Solo Bowl: Canadians ditching NFL championship parties amid COVID spread
Marc Horton’s annual Super Bowl parties are usually epic, day-long events, garnering so much attention, the host says, that he had to create a waitlist for those eager to enjoy the festivities in the future.
This year’s soiree in Keswick,
Ont., will be exclusive to Horton and his wife Alicia however, as wild winter spread of COVID-19 meant cancelling the big bash.
In years past, Horton’s hoopla — nicknamed the “Stuper Bowl” — included as many as 50 invitees.
The day would begin with a series of football games played at a nearby field, complete with a trophy presentation to the winning team, followed by a poker tournament at Horton’s house. Guests would then flop down in front of several TV’s and a championship-calibre food spread to watch the big game.
Horton’s parties marked a day of competition and greasy culinary indulgence like no other in the calendar year, but it was also an opportunity to catch up with old friends.
“A lot of them I went to high school with, and we see each other once a year at this event,” he said. “So it’s pretty depressing that it can’t happen this year.”
Indoor gatherings are banned across much of the country in efforts to slow the spread of COVID19, which has accelerated in recent months.
Horton, who’ll be cheering for the Kansas City Chiefs over the host Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday, is one of many football fans altering Super Bowl traditions as Canada deals with a dire second wave.
Some are moving their gettogethers to virtual platforms, while others will simply watch alone.
Catherine Sabiston, a kinesiology professor at the University of Toronto and a Canada Research Chair in physical activity and mental health, says it can be hard to infuse authenticity into an online event, and it’s normal to feel something’s missing when experiencing a big game solo.
Whether it’s watching sports at a bar with close friends or in a stadium with thousands of strangers, Sabiston says the “sense of collective identity” we get from fandom has been largely lacking over the last 11 months.
“Sports make you feel like you’re a member of something, and tied to that are emotions specific to togetherness,” she said. “You think like others, you feel like others, there’s others around you in that collective environment.
“But the social element is gone, or at least very limited these days.”