If I was asked to find an article that described Super Bowl parties I have attended in the past, I would choose, "Real women watch football: Gender differences in the consumption of the NFL Super Bowl broadcast" (Clark & Gladden, 2009). Every Super Bowl party I have ever been to involved people behaving and enjoying the game in much the same way this article says the research supports.
Pre-game, national anthem, and kickoff has everybody's rapt attention. As soon as the offense takes the field, the majority of the women in the room tune out or start talking. The men, on the other hand, focus intently on the game. At least that is how the article would have it seem. I would agree with that except for one important point. It seems to me that you could replace the words "men or women" with "avid fan or passive fan." The article attempted to address this by evaluating avid female fans and passive female fans, but only discussed the data with reference to men and women. In the end, I do not think that gender is the ultimate determinate, but the level of interest in the sport of football.
I specifically remember one year, after the game was over and everybody had gone home, that my wife said to me, "Next year, lets only invite people that want to actually watch the game." She was annoyed that most of the people in the room had not really cared what happened in the game itself. So both the men and women did not care, most of the people were there for the social aspect. Unfortunately, that is not something that can be avoided during Super Bowl parties. So, to get around that this year, I'm turning up the surround sound J.
Anyway, time for me to head down to watch the game itself! I'm rooting for the lesser of two evils, soooo go Pack!
After reading your entry, it sounded just like the Super Bowl party I went to this evening. As soon as the National Anthem came on, people stopped what they were doing and the TV got turned up. Everyone took bets on how long it would be drug out and everyone had their own opinion on the performance. Although it was mostly the women, the men had their say as well. Thanks to today's technology, it didn't take long for people to post their opinions on Facebook and for websites to publish stories about how the lyrics were messed up. The men stayed tuned into the game, while the women sat around and ate and gossiped until the half-time show and some of the commercials. I am a huge sports fan, however, since I don't root for either team, I found myself not paying much attention. This surprised me. I wonder if it wasn't for the hype surrounding the Super Bowl and all the specials taking place in between, would I even had turned in? Or if different teams were on the field would I had paid more attention? I guess this article hit home.
ReplyDeleteI have never really been interested in the Super Bowl, but I think M Center's post is absolutely right in the fact that if your team isn't playing, there is a certain lack of interest. I vastly prefer college football and so I watch the National Championship regardless of who plays, but I find my attention drifting if it is not one of the teams I particularly enjoy. Of my friends who did watch the Super Bowl, most of them cared more about wanting the Steelers to lose than to have the Packers win.
ReplyDeleteIn some ways, I think it is easier to enjoy watching the Super Bowl when your team is not playing. Maybe that is what Cleveland fans just have to believe--given our history. But it can be more nervewracking if your team is in the game. It can be more social if they are not. Still I would like to find out just once what it would be like for the Browns to be in the Super Bowl!
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you- it is hard to make that generalization that 'all' women are not interested in the game itself. It seems to me, for most people excluding avid fans, that Super Bowl parties are more of a social event than anything. I know one a female who is more of an avid fan than most of the males I know. There is no way that she would stop watching the game itself at any point to socialize.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to the social aspect, I think the producers of the Super Bowl as a broadcast understand this and therefore market towards more of the social crowd rather than the avid fan. The commercials and half time shows are perfect examples of this. No other game has the hype of the Super Bowl with any crowd. I can say that I am not a big fan of professional football but I typically watch the Super Bowl. If I were not with friends, I probably would not watch it. And really, I couldn't tell you who won last years. The half time show and commercials are not even that important to me. It is just a good time to relax and spend time with friends and family for me!
Matt-I agree the article should be about active and passive fans versus men versus women. Both men and women have groups who enjoy sports,especially football while others are not interested at all in football or any other sports. Super Bowl parties are designed to be a social gathering and so I don't think much credibility can be put into that. My mother and girlfriend are huge football fans and follow the games at both college and professional levels, yet my uncles could care less about.
ReplyDeleteMatt-
ReplyDeleteI would be interested to see a narrowed down perspective of women who only watch the game with other women against the percentage of viewers who watch the game. The reason why I ask this question is because I see a lot of women watch the SuperBowl every year, but I wonder if it is because there's no alternative when a man has control over the remote. Not to say that women hold no power when it comes to watching television when a man is in the room, but the Super Bowl is the Super Bowl...no ifs, ands, or buts about it. One day out of the year is reserved for every television to be tuned to that game...unless you don't like football, in any event you have commercials. But if a crazed football fan like myself who happens to be a guy is not present in the residence, is there that added pressure to flip to ESPN or whatever channel the game is on?