When you say football — or fútbol — in Mexico, they are talking about soccer, not American Football.
The Super Bowl, as we know it, does not compare and I was lucky to find a little beach bar called Jungle Jim’s which was showing the game on T.V. in Spanish.
I stopped by early in the week and bought four squares in a Super Bowl pool they had set up special for the gringos.
I brought my own chair not being sure if there would be any seating available at the bar by the time I arrived.
I happened to get a seat right next to a man from Kansas City. He asked who I was pulling for, and I told him neither team. I just wanted a good close game, as the games in the past were blowouts.
Did I get a game? It was the best Super Bowl game I have ever watched — and the announcing was in Spanish.
The man from Kansas was drinking Rum and Coke, and as Kansas City fell behind, he started drinking more. I started pulling for Kansas City with him.
He was a smoker and got up to smoke just as I had to use the bathroom. By the time we were back in our seats Philadelphia had jumped ahead by a 10-point margin. We said we could not afford to have both of us leave our seats at the same time again, as Kansas City needed at least one of us to cheer them on.
When Kansas City came back and tied Philadelphia, he went ballistic, jumping up and in some cases obstructing my vision, so I could not see.
From then on he literally was up out of his seat half the time and I think I had to keep him from jumping on the table.
As Kansas City kicked the winning field goal I had to grab his jacket or he was going to take off like a rocket. I thought he was going to kiss me at one point, he was so excited.
I am not sure whether it was the game or the man from Kansas City who made the game what it was last night, but it will go down in my memory as what football to this country is all about. GREAT.