By Heather Monahan
Features Assignment Editor
This weekend brings a rare occasion to the St. Bonaventure campus. Rather than focusing on basketball and players shooting 3-pointers in the Reilly Center, the attention is turned to touchdowns and tackles as the Super Bowl takes over television.
Although the big game is still a few days away, Bonnies are already highly anticipating the showdown between the San Francisco 49ers and the Baltimore Ravens in Super Bowl XLVII this Sunday night at 6:30.
Bryan Clark, a senior journalism and mass communication major, said he enjoys all aspects of the Super Bowl.
“What makes it such a great event is that it combines different parts of American culture into one large event,” Clark said. “You get sport through the football game, entertainment through the commercials and music through the halftime show.”
Clark says he doesn’t like to miss a moment of the action and gets involved with the Super Bowl as much as possible.
“In the two weeks leading up to the game, I watch past Super Bowl highlights produced by NFL Films,” he said. “I also watch YouTube videos of past Super Bowls.”
This year, Clark said he plans on watching the big game at a friend’s townhouse on campus and expects the game to be an interesting one.
“I’m extremely excited for this Super Bowl,” he said. “These are two hard-hitting and physical teams. I hope the actual performance matches the anticipation of the pregame story lines.”
Clark is not the only Bonaventure student who plans on staying in to watch the game this year. Sara Schlagenhauf, a junior business management major, also said she plans to relax with friends.
“I’m just going to hang out at home and watch the game with my roommates,” Schlagenhauf said. “I’m hoping it’ll be a good and exciting game.”
Although she usually has a different tradition, Schlagenhauf said she is excited for the game no matter what she’s doing.
“Usually my family gets together at someone’s house to watch it,” she said. “There’s always a lot of food and drinking and it’s always a great time. This year I won’t be able to go home because of lacrosse, but I’m still looking forward to it.”
While she admits she doesn’t favor one team over the other this year, she’ll still pay a lot of attention to the game.
“My favorite part is the commercials,” Schlagenhauf said. “I think that’s what a lot of people look forward to, but I love watching the game as well. I love the halftime show too but I usually critique it a lot because I only listen to country music. As long as Taylor Swift doesn’t perform, I’ll be happy.”
Although a lot of people focus more on the entertainment factor of the Super Bowl, with almost everyone anticipating Beyonce’s halftime performance this year, sophomore journalism and mass communication major Mike Arena said his favorite part remains the sporting aspect.
“I pay strict attention because the Super Bowl is the greatest sports event of the year,” he said. “I’m going to watch the game and eat an obscene amount of wings.”
Junior chemistry major Nick Turgeon also said he’s looking forward to the abundance of food that’s served during this event.
“I plan on watching it with all my friends on a projector, eating great food and especially chip dip,” Turgeon said. “I also look forward to not touching my homework.”
Although he said he does place money on the final score, he usually spends most of the game in conversation.
“I pay a little bit of attention, but I’m usually talking to people,” he said. “I pay attention to the end if it’s a good game, halftime if it’s not.”
Turgeon said he’s going against the popular opinion and rooting for the Ravens this year.
“Ray Lewis deserves to win the Super Bowl his last year and will because he has everyone on his side,” he said. “It’s a good enough reason for me.”
Although St. Bonaventure doesn’t have a football team to support throughout the year, there’s no lack of support for the sport when the Super Bowl rolls around.
