OT? This ain't OT!
Many Americans lost their lives in WWII so that today many of us can obsess about AMERICAN FOOTBALL and watch a collegiate national championship game (which the TV networks, bowl game sponsors and management and the big college football conferences colluded to create all for $$$$). The game rotates between 4 different "bowl" games.
The term "bowl" was first applied to a large stadium because of the shape. In order to boost local tourism and attention to the local product, in this case ,flowers.. specifially roses. Some marketing genius created a New Years Day game matching up the best teams (amongst those with the largest followings who might bring the most visiting fans). So they created the ROSE Bowl, largely for a California or West Coast team to be matched up against some midwestern team. Seeing the success of this venture, other warm weather locations in Florida, Louisiana and other places did the same. But it was simple to advertise the new games to leverage the reputation of the original.. so they all became "bowl" games because the first such game was played in the "Rose Bowl"... the stadium UCLA plays its home games in.
Today, the four games which alternatively host the imagined national championship matchup are the Rose Bowl (Pasadena California), The Sugar Bowl (New Orleans), The Orange Bowl (Miami) and the Fiesta Bowl (Arizona). There are some 25-plus other "bowl" games played from mod-DEcember through the championsip game which is played on a convenient night (for TV ratings) soon after New Years Day.
The professional football league, the NFL, came into being to leverage the fame of the college players at a time when the college game was a very, very big thing (with no competiton from the NFL). So the NFL had to compete, and still competes, with the college game. And when towl professional leagues (the NFL and teh AFL) decided to have a game to decide qhose champion was best.. they named it the "SuperBOWL". It was help like a bowl game, in January at a warm weather site. Now it has floated into February and they rotate the game even to cold-weather indoor stadiums.. but the idea that it is a holiday BOWL game persists.
And this is what we were fighting for.. shouting curses in English while watching AMERICAN FOOTBALL rather than in Deutsche watching soccer.
