Feb. 12 was the date of the Super Bowl, in which the Kansas City Chiefs played the Philadelphia Eagles. Though I am a staunch New England Patriots fan, I was greatly anticipating this matchup because of Villanova’s close proximity to Philadelphia. Most people on campus were certainly rooting for the Eagles, and there was definitely an overwhelming feeling of disappointment when the Eagles were not crowned the victors of the 2022 NFL season.

“The Super Bowl was great up until the end of the game,” junior Isabella Coles said. “The refs made a weak call resulting in such an underwhelming finish to what was a great, competitive game.”

I agree, as I felt that the game itself was one of the most interesting Super Bowls of the past several years, but the clock-wasting end approach left me wanting better closure. It was a close game the whole time and was very high-scoring, entertaining both Eagles and Chiefs fans. These are the types of games that I greatly enjoy because they give me a good reason to get excited. There was no deficiency of excitement at the viewing party I attended, at which just about everybody was rooting for the Eagles, except one brave soul who had hopped on the Chiefs bandwagon this postseason.

“It was a great night rooting for the Chiefs with everyone else rooting for the Eagles,” senior Brad Wohlleber said. “Regardless of who had the ball late in the 4th quarter, it would’ve been a fantastic game. I can’t wait for training camp to start up in July.”

Though campus was overwhelmingly pro-Eagles, there were still representatives of several other fan bases upset with the Eagles for making it farther than their own teams.

Junior Ryan Howlin explained his take on the ultimate results. 

“As a Cowboys fan, it always makes my day to see the Eagles lose,” Howlin said. Many Giants fans were also pleased that their NFC East rivals were shut down.

There was a lot of speculation as to whether classes would be canceled if the Eagles won the game, but we unfortunately did not get to see if this would have been the case.

“I really wanted the Eagles to win because I was looking forward to the parade downtown and a day off from school,” junior Jackie Slate said. “I’ve seen photos and videos from past Eagles parades and it looks like so much fun.”

Junior Maggie Logler agreed. 

“I wanted the Eagles to win because I was excited to celebrate their victory in Philadelphia,” Logler said. “I have heard so many things about the Super Bowl parade and wished we could have experienced it.”

Though the football game itself was thrilling, numerous people were equally, if not more, excited for the commercials and Rihanna’s halftime show.

“Rihanna’s performance was amazing… and made the Eagles loss more bearable,” Logler said.

Though I have never been an extreme fan of Rihanna’s, I still enjoyed her show because of its simplicity. While it is always fun to see the incredible special effects that are often done during halftime shows, I enjoyed Rihanna’s performance and still found it entertaining despite the lack of crazy stunts or funky lights.

The commercials were also delightful, ranging from sentimental to laugh-out-loud to confusing. It was hilarious when the Tubi commercial came on and several people started yelling and asking who had touched the remote, an experience that numerous viewers shared. There were also several viewers that scanned the QR code leading them to “Never Gonna Give You Up” by Rick Astley, falling victim to the classic prank of getting “rick-rolled.”

Even though the Eagles were not victorious, there was no parade and no one had classes canceled on Monday, we can always count on the Super Bowl to unite us. The Super Bowl has become something larger than football, drawing huge numbers of people to their televisions and becoming a universal evening of fun and intense TV watching. Being on a college campus on Super Bowl Sunday was an absolute treat, and hopefully the next Super Bowl is as memorable and exciting as this year’s.