Dominic Hixon--The Real Star of the NY Giants
Yes, that's right; you may not have heard much about old Dominic Hixon, but let me tell you--he is a star of epic proportions. At least, he is here in Germany.
As I said, our Superbowl announcers were German. In addition to explaining a bit of the rules of American football--something your American announcers probably did not do--our announcers filled us in on the joys and great successes of Dominic Hixon--Germany's NFL star. It turns out that Dominic, born in Ohio, has a German mother. Or maybe just a German grandmother, we were not completely clear. In any case, he is Germany's NFL pride and joy. He does not seem to speak much German, but they don't mind. (He did say "Hallo Oma, Ich liebe dich!", but apart from his little shout-out to Grandma, they interviewed him in English.)
We watched Hixon all night long. As far as we can tell, the German network was using Fox's broadcast but had some flexibility as to which camera's feed they showed when. (They did not seem to have control over replays, often finding themselves without much to say about a particular scene being replayed.) We came to this conclusion about a half-hour into the Superbowl after deciding that Fox simply could not be responsible for the fact that Hixon was in EVERY shot of the sidelines. I tell you, if we were not watching the action on the field, we were watching Hixon walk around on the sidelines or enter or leave the field. These shots were accompanied with commentary along the following lines: "And there we see him, Dominic Hixon", "There he is! See, he was on the field for the kickoff!" (Really, that's a real one!) And so on. All night long. It was really very, very amusing.
Here's the very best part: During the extremely exciting last 3 minutes of the game, the announcers said--and I quote (translated, of course): "What will it be? Will it be Tom Brady and the New England Patriots, or Dominic Hixon and the New York Giants???" At that point we all lost it.
One final, funny moment--not related to Hixon. At one point, the announcer said something about a "third down convention" (he used this English phrase) and how common they are. I was confused, thinking perhaps he meant the tradition of getting the fans all riled up to make some noise on the third down. Michael, a bit quicker than me, said "Um, I think he meant third-down conversion." Sure enough, a while later the Patriots scored a third down conversion and the announcer yelled--with great gusto and undo confidence--"Ya! Third Down Convention!"
So that's what it's like to watch the Superbowl in Germany. We watched the whole thing, though it ended sometime past 4am. It was an incredible game, and worth staying up for.
I will say this: I am quite sure that American announcers would look ridiculous trying to follow a Cricket match. In fact, I think we have a bit of a reputation for being very silly (and chatty) announcers when it comes to the World Cup--and that's a game that we play, if only a little. So I mean to pass no judgment on Germany here, only to note that watching the Superbowl in Germany is an experience I will never forget.
Here's hoping Notre Dame can score a few Third Down Conventions next fall.
Oh, for further support of our claims see the following blog--also written by an American who watched the superbowl in Germany. I don't know who this person is, but when I googled Dominic Hixon, it was one of the (few) hits that I got:
http://corner.bigblueinteractive.com/index.php?mode=2&thread=274057
As I said, our Superbowl announcers were German. In addition to explaining a bit of the rules of American football--something your American announcers probably did not do--our announcers filled us in on the joys and great successes of Dominic Hixon--Germany's NFL star. It turns out that Dominic, born in Ohio, has a German mother. Or maybe just a German grandmother, we were not completely clear. In any case, he is Germany's NFL pride and joy. He does not seem to speak much German, but they don't mind. (He did say "Hallo Oma, Ich liebe dich!", but apart from his little shout-out to Grandma, they interviewed him in English.)
We watched Hixon all night long. As far as we can tell, the German network was using Fox's broadcast but had some flexibility as to which camera's feed they showed when. (They did not seem to have control over replays, often finding themselves without much to say about a particular scene being replayed.) We came to this conclusion about a half-hour into the Superbowl after deciding that Fox simply could not be responsible for the fact that Hixon was in EVERY shot of the sidelines. I tell you, if we were not watching the action on the field, we were watching Hixon walk around on the sidelines or enter or leave the field. These shots were accompanied with commentary along the following lines: "And there we see him, Dominic Hixon", "There he is! See, he was on the field for the kickoff!" (Really, that's a real one!) And so on. All night long. It was really very, very amusing.
Here's the very best part: During the extremely exciting last 3 minutes of the game, the announcers said--and I quote (translated, of course): "What will it be? Will it be Tom Brady and the New England Patriots, or Dominic Hixon and the New York Giants???" At that point we all lost it.
One final, funny moment--not related to Hixon. At one point, the announcer said something about a "third down convention" (he used this English phrase) and how common they are. I was confused, thinking perhaps he meant the tradition of getting the fans all riled up to make some noise on the third down. Michael, a bit quicker than me, said "Um, I think he meant third-down conversion." Sure enough, a while later the Patriots scored a third down conversion and the announcer yelled--with great gusto and undo confidence--"Ya! Third Down Convention!"
So that's what it's like to watch the Superbowl in Germany. We watched the whole thing, though it ended sometime past 4am. It was an incredible game, and worth staying up for.
I will say this: I am quite sure that American announcers would look ridiculous trying to follow a Cricket match. In fact, I think we have a bit of a reputation for being very silly (and chatty) announcers when it comes to the World Cup--and that's a game that we play, if only a little. So I mean to pass no judgment on Germany here, only to note that watching the Superbowl in Germany is an experience I will never forget.
Here's hoping Notre Dame can score a few Third Down Conventions next fall.
Oh, for further support of our claims see the following blog--also written by an American who watched the superbowl in Germany. I don't know who this person is, but when I googled Dominic Hixon, it was one of the (few) hits that I got:
http://corner.bigblueinteractive.com/index.php?mode=2&thread=274057
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