Column | Super Bowl Sunday is a polarizing, interesting holiday

The Super Bowl has gained unrivaled cultural relevance over the last 58 years, entering the exclusive, “unofficial holiday” category. Similar to actual holidays, like Thanksgiving, which falls on the fourth Thursday of November, every year, the Super Bowl falls on the second Sunday of February. 

Most people are inherently given the day off work, there is a traditional cuisine for the occasion and people get together to watch football. 

This year, a record 200.5 million people are expected to tune in to see the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers clash in the Super Bowl for the second time since Super Bowl 54. A majority of those viewers are expected to host or attend a Super Bowl party or go to a bar or restaurant to watch the action. 

One person taking advantage of the opportunity to host a Super Bowl party is sophomore political science major Henry Cohen. 

“None of my friends are sports fans,” Cohen said. “But I am, so this is the one time of year I can make everybody care and get them to come over for an event.”

Cohen is certainly not alone in trying to get non-sports fans to come out to a sport-focused event. Senior natural science major Danielle DiRocco also plans to host this Sunday. 

“I’m probably going to have a watch party at my house,” DiRocco said. 

Many people pass up restaurants and bars for their friends’ houses. The Super Bowl is more than a football game — it’s a beacon for bringing friends together.

For many college students, just getting together to enjoy each other’s time can feel like a relaxing break from their exhausting schedule. The Super Bowl allows students to drop what they’re doing and enjoy time with those that they care about.

While fans of all 32 NFL teams reside in Oakland, including division rivals of both the Chiefs and 49ers, Oaklanders’ preference on Sunday’s victor doesn’t have much to do with their usual NFL allegiances. 

Sophie Runia, a Denver Broncos fan, chose not to root against her division rival due to her allegiance to Taylor Swift.

“Technically, I should lean 49ers because I’m a Broncos fan,” Runia, sophomore biology and German major, said, “and therefore, don’t like the Chiefs, but I got to love Travis Kelce as a Swiftie.” 

It may confuse die-hard football fans how followers of the Steelers, Bills, Ravens and Broncos — who have heated rivalries with the Chiefs — root for Kansas City. It seems that Taylor Swift’s influence has expanded, even to the AFC West. 

While NFL fans got to witness Swift’s love interest, Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, haul in 11 catches for 116 yards and a touchdown last week against the Baltimore Ravens, they also saw Swift record 32 total seconds of screen time during the game. 

The Super Bowl brings many alternative reasons for people to tune in such as the commercials and halftime show, but this year brings the possibility that Swift may occupy even more screen time. 

Both Cohen and DiRocco added that they were, indeed, Swifties as well. 

For those most excited about football, we are in for a show. The 49ers are favored by two, and the Chiefs are looking to cash in their third straight underdog win. The 49ers are the first team since the 2017 Patriots, who lost to the Eagles in the Super Bowl, to be favored in every game of the year. 

But then again, for some Oaklanders, like sophomore biology major Max Chiang, it is just another Sunday. 

“I don’t watch the Super Bowl,” Chiang, a sophomore biology major, said. “I don’t care.”