us together and points out how much we have in common. It doesn’t matter if you voted for the red candidate or the blue one. It doesn’t matter what your religious beliefs are. It’s a ritual we share as a nation. It’s a commonality that we can discuss tomorrow. We’ll be discussing the half-time show. We’ll be discussing the commercials. We’ll be predicting what teams will play next year.

And…

we’ll be discussing some aspect of the game years from now.

Here’s to more rituals to share with your neighbors and loved ones. Here’s to more threads to bring us together than tear us apart! Here’s to one of those things that make us uniquely American!

Here’s to the team that will be skilled enough and lucky enough to win the Vince Lombardi Trophy. I can be gracious with my praise because my team can’t lose today…

Happy Super Bowl Sunday and to the loved ones you’ll share it with!