Julianna Mariani ’24

Eggplant Editor

As we all know, this month was Super Bowl LV. Bucs vs Chiefs. I wasn’t very into the game to be honest, my roommate and I had it on as we did homework but I couldn’t bring myself to watch. It was too depressing seeing the “Greatest of All Time” in another uniform. Not to mention Gronk. With my dad being raised in Western Mass, we’re all die hard Pats fans and were naturally conflicted on who to root for. Half of the extended family were for Brady and the other half against him which is why “The Cape Fam” group chat was blowing up throughout the duration of the game. 

It started at noon that day with my dad saying, “Yeah man! Get pumped and jacked up for the Big Game!” Since we usually spend Super Bowl Sunday at my grandparents house with the whole family, this was our way of making up for not being able to see each other. My aunt then went on to send pictures of past Super Bowls with the kids all decked out in Pats gear. Nana chimed in with “May the Brady team win!! Memories of those days!! Love to you all. Nana.” And yes she did make sure to sign her name as if we didn’t know who the text was from, but that’s why we love her. Being the foodies we are the next pictures that were sent were what the families were eating that night. My stomach lurched as I scrolled through pictures of delicious looking nachos and buffalo wings and remembered my only options were from Kimball. My cousin who’s also away at school (as if reading my thoughts) sent a picture of a very questionable… roll? muffin? that’s still up for interpretation. There were a few more positive messages from Nana telling us how much she missed us with lots of emojis, a couple Gronk spiking Gifs and random sports commentary from the dads that I only understood half of. A highlight of the commentary was from the moms though. My mom and aunt decided it was an opportune time to determine who they were to root for, it went something like this:

Aunt Karen: “-are you rooting for the Chiefs?”

Mom: I am 

Aunt Karen: thumbs downed Mom’s message

Mom: I still hold a grudge for Bridget. [Tom Brady’s ex-wife]

Mom: And Patrick is cute heart eye emoji

Aunt Karen: Tom is cuter

Mom: I’d say handsome

They agreed to disagree.

Dad tried to keep the peace by saying he just wanted a good game but how hard it was to watch the guys in different uniforms. There were a couple cute selfies from a few of the different households, my family in CT all on the couch together, Nana and Grandpa smiling happily and my roommate and I showing off our fancy game watching system (a tiny computer screen with buffering wifi). Towards the end of the game we got down to the back and forth with questions of if the Chiefs could make a comeback or not. My uncle seemed to have dropped off the face of the Earth he was so frustrated. But finally it all trickled down to Nana on a positive note: “What a crazy game! I thought it would be more competitive and I feel sorry for Patrick Mahomes. But in the end, Brady is the guy! Love to you all and be happy! smiley emoji” I don’t think I could have said it any better myself.