Sonaba mejor en español

Right around kickoff time of yesterday's Super Bowl, I fired up the iPad to watch. But I knew that that Mike Tirico guy was calling the play-by-play, and so I figured I'd view it with the sound off. Mike reminds me of one of those motor-mouth DJ's that we stopped listening to in 1968. No matter what's going on, he chirps along in the same singsong voice, as if he's describing a sixth grade science fair. His sidekick, Cris Collingsworth, is okay, but he's no prize either, and so, ready to hit the mute button, I scrolled. 

Not so fast! By mistake, I tapped on the Spanish language broadcast, which showed all the same video but with a couple of announcers going at it in la lengua de Cervantes. And although at first I was taken by surprise, right away I was into it!

Now, my high school Spanish teachers, a couple of Jesuit priests, would be aghast at what little I could make of what the announcers were saying, but I was having a grand old time picking out the few fragments I remembered. Yada yada yada yada COMPLETO yada yada yada TRABAJA yada yada yada yada SUPER BOWL SETENTA yada yada SUPER DOMINGO. A lot of stuff was happening RÁPIDO, and once in a while somebody would wind up ABAJO in a CAPTURA or go TODA LA RUTA. Every time I heard a Spanish word or phrase I recognized, I'd repeat it out loud and laugh. At my age, amusement comes easy, although I'm probably some kind of racist for enjoying myself so much.

I also learned the Spanish pronunciation of "Cooper Cupp." It is COOPER CUPP. All the players' names, and the teams' names too, came out in the King's English. 

The play-by-play announcer had a lot of personality. When he trilled those R's he would really let loose. His sidekick, who I think was named Miguel, filled us in on the IZQUIERDA and DERECHA on the LINEA.

This being the Super Bowl, the commercials were also of interest. Some of them were dubbed into Spanish, or had their own Spanish version. Others were just the same as on English language network TV.

At halftime I set the DVR and went for a workout. And of course, when I got back, the stupid Comcast recording thing didn't work, and so I missed out on the halftime and second half. But I sure did have a blast for those first two quartos. The highlights of the whole game are here. I'd love to embed them in this post, but the "Ene Efe Ele" won't allow it.

If you're like me, and you're tired of hearing the same old dudes droning on about the same old players on sports TV, then the next time you're tuning in to an event, you might want to check to see if there's a Spanish language feed somewhere. It may breathe some new life into your spectator experience. I'll probably never watch another Super Bowl any other way.