Less is more

Last Sunday the American football season reached its peak with Super Bowl LV. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers won the 55th edition of the annual spectacle, their second triumph after 2003. The Bucs gave the defending champions, the Kansas City Chiefs, a 31 – 9 hiding. The rules of American football are simple. For an outsider, the difficulties lie in looking past the irritating American razzmatazz and endless commercials, as well as sitting through a game for about three hours with only 15 minutes of action. And yet, somehow, I get caught up in this irresistible showpiece year after year. Over a period of about five months from mid-September until the first weekend in February, every season builds up to a climactic finale. Then it is over. Nothing for the next seven months. The kingpin of American football is the quarterback. If you think a rugby flyhalf controls a game, then… Continue reading