It’s time for Super Bowl Sunday

I watch every Spurs game. Every. Single. Game. Last week for the first time in years I fell asleep and you know what happened? The Spurs came back from sixteen down to steal the win from the Minnesota Timberwolves. So, I just won’t sleeping again, ever.

As a writer for Pounding the Rock I am often mistaken as an aficionado on the NBA. I have to remind people — I’m a Spurs fan. I don’t keep up with the other twenty-nine teams. I often see a Spurs opponent and ask, “when did they get that guy?”

So when it comes to other sports, honestly, I am at a total loss.

But Super Bowl Sunday isn’t just a sports, it is a cultural event.

Quick — what is the best commercial you ever saw during the Super Bowl? (Mine is when Steve Martin investigated Michael Jordan “faking” his retirement during the broadcast of Super Bowl XXVIII).

How about the best performance at a Super Bowl? (To each his own, but for my money it’s hard to beat Prince’s XLI halftime show.)

Oh, yeah, and there’s the game. Players at the top of their game, the culmination of a season of work to reach the final stage. There’s no seven-game series, each game of the post-season is win or go home.

And today’s game is culmination.

There is an added historic value with the presence of Sarah Thomas serving as referee. Earlier this year, the NBA, who have had female referees since the 2014-2015 season, had their first game with two female referees sharing the court.

Lauren Holtkamp-Sterling, the league’s first female ref said it best. “When I first started out I really had a strong wish that I could just transcend gender. And that it would be all about the work. Just always about the work.”

After their monumental pairing in Orlando as the Magic hosted the Charlotte Hornets earlier this month, both Jenna Schroeder and Natalie Sago shared a similar sentiment, that their presence being “big news” isn’t as important as when it is no longer news and true equality has taken over.

In a year that has seen the first woman in the role of Vice President of the United States, the world of sports should pale in comparison. As Spurs fans, we have already benefited from the integration of women into major sports. And yet, milestones continue to make a statement.

So enjoy today’s Super Bowl. Enjoy the commercials. Enjoy the halftime show. Enjoy the teams, whoever they may be (I want to say one of them has Bay in the name). Enjoy another milestone in the ongoing push for gender equality on all fronts.

And tomorrow, we’re back to Go Spurs Go!

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