Parties set for Super Bowl

by David hurwitz

For 45 years, Super Bowl Sunday has been a date that American football fans have circled on their calendars, regardless of whether their teams have made it to the championship game.

They plan parties and take vacation or “sick” days from work. People who are not interested in football know enough to keep quiet about it and stay out of sight until the game is over. It is no different this year, with Super Bowl XLVI the New England Patriots and New York Giants facing off in Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Ind.  In the Asia-Pacific region, the action takes place Monday morning, Feb. 6.

For many in the military, the day of the game has been designated a “training holiday” or “down day,” and work stations will be deserted except for local staff, who must continue to toil whether they are football fans or not.  

There will be parties at base clubs and restaurants, with breakfast and mid-morning snacks available either for free or a nominal charge. Contests will be held and prizes given out, and there is usually special entertainment, often in the form of cheerleaders from teams that weren’t good enough to make the playoffs. 

Besides the time difference between Okinawa and the U.S., and the morning hour that makes it unlikely partygoers will watch the game with a beer in their hands, as they would in the States, there will be none of the funny, or cheesy, commercials that companies spend millions of dollars producing, because AFN isn’t authorized to air them. That, in itself, makes the Super Bowl special, because at what other time of the year would viewers regret they cannot see ads on TV?

Eagle 810 will report on what’s happening at bases Kanto-wide with live interviews at party venues from around 6 a.m. to 8 a.m.

Despite being one of the smaller bases on the Kanto Plain, Camp Zama usually has one of the bigger Super Bowl parties. The Zama Community Club will open the doors of its ballroom at 6:30 a.m. and start the breakfast buffet line at 7 a.m. A mid-morning snack will also be available beginning at 10 a.m., with both meals offered for free.

The special guests this year are the Carolina Panthers Cheerleaders, the TopCats, who rooted on their team to a 6-10 record in 2011, albeit with a rookie quarterback. They will do a dance routine at 7:45 a.m., again just before the kickoff, and then at halftime. Throughout the game, the cheerleaders will be on hand to pose for and sign photographs, give out prizes, and chat with partygoers.

Zama will also hold a King and Queen of the Quarter contest for military personnel, with the winners getting seated next to the cheerleaders in the second and fourth quarters.

Fifteen door prizes donated by U.S. and Japanese companies will be handed out during the game, ranging from digital cameras to airline tickets.

So what’s happening on your base? The following list will let you know.

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