The Superbowl is something of an amusing cultural phenomenon. It is generally recognised as one of the most-watched annual sporting events, with an audience of around 100million. Obviously, the vast majority of these viewers are American, however the Superbowl has attracted an overseas following in recent years (including myself), and is being shown on BBC1 this Sunday at 11pm-4am. Good thing freelancers have flexible working hours, huh?

Like all things Stateside, the Superbowl is big, brash and completely overblown to the point of becoming a parody of a legitimate sporting event. If you approach it from a point of little or no knowledge (again, like myself), it can be a perfect piece of mindless entertainment to snack on while you get some work done late at night.

First, some basics. While American Football may seem similar to Rugby from a “large men running around throwing an oval ball” standpoint, it’s actually very different. For a start, don’t expect a period of activity (a “play”) to last more than a couple of seconds. A ball will be thrown, and the potential recipient will either miss it, or catch it and then be tackled to the ground.

Following this flurry of activity, the on-screen graphics will go mad, swooshing around and showing the ball being thrown from several different angles. Shots will be shown of men in strange one-sided headsets discussing how and why the ball was caught or missed.

Eventually, one of the teams will manage to bustle into the “end zone” with the ball. This is a “touch-down” and is considered a good thing. They will celebrate, jump up and down and be crushed by a hundred of their jubilant team-mates. This will be followed by even more Michael Bay-grade on-screen graphical climaxes, as the commentary team analyse the minutiae of how the ball was carried over a line. On the subject of the commentary team, you may notice the coverage cuts to them fairly often compared to a regular sporting event – this is the BBC covering up the “TV timeouts” – scheduled breaks in play every few minutes when American networks show adverts.

You may notice at certain points the names of the players on one team change completely – this is because each team has offensive players and defensive players. So when a team is attacking, their offensive players will be on the pitch, while their defensive team-mates cheer from the sidelines. This seems like cheating to me, but those are the rules.

So if you fancy like a late night on Sunday, join me in enjoying this hilariously self-important orgy of commercialism – you will be as amused as you will be baffled. And if you really don’t like sports, there’s always the Puppy Bowl.

Alternatively, if you fancy watching with friends, here are the rules of the Superbowl drinking game -

  • If you don’t understand why something is happening, drink
  • If a commentator uses a term you don’t understand, drink
  • If as crowd shot shows a topless man twirling his shirt around his head, or people with team-specific body-paint, drink.
  • If a player flies off the pitch into a crowd on the sidelines, drink
  • Every time the BBC commentary team uses an American term awkwardly, drink

Any others rules? Let us know in the comments.