Sao Paulo, Brazil, South America

Today is Super Bowl Sunday!!! And to make it even better, the Patriots were playing in it! I get so excited on Super Bowl Sunday. It’s such an awesome day. My day started out with a relaxing morning at the hostel, and then I went up to MASP, the Art Museum of Sao Paulo to meet Graeme and Hillary. We decided that we would go to O’Malley’s tonight for the Super Bowl, but we wanted to get a little culture in before that, so we went to the art museum. The museum contained a lot of paintings by some really famous artists (Monet, Manet, Renoir, Picasso…), but a lot of them were portraits, and they just weren’t very interesting to me.

We hung around at the museum for a couple of hours and then split up. They were going to check out a trendy neighborhood in town but I was ready to get started with the Super Bowl coverage! I came back to the hotel and watched all the build up to the game on my computer for a few hours. It was a good time to talk to all the family as well and see how nervous everyone was coming up to this game. I know I was a nervous wreck, and I think everyone else was too.

Since we couldn’t reserve a table at O’Malley’s we decided that we were going to show up three hours before kickoff to see if we could get a table then. Well we didn’t. I met Andrea, Graeme and Hillary at the bar at 6:30pm, and there were no tables with chairs at all! It was already packed! Luckily Andrea had gotten there a few minutes before we did and managed to get the last high top table, so at least we had a place to put our beers for the night.

It was a little ridiculous though, because we arrived three hours before the game to get the table, then we watched the game for four hours, so we were standing at this same table for seven hours tonight, but it was all totally worth it! This was the greatest Super Bowl game I have ever seen!! And the New England Patriots won their fourth Super Bowl in 14 years!! Absolutely incredible!!

We all had a few beers and some snacks while we waited for the game to start, and I tried to explain to Andrea how the game is played. When the game finally got started, it was a bit of a slow start for both teams. The Patriots went up 7-0 and then 14-7, but by halftime it was 14-14, and time for Katy Perry to do her thing. This was when I realized that the half time show was completely for women. I was looking around the bar and every guy was just drinking and waiting for the football to start again. Every girl, on the other hand, was jumping up and down, dancing, and singing along with Katy. I guess that’s what the NFL wants to do to get more viewers, and it works.

The second half didn’t look so good for the Patriots as the Seahawks scored ten straight points to take a 24-14 lead. Going into the fourth quarter, down ten points to the best defense in the league, it didn’t look good. But you can never count Tom Brady out, and he orchestrated two touchdown drives in the fourth quarter to give the Patriots a 28-24 lead. With only about two minutes to go, the Seahawks had the ball and had to drive down the field for a touchdown. Russell Wilson threw a pass to Jermaine Kearse that was bobbled, and touched about five times before Kearse caught it while he was laying flat on the ground at the five yard line. It was another ridiculous play that made me, and every other Patriots fan, think of David Tyree and Mario Manningham in our last two Super Bowls. This was the same miracle catch that was going to doom the Patriots.

The Seahawks ran Marshawn Lynch for four yards from the five yard line, and then for some ridiculous reason, they decided to pass the ball on second down. I KNEW that the game was over for us and the Seahawks were going to score a TD and go on to win the game. Then came the play call that changed everything! Wilson passed the ball to Lockette, but an unknown rookie, Malcolm Butler, jumped the route and intercepted the ball at the one yard line. It was the single greatest play I have ever seen in a Super Bowl. The bar erupted and I couldn’t stop jumping up and down in the bar for a few minutes. A couple of penalties came after that play and the Patriots were able to take a knee and end the game. It was absolutely phenomenal! I’ve been waiting ten years for the Patriots to win another one, and this was a pretty cool place to see them get it done.

After the game I was on cloud nine, and a little drunk, and ready for bed. We paid our bills and headed home, and I know I’m going to have a good night’s sleep. I’m heading off to Paraty tomorrow morning, and will hopefully be meeting Graeme and Hillary at the bus terminal. We were all a bit buzzed tonight though, so it will all depend on how they’re feeling in the morning. But I already have my hotel in Paraty booked, so I’m definitely going. And I’m ready to get out of this big city and enjoy some time on the beach instead.