The Super Bowl: Is it really all about sports?

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Illustration courtesy of Miaja Lemieux

Super Bowl LIII, when the New England Patriots played the Los Angeles Rams, was the lowest scoring game in history with a final score of 13–3. The excitement that normally comes with one of the biggest games of the year did not seem to exist in many parts of the country, and especially not in Los Angeles. This opposition toward the New England Patriots ties into the lack of excitement in Los Angeles, making people question if fans this year were rooting for the Rams or against the Patriots.

“I think that the campus climate was more anti-Patriots than pro-Rams because only a small population of Oxy is from downtown Los Angeles. I have met so many people from all over the country, so when their home team was not in the Super Bowl, people chose to root against the most common winner,” Sydney Leiweke (first year), a Patriots fan, said.

LA is home to several storied franchises, such as the Dodgers, Lakers and Kings. These established teams have been around for much longer than the LA Rams, who just made their move back in 2015, and shortly following, the LA Chargers who moved back in 2016. Four short years later, the Rams made ground as one of the two best teams in the National Football League (NFL) during the 2019 season. These few years are incomparable to the 49 years that the Rams were in LA, from 1946–1995. It would be unfair to claim that there are no true fans, as they have been an established team for quite some time. However, with the move to another location, fans lose saturation within their city, and new occupants are left with a different team to root for and support.

“My perception is that Los Angeles is not a football city. If you compare the energy in the city when the Dodgers were in the World Series compared to the Rams being a dominant team this season, it was very different,” Politics professor Jennifer Piscopo said.

This excitement — or rather lack thereof — could be contributed to the Rams’ relocation to Saint Louis for a decade. While this may not be the case in the heart of LA, there seemed to be little to no camaraderie for the Rams on the Occidental campus.

“What could’ve been a big moment for this campus seemed to lack the excitement level and energy it normally carries,” Mia Jones (sophomore), a Rams fan, said.

“I don’t think it affected the city that much. I think for the fact it was a low scoring game, it ended up being a boring game. People that don’t watch football a lot want to see things happen. If you are a football fan, it was an exciting game for you since it was strong defensively. If you are a Rams fan for one day, it was a boring experience for you,” Piscopo said.

The Super Bowl is the most-watched annual sporting event on TV, bringing in fans that would not follow every regular season game. In the regular season, viewings reach about 30.5 million, while Super Bowl LIII reached nearly 101 million. With this in mind, without a compelling, offensively-driven game with a high score, the excitement may not be there for the average sports or football fan.

Super Bowl LIII holds the record for the lowest number of points scored with a mere total of 16. When people watch sports, they expect games to be exciting and keep them on the edge of their seat with end zone to end zone action, constantly scoring touchdowns and causing changes of possession left and right. The New England Patriots, who have the most Superbowl appearances in the NFL, are usually known to run players in circles trying to keep up. This was not true this 2019 Superbowl, with the Patriots completing a total of 407 yards, while the Rams only completed a total of 260 yards. This lack of excitement was not the case for all. There are still some diehard Los Angeles Rams fans out there.

“I have been a fan since I was born, and it started when my parents really became fans in the ’80s,” Jones said.

This type of following is common for many NFL teams because people enjoying rooting for their home team.

“People have saturation, and they will root for what they know,” Piscopo said.

“I think there are other teams that speak to the composition of Los Angeles. The Dodgers have a large fan base across different ethnic communities,” Piscopo said. “We have two basketball teams that do well that people have loyalty to. The LA Rams are in a better position to cultivate. Only time will tell how the fanbase extends to the Rams.”

Sports can be a great overarching platform that brings people together and lets them have meaningful discussions about important topics. By continuing to support our teams, and share the love between them, fans will have something to connect over for years to come.

“Sports give us a light way to joke around and is a way to build bridges,” Piscopo said. “As long as we are joking around, sports give us a way to feel loyal to something that does not have such hard consequences. There’s something harmless about the way we can express affiliation and loyalty to our sports teams.”

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