By Terrence Echols
Staff Writer
Along with millions of people world-wide, students at Jamesville-DeWitt High School had their eyes peeled on their televisions to experience America’s greatest sporting event, the Super Bowl.
This year’s gridiron clash between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks was a game many won’t forget. The game ended with the Patriots winning their franchise’s fourth Super Bowl. They were victorious after a clutch play made by their undrafted rookie Malcolm Butler. Butler intercepted Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson’s pass on the one yard line with under 30 seconds left in the game to secure the victory. Sophomore Aimee Comanici was pleased to see Butler become the hero of a game he wasnt supposed to be in
While many believe the interception by Butler was the play of the game, some argue the play prior to that should receive that title. Seahawks receiver Jermaine Kearse made a difficult bobbling catch as he fell to the ground at the 6 yard line. Freshmen Luke Smith and Mark Toscano agree that the reception by Kearse was the play of the game. “It was really exciting, it looked so difficult,” said sophomore Will Eimas-Detrich.
Seahawks fans across the country took the Super Bowl loss a lot harder than normal. Why do they feel so angry? With the Seahawks down by four with the ball at the one yard line, they chose to run a pass play that ended in the interception by Butler rather than hand the ball off to all-pro running back Marshawn Lynch. Lynch is nicknamed “beastmode” because he is an exceptional ball carrier when it comes to powering through defenders and never giving up on the play. “(The play call) was very foolish,” said Carlin. However sophomore Vincenzo Digristina believed it was a good play call to catch the Patriots off guard.
The Super Bowl over the years has had something for everyone. Many people enjoy the commercials that are shown during game and TV timeouts. Most students agree that the best commercial this year was a Budweiser ad about a puppy who was lost and was eventually found by horses. The ad appealed to students because they thought the puppy was “cute.” Digristina’s favorite commercial was the Ford commercial because it pretended that the TV had malfunctioned while the Super Bowl was beginning. “It was funny because everyone panicked,” said Digristina.
The other main non-football event was the halftime show. The show featured famous pop artist Katy Perry including guest appearances by Lenny Kravitz and Missy Elliott. Junior Luke Mannion described the show as one of the best he’s ever seen. “I thought Katy Perry was great,” said sophomore Gavin French. Freshman Cam Daley liked the show only because it had Katy Perry. Sophomore Matt Paul thought Perry’s outfit was similar to one of his favorite movie characters, but he thought that Chaz Michaels from “Blades of Glory” wore it better.” “I really liked the dancing sharks,” said Comanici referring to the backup dancers in the performance. Sophomore Matt Carlin believed that overall the performance was great and that the stage looked really nice.
Food to those non-football fans is important when it comes to watching the Super Bowl. Students at J-DHS had interesting Super Bowl meals. The majority of students interviewed said they had pizza. “Pizza is a classic (Super Bowl meal),” said senior Ben Wipper. Carlin had sushi for his Super Bowl meal. “It was my brother’s birthday so that’s what (my family) decided to have,” said Carlin. Some families had an assortment of food for the Super Bowl. “We had sausage and steak sandwiches,” said Digristina. Comanici said her family and friends had chicken wing dip, pulled pork, mozzarella, deserts and macaroni & cheese balls. Mannion and his friends enjoyed some chicken riggies.
Super Bowl XLIX was a game for the ages. It has made football fans out of millions of people across the world and left the commercial lovers unimpressed.