What does the Super Bowl and MLB have in Common?

 

 

Super Bowl Sunday is a little different in Matagalpa, Nicaragua.  First of all, Sundays are relatively quite in Nicaragua.  Most stores are closed and the busiest place in the town is the central park which is full of families and children.  It really is a Norman Rockwell scene, Latin-style.

So last night Ruth and I went out to dinner.  One of the few restaurants open looked like it was straight from Panama City Beach Florida - Think a cross between Surf Shack and Joe's Crab House.  It was multi-story and open air.  It was right off the square and is very out of place in the mountain town of Matagalpa.  However, it was open so it was high on our list of places to eat.

As we ascended the stairs we were greeted with two large flat screen TV's with the Super Bowl playing.  It was really kid of funny.  Other than a table of a few young men nobody was paying much attention to the game.  I settled down to a table that had a good vantage point of the live music and the TV's. 

I do not know how the reviews of the half time show have gone, but it did capture most people's attention at the restaurant.  There was no sound but the visuals alone attained the highest viewership of the evening.

There is one big difference between a Nica Super Bowl and the American Super Bowl - the commercials.  We did not get the American commercials.  That means it is just another football game.  You will never guess what the number one commercial was on during the Nica Super Bowl - Major League Baseball.  I bet you did not see a single baseball commercial.  We saw dozens.

This country loves baseball.  In fact, it is their number one sport.  It is a hold over from when the US Marines occupied the country in the early 1900's.  The US was hell-bent to make sure no one (other than the US) was going to build a canal in Nicaragua.  While the local hated the occupation they love baseball.

In short it was a quiet Super Bowl Sunday.  To be honest, I did miss the pizza and hot wing!