A Review of Super Bowl LII

Abstract

This is a review of Super Bowl LII which took place on Sunday, February 4th, 2018. The Philadelphia Eagles and New England, Patriots played a long hard game. Each team played the best they could to try to claim the Super Bowl LII championship title. This review will discuss two contrasting articles, one from SBNation written by Thomas (2018) and another one from The Washington Post written by Bieler (2018). Within these articles there are a few similarities such as they are both written about Super Bowl LII. These articles also had some differences. An example of these differences is the gender of the author and each author believed the Philadelphia Eagles won Super Bowl LII differently. Lastly, in this review, there is a discussion about what causes these differences. This review is focused on two scholarly concept’s first gender differences in autobiographical narratives, and then flashbulb memory and how they cause the differences within both articles.

Introduction

On Sunday, February 4th, 2018, the Philadelphia Eagles, and the New England Patriots played in Super Bowl LII. This game would determine who would be the 2017 NFL Super Bowl Champions. This game had a lot of anticipation because many people did not believe the Philadelphia Eagles had a chance of making it to the Super Bowl after their starting quarterback Carson Wentz tore his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) earlier in the season (Sessler, 2017). However, the Philadelphia Eagles back-up quarterback Nick Foles was able to take the team to Super Bowl LII. According to Thomas (2018), Nick Foles and the underdog Eagles did what many could not do in the past. They killed a classic Patriots comeback to get a 41-33 Super Bowl win the first in history. According to ESPN (2018) and Razpy (2018), in the first quarter of the game, the Philadelphia Eagles started strong with a field goal kicked by Jake Elliott leaving the Philadelphia Eagles with a 3-0 lead. However, the New England Patriots kicker Stephen Gostowski kicked a field goal tying the game. With only 2 minutes left in the quarter, Alshon Jeffery caught a 34-yard pass from quarterback Nick Foles resulting in the first touchdown of the game for the Philadelphia Eagles. The Philadelphia Eagles were now in the lead again with a 9-3 score. In the second quarter, ESPN (2018) and Razpy (2018) stated the Philadelphia Eagles were able to make another touchdown. LeGarrette Blount made a 21-yard run to get the touchdown for the Philadelphia Eagles making the score 15-3. Shortly after the New England Patriots kicker Stephen Gostkowski was able to make a 45-yard field goal. Then James White for the New England Patriots made a 26-yard run into the end zone scoring a touchdown for the Patriots leaving the score at 15-12. With the Patriots closing the gap the Eagles needed a touchdown. This is when the Philly Special was born. Trey Burton was able to throw the ball to quarterback Nick Foles in the end zone scoring a game-changing touchdown. Jake Elliot was also able to get the extra point leaving the score at 22-12. After this second quarter, the halftime show took place. Super Bowl LII halftime show was a performance by Justin Timberlake. Where he played some of his biggest hits such as Sexy Back. He also did a tribute to Michael Jackson. In the second half of the game, the two teams both had to bring their A-game to the field. According to ESPN (2018) and Razpy (2018), in the third quarter of the game, the New England Patriots came back ready to win the game. Early in the quarter Rob Gronkowski was able to catch a five-yard pass thrown by Tom Brady resulting in a touchdown for the New England Patriots. Stephen Gostkowski was also able to get the extra point for the team making the score 22-19. Shortly after the Philadelphia Eagles were able to get the ball back. Corey Clement caught a 22-yard pass from Nick Foles and got a touchdown for the team. Jake Elliott also kicked the extra point for the team bringing the score to 29-19. With just three minutes left in the quarter, the New England Patriots were able to close the score gap yet again. Chris Hogan caught a 26-yard pass from Tom Brady scoring a touchdown for the team. Stephen Gostkowski also kicked the extra point making the score 29-26. Entering the final quarter of the game the score was very close. According to ESPN (2018) and Razpy (2018), at the beginning of the quarter, the Philadelphia Eagles kicker Jake Elliott was able to kick a 42-yard field goal giving the Eagles an extra three points making the score 32-26. Shortly after the New England Patriots get the ball, Rob Gronkowski caught a 4-yard pass thrown by quarterback Tom Brady. This resulted in a touch down for the New England Patriots and Stephen Gostkowski was able to get the extra point giving the New England Patriots the lead with the score being 32-33. However, with just two minutes left in the game, the Eagles were not ready to give up yet. Zach Ertz caught an 11-yard pass from quarterback Nick Foles giving the Eagles a game-changing touchdown. With just one minute left of Super Bowl LII the Philadelphia Eagles kicker, Jake Elliott kicked the winning field goal. Elliot was able to make a 46-yard field goal making the Philadelphia Eagles The NFL Super Bowl LII Champions. The final score was 41-33. The outcome of Super Bowl LII made an impact on most of the United States. There were different views on the outcome of Super Bowl LII. For example, many people were happy that a team, in this case, being the Philadelphia Eagles have finally beat quarterback Tom Brady and the New England Patriots who have won the super bowl the past five years before Super Bowl LII (Thomas, 2018). However, Patriots fans were devastated when they did not win their six Super Bowl in a row (Bieler, 2018). Being a Philadelphia Eagles fan myself, I was rooting for the Eagles the whole time. Like many other fans, I dreamed of the Eagles finally being able to win a super bowl. Watching Super Bowl LII was an exciting experience. I was able to be in Philadelphia during the game, watching the two teams, the Eagles and the Patriots, play an amazing game. Both teams were trying their best and fighting for the title. It was truly an unforgettable experience. Being surrounded by fellow Eagles fans in Philadelphia watching the game was like being a part of a big family. I will never forget watching the Eagles play such a smart game, getting touchdowns and field goals, and of course, the now famous trick play. Watching the Philadelphia Eagles backup quarterback Nick Foles take control of the game and make amazing plays like the Philly Special was like something out of a dream. In the fourth quarter, Jake Elliott made the final field goal the whole city of Philadelphia was filled with happiness. After that game-winning field goal the people of Philadelphia including myself took to the streets for a massive celebration. There were fireworks, Eagle’s chants, and a sea of green marching down Broad Street. Being a part of this celebration and feeling the joy of being Super Bowl champs I do understand how Patriot fans must have felt after the loss.

Contrasting Views

Since so many people in the United States anticipated watching Super Bowl LII the game had quite a turnout. Both fans and non-fans of the two teams playing watched to see who would be the next Super Bowl Champ. With 67,612 people in Attendance at U.S. Bank Stadium and 103.4 million viewers (Otterson, 2018), this Super Bowl got a lot of attention from the news. However, not all news stories were alike. There were many different types of stories being written about this Super Bowl, some were positive and some were unhappy about the result of the game. Some stories supported the Philadelphia Eagles win and were happy about it where other articles were devastated about the New England Patriots loss to the Philadelphia Eagles or as they would call them, The Underdogs (Bieler, 2018). I found two articles in particular that demonstrate how articles are written differently about Super Bowl LII. First, one article that I found is from SB Nation. The article was titled “Super Bowl 2018 final score for Eagles vs. Patriots: Eagles fought like hell to win their 1st Super Bowl ” written by Jeanna Thomas (Thomas, 2018). She discussed Super Bowl LII in a positive manner, as well as discussing about many plays in the game such as the now-famous Philly trick play. The second article, from The Washington Post, titled “The Patriots definitely did not get all the calls in the Super Bowl ” written by Des Bieler (Bieler, 2018). This article discussed Super Bowl LII in a more critical manner. He discussed how the Philadelphia Eagles may have won due to poor calls made by the referees. There were quite a few similarities between the two articles. First, both articles discussed the event of Super Bowl LII which took place on Sunday, February 4th, 2018. Also, both articles share is both Thomas (2018) and Bieler (2018) discuss the reputation of both teams. For example, Thomas talked about the Philadelphia Eagles being the underdogs and the New England Patriots reputation of the trademark comeback. Another main similarity about the two articles is both discussed the same plays that happen throughout the game. These plays were crucial plays that led to the Philadelphia Eagles Super Bowl victory. For example, both Thomas and Bieler discussed in their article the famous Philly trick play. The trick play is when Nick Foles caught a pass in the end zone from Trey Burton getting the Philadelphia Eagles a touchdown. Lastly, both articles talked about how entertaining Super Bowl LII was for themselves and other viewers. Thomas talked about how the game was ridiculously fun to watch from start to finish for viewers including herself. She also stated that this game broke the record for most yards in a Super Bowl before the third quarter (Thomas, 2018). According to the article written by Bieler, both teams played extremely well. Bieler also said that many of the plays in the game such as the Philly trick play were exciting to watch. Even though both articles are written about the same event Super Bowl LII there are many differences. The first difference between the articles are the gender of the author one being female and one being male. The second difference is that each author believed the Philadelphia Eagles won Super Bowl LII in different ways. First, for the Thomas (2018) article, the author started by praising the Philadelphia Eagles. Thomas discussed how the Philadelphia Eagles did what so many other teams could not do. The Philadelphia Eagles were able to kill a classic New England Patriot comeback and win the Super Bowl, for the first in franchise history. Thomas also discussed how the Philadelphia Eagles fought hard to win. She stated that they did not give up when Carson Wentz tore his ACL, and they did not give up even when the Patriots took the lead, they played hard and ended up with a Super Bowl win. She believed that the Eagles deserved the Super Bowl win, and they won all on their own. However, according to Bieler (2018), the Philadelphia Eagles played a good game but ultimately believes The Eagles won because of the missed calls by the referees. For example, Bieler (2018) brought up the Philly trick play. He discussed that this play could have been flagged as an illegal formation due to having only six not seven, men on the line. Bieler also discussed another play where Nick Foles hit running back Corey Clement with a 22-yard touchdown in the end zone. However, an NBC analyst, Cris Collinsworth, said in confidence the touchdown catch should be overturned, but officials went against him and let the call stand. According to Bieler, the Philadelphia Eagles won the Super Bowl because they made risks and played a good game. However, Bieler stated that the poor calls of the referees are the real reason why the Eagles were able to win against the New England Patriots at Super Bowl LII. Since both articles have different ways of discussing the same event it leads us to wonder what causes this. What might have caused the difference in differences in the two articles. In the next section, we will discussed scholarly concepts that explain the differences between the two article. We will also review how these scholarly concepts influenced the authors.

Critical Analysis

After doing research on Super Bowl LII, there were many different articles that discussed this event in a different way. The two authors (Bieler, 2018 & Thomas, 2018) viewed the Eagles Super Bowl win differently. According to Thomas (2018), the Eagles played an amazing game, and they won because of the hard work they put in. On the other hand, Bieler (2018) thinks the Eagles won the game due to the calls from the referees. Since both authors of these articles have such different perspectives of the same outcome of Super Bowl LII one might wonder what could have caused this? The scholarly concept of gender differences in autobiographical narratives could explain the differences between the two authors (Schulkind, Schoppel, & Scheiderer, 2012). Flashbulb memory (Talarico, & Moore, 2012, p.) could be another factor to why one author viewed the super bowl win one way where the other author viewed the super bowl win completely differently. First, we will discussed gender differences in Autobiographical memory and how this could explain why Thomas (2018) responded one way to the Eagles super bowl win and how Bieler (2018) responded in a different way. Second, we will look at flashbulb memory and how this affected the author’s views on the super bowl win. According to Schulkind, Schoppel, and Scheiderer (2012) previous research on autobiographical narratives demonstrates that women’s narratives emphasize evaluative information, men’s narratives are factually oriented. This study also found that unlike men, women show greater fluency in retrieving autobiographical memories. Women gave longer, as well as more detailed, more emotional, and more coherent responses than those of men. This could be one reason for the differences between the two articles. This gender difference could explain why Thomas (2018) viewed the Eagles Super Bowl win as a victory for the team. Since the author Thomas (2018) is a woman she will evaluate the game as a whole. She will also be evaluated how both teams played in the game. Such as, how well each team played and who deserved to win the game by the way the team played in the game. Thomas (2018) even discussed in her article her evaluation of the Eagles playing a and the calls made by the referees which she believes the Eagles played a great game, and the referees made the right calls. On the other hand, since Bieler (2018) is a man he may have looked only at factual information (Schulkind et al., 2012). An example of this would be how he looked at the New England Patriot’s Super Bowl record, and the Philadelphia Eagle’s Super Bowl records in the past. Looking at the fact, that the New England Patriots had won many Super Bowls before, and the Philadelphia Eagles haven’t won a super bowl in many years. Bieler decided that the New England Patriots would win Super Bowl LII because of the facts. Bieler also looked at the reputations of the teams, for example, the Philadelphia Eagles were viewed as the Under Dogs and Tom Brady and the New England Patriots were known for their famous come back which won them many Super Bowls in the past. Lastly, Bieler looked at facts from NBC telecast, analyst Cris Collinsworth who said in confidence the touchdown catch should be overturned, but officials went against him and let the call stand. Gender differences in autobiographical narratives may help explain why the two articles have such different views of the same Super Bowl event. The different views for women being evaluating, and men being factual influenced the outcome of the views of both authors due to their given gender resulting in the difference of how the authors viewed the outcome of the game. Another scholarly concept that explains why there is such a difference in these articles that were talking about the same event being Super Bowl LII, is the concept of Flashbulb memory. Flashbulb memory is defined as long-lasting memories that an individual is about to recall with enhanced vividness. Also when an individual recalls this event they will have a sense of reliving the event as well as confidence in the accuracy of the memory (Talarico & Moore, 2012, p. ). Since flashbulb memory has to do with emotions it only makes sense that fans of the winning team would be more positive than those who are fans of the losing team. Thomas (2018), praised the Philadelphia Eagles for their teamwork and strategy when playing in Super Bowl LII. Throughout her article on Super Bowl LII, she focused on the positives of the game. She also discussed how intense the game was to watch and exciting it was. According to Talarico and Moore (2012), fans of the winning team rate games as more emotionally intense and more emotionally positive. Since Thomas is a Philadelphia Eagles fan this scholarly concept explains why she was so positive and emotionally involved in her article about the Philadelphia Eagles winning Super Bowl LII. Bieler (2018) discussed the Philadelphia Eagles Super Bowl win was the result of the referees making poor calls during the game, which in his mind helped the Eagles win the Super Bowl. According to the study done by Talarico and Moore (2012, p. ) losers can look forward to the next opportunity to win, they are able to use this hope for the next season to console oneself after a loss. In other words, a fan of a team who has lost will be waiting to get back at the team who beat them or win the following year to help them feel better after the loss. For the article written by Bieler (2018), I think this is a reason for why he blames poor calls by the referees to be responsible for the New England Patriots loss. Since he is upset about the New England Patriots loss he may be looking for an excuse of blame that isn’t on the New England Patriots. To conclude, there are many opinions about events that happen in our everyday life. Super Bowl LII is just one example of how the same event can be interoperated in different ways. After doing research now we are able to understand why people may have different views and opinions on an event. The two scholarly concepts discussed in this analysis Gender differences in Autobiographical narratives, and Flashbulb memory are just two examples of how these two articles are so different. With these findings it will allow us to be able to monitor the news we encounter every day as well as give us a better understanding of why people may respond to these events or news stories differently. This knowledge also allows us to have a better understanding of why we interoperate news and events in a certain way in our everyday lives.

References

• Bieler, D. (2018). The Patriots definitely did not get all the calls in the Super Bowl. Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2018/02/04/the-patriots-definitely-did-not-get-all-the-calls-in-the-super-bowl/?utm_term=.ba04842f7e2b
• ESPN. (2018). Eagles vs. Patriots – Game Summary – February 4, 2018. ESPN. Retrieved from http://www.espn.com/nfl/game?gameId=400999173
• Fox9. (2018). By the numbers: Attendance at Super Bowl events. Fox9. Retrieved from http://www.fox9.com/news/by-the-numbers-attendance-at-super-bowl-events
• Otterson, J. (2018, February 05). TV Ratings: Super Bowl LII 2017 to 103.4 million viewers. Variety.com.  Retrieved from https://variety.com/2018/tv/news/super-bowl-lii-ratings-1202687239/
• Razpy. (2018). Super Bowl 52 Full Game With Commericals | Eagles vs. Patriots | NFL. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GqQHkTZXus
• Schulkind, M., Schoppel, K., & Scheiderer, E. (2012). Gender differences in autobiographical narratives: He shoots and scores; she evaluates and interprets. Memory & Cognition, 40(6), 958–965.
• Sessler, M. (2017). Carson Wentz suffers torn ACL in win over Rams. NFL. Retrieved from http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000891467/article/carson-wentz-suffers-torn-acl-in-win-over-rams
• Talarico, J. M., & Moore, K. M. (2012). Memories of “The Rivalry”: Differences in how fans of the winning and losing teams remember the same game. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 26(5), 746–756.
• Thomas, J. (2018). Eagles fought like hell to win their 1st Super Bowl vs. Patriots. SBNation.  Retrieved from https://www.sbnation.com/2018/2/4/16971908/ patriots-eagles-2018-super-bowl-52-results-final-score