👀 Why Super Bowl LV Represents More Than Football

The Super Bowl is the ultimate display of football excellence. Yet the real story this Sunday is how we consume it. [View in browser]( [FOX SPORTS INSIDER WITH MARTIN ROGERS]( [STORY IMAGE AD]( In today’s FOX Sports Insider: For a few, short, marvelous hours, we will all be doing, watching, talking about and enjoying the same thing this Sunday: the Super Bowl ... we take a look at the secret behind Eric Bieniemy’s unstoppable offense ... and we celebrate the birthdays of three professional sports icons. The National Football League season and postseason consists of 268 football games and one festival of entertainment that has a football game attached to it. The Super Bowl is the grandest and yet strangest of things in sports, a loud, flashing, electrifying, frenetic week that somehow comes together into a giant show that is something to everyone and everything to some. And it’s here. There are levels of interest and levels upon those levels, but the Super Bowl is that perfect combination of an entity that’s completely unavoidable and compelling enough that you’d be mad to want to avoid it. [STORY IMAGE 1] What the heck is it, really? How would you describe it to a visitor from outer space? The answer, of course, depends on who you’re asking. The Super Bowl is all about the technical intricacies from the most tactical and strategic of sports, spearheaded this time by the allure of trying to figure out how the humdinger of a battle between the Kansas City Chiefs’ sizzling offense and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ brick wall defensive resistance will play out. For some, it’s most compelling feature is a testament to the timeless enjoyment of sporting excellence, the mere fact that to get here the Chiefs and Bucs had to overcome and persevere, two organizations which had to figure out how to be great and two groups of players who hold responsibility for keeping it so. “The (Chiefs) are a team that has all the answers,” [former All-Pro Brandon Marshall told First Things First on FS1]( highlighting how Tampa Bay is a significant underdog ([Buccaneers +3 [+100], per FOX Bet](. [STORY IMAGE 2]( What else? For the romantics (aren't we all?), there is the chasing of narrative, personified perfectly by Patrick Mahomes and Tom Brady, a young man hunting down history and an ancient one (in football terms) who seeks more of it. The Super Bowl is all of these things and so much more, because there’s so much more to it. Yet the real story of this precious Sunday is how we consume it. Think back to any and every Super Bowl that occupies your memory and chances are you can recall who you were with and where, and what you did and ate and drank. Apart from the few who get to be there, which at Raymond James Stadium will delightfully include 7,000 vaccinated healthcare professionals, it is a television event, albeit one that flips the entire script. It is a show where a not-insignificant chunk of the audience are cheering for timeouts and review delays because they’ve been hanging out and waiting for the commercials, pocket-sized bites of ingenuity that have had millions of dollars spent on them. Even the pure football diehards who breathe routes and coverages can agree the ads are great, though picking a favorite can spawn as much conjecture as a disputed pass interference call. [STORY IMAGE 3] This is a sports column so it’s fair to assume most of us here will be fixated on the game and its twists, but we all know people for whom the Super Bowl is a concert, with the most awaited moment being when The Weeknd gets out there and does his halftime thing. Take all those points of focus above and you’d be likely to find each of them across the spectrum of a big, typical Super Bowl gathering, featuring multiple families and friend groups, just like we’ve seen in the past. Hopefully – but hurtfully - that won’t, or at least shouldn’t, be the case this time. “Just lay low and cool it,” Dr. Anthony Fauci told the “Today” show, warning that Super Bowl meetups could spark a fresh spike in COVID-19 cases. [STORY IMAGE 4]( We find our connections in different ways these days. Virtually to a person, we’ve had less human contact than we were previously accustomed to. Togetherness for the most part used to mean gatherings, get-togethers, parties and glee. Now it is Zooms and FaceTimes and whatever we can get. But once Sunday hits its afternoon hours there is community to be found, even for those watching solo. We will find it in Mahomes’ ridiculous sidearm throws, or Brady’s improvisation, or Gronk being Gronk, in thunderous tackles, Andy Reid’s brilliance, in unheralded heroes, in blown calls, the anthem, in Blinding Lights and in wondering what the heck happened to the Clydesdales. For a few, short, color-splashed, marvelous hours, we will all be doing, watching, talking about and enjoying the same thing. It’s not everything we’d want, but it’s something. It’s the Super Bowl. [STORY IMAGE 5] Here’s what others have said ... Jerry Brewer, Washington Post: “Super Bowl LV will be a restrained spectacle ... The pandemic can’t stop the event from feeling gigantic, and social media will be the primary mechanism to gauge the intensity of interest and to connect with the world. Community, though dependent on technology, will exist, at least for one precious day. It will feel weird, but there is connection even in shared oddity. And that will feel good, taking one figurative step toward normal living, toward each other.” Larry Olmsted, Author: “When an avid fan is subconsciously merged with the team, it is, to a lot of people, greater than other beliefs you hold. For a significant enough portion, it’s a bit of an acceptance. It’s so important to them that they put aside other things because they’re so invested in supporting their team.” Roger Goodell, NFL Commissioner: “I don't know when normal will occur again and I don't know if normal ever will again. I know this, we've learned to operate in a difficult environment. We have found solutions and we'll do it again." [IN OTHER WORDS] - Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy leads Patrick Mahomes and his teammates with care, trust and a little tough love. [Domonique Foxworth of The Undefeated]( explains the secret behind Eric Bieniemy’s unstoppable offense. - The All-Star Game is one of the NBA’s marquee events, but it’s an unnecessary one. Especially in a pandemic. [Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix]( questions if the NBA should have an All-Star Game this season. - The NFL had over 700 coronavirus positives this season. The Seattle Seahawks had none. [Ken Belson of the New York Times]( explains how the Seahawks used innovative thinking, vigilance to protocols and some Pete Carroll-style competition. [THE INTERNET IS UNDEFEATED] [THE INTERNET IS UNDEFEATED]( It was just over a month ago when we highlighted an incredible trio of birthdays falling on the same day: LeBron James, Tiger Woods and Sandy Koufax, three of the most-accomplished professional athletes of all-time, are all born on Dec. 30. We challenged readers of this newsletter to find a better trio of birthdays, and guess what, we might have found one. Cristiano Ronaldo, Roger Staubach and Hank Aaron were all born on Feb 5. Between the three of them, you’ve got 25 MLB All-Star appearances, three Gold Golves, six Pro Bowls, two Super Bowl titles, five UEFA Champions League titles and 763 career goals. We might have a new leader for the GOAT of sports birthdays! [VIEWER'S GUIDE] Friday Night SmackDown (FOX, 8 p.m. ET) Edge is set to address the possibility of battling Roman Reigns for the Universal Championship at WestleMania. Wisconsin at Illinois (Saturday, FOX, 2:30 p.m. ET) D’Mitrik Trice leads the No. 19-ranked Wisconsin Badgers into Champaign to battle Ayo Dosunmu and the No. 12-ranked Illinois Fighting Illini. No. 8 Iowa at Indiana (Sunday, FOX, 12 p.m. ET) Trayce Jackson-Davis and the Indiana Hoosiers host Luka Garza and the No. 8-ranked Iowa Hawkeyes in a Big Ten clash. Super Bowl LV: Kansas City Chiefs vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Sunday, CBS, 6:30 p.m. ET) Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs take on Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Super Bowl LV. [BET OF THE DAY] [BET OF THE DAY]( Odds provided by [FOX Bet]( The biggest game of the year is here as the Kansas City Chiefs and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are set to take the field in Super Bowl LV. Fans have one more chance to get in on the action with [the FOX Bet Super 6 contest]( where a prize of $250,000 is on the line in the big game. Just download the Super 6 app and answer six key questions on the game to take your shot. Here’s is a look at Jason McIntyre’s Super 6 picks. 1. How many completions will Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes combine for? The choices: 0-36, 37-40, 41-43, 44-46, 47-49, 50-plus THE PICK: 50-plus 2. Which team will have the most receptions and by how many? The choices for the margin: 0-1, 2, 3, 4, 5-6, 7-8, 9-10, 11-12, 13-plus THE PICK: Chiefs by 7-8 3. Which team will have the most rushing yards and by how many? The choices for the margin: 0-5, 6-13, 14-24, 25-34, 35-44, 45-59, 60-79, 80-104, 105-plus THE PICK: Bucs by 25-34 4. Which teams will have the most receiving yards and by how many? The choices for the margin: 0-9, 10-24, 24-39, 40-54, 55-74, 75-94, 95-114, 115-144, 145-plus THE PICK: Chiefs by 55-74 5. Which team will kick the longest field goal and by how many yards? The choices for the margin: 0-33, 34-39, 40-42, 43-45, 46-47, 48-49, 50-51, 52-53, 54-plus THE PICK: Bucs, 43-45 yards 6. Which team will win and by how many points? The choices for the margin: 1-3, 4-6, 7-9, 10-12, 13-15, 16-18, 19-21, 22-25 THE PICK: Chiefs by 4-6 [WHAT THEY SAID] “Talent sets the floor. Character sets the ceiling.” — Bill Belichick [FOLLOW FOX SPORTS] [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [YouTube]( [Instagram]( Download FOX Sports App: [Fire TV]( [Roku]( [Google Play]( [App Store]( [Fire TV]( [Roku]( [App Store]( [Google Play]( Also available on these devices: [fireTV | AppleTV | ROKU | Google Chromecast | XBOX ONE | SAMSUNG Smart TV] [fireTV | AppleTV | ROKU | Google Chromecast | XBOX ONE | SAMSUNG Smart TV] Trademark & Copyright Notice: ™ and © 2021 Fox Media LLC and FOX Sports Interactive Media, LLC. All rights reserved. Please do not reply to this message. If you do not wish to receive emails like this in the future, please [unsubscribe](. FOX Sports respects your privacy. Click [here]( to view our Privacy Policy. Fox.com Business & Legal Affairs - Manager Digital Media P.O. Box 900 Beverly Hills, California 90213-0900