Editing 1480: Super Bowl

{{comic
| number    = 1480
| date      = January 30, 2015
| title     = Super Bowl
| image     = super_bowl.png
| titletext = My hobby: Pretending to miss the sarcasm when people show off their lack of interest in football by talking about 'sportsball' and acting excited to find someone else who's interested, then acting confused when they try to clarify.
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic, [[Cueball]], representing [[Randall]], explains that even though he does not care about sports and is tempted to be scornful about others' obsession with them, he understands that people feel vulnerable about stuff they care about. And he will for sure be fed up with all the talk about the {{w|Super Bowl}} discussions and arguments over the coming weeks. (The comic was released on a Friday two days before {{w|Super Bowl XLIX}}, the championship game of the 2014 {{w|NFL}} season held on 2015-02-01). However, since other people tolerate his interest in odd things like {{w|meteorology}} and the {{w|Philae (spacecraft)|''Philae'' lander}} (see [[1324: Weather]] and [[1446: Landing]]), he recognizes that he should show the same consideration to them. This is an invocation of the {{w|Golden Rule}}, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you".

In the last frame, he tells us that instead of celebrating the sports event on Sunday, he will be celebrating friendship (through listening to his friends) and, as a side note, snacking (as they are very frequently brought to Super Bowl-watching events). This suggests that the value of friendship trumps the discomfort of watching human activities that seem uninteresting to him - and of course, the free snacks also help ameliorate his discomfort.

In a previous comic, Cueball spent his time differently during the Super Bowl - see [[60: Super Bowl]]. (This was the second time that two xkcd comics have shared the [[:Category:Comics sharing name|exact same name]]). The year after he continued the trend with a Super Bowl related comic to "celebrate" the event: [[1640: Super Bowl Context]]. Between the 2006 comic and this one there were no other Super Bowl related comics coming out in relation to the Super Bowl. See also [[1107: Sports Cheat Sheet]] and two other comics where he jokes with sport in general: [[904: Sports]] and [[1507: Metaball]]. He again explicitly mentions lack of knowledge in [[1859: Sports Knowledge]].

The title text continues the [[:Category:My Hobby|My Hobby]] trope characteristic of some ''xkcd'' comics: here, Randall references people who scornfully refer to popular sports such as football, basketball, and/or baseball as "sportsball" and creates discomfort for them by pretending to be interested in this imaginary sport. This makes it appear as though they are in fact interested in sports when they are not, exposing their snobbishness. (It is worth noting that there is [https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/sportsball-wii-u/ a Wii U game by that name].)

==Transcript==
:[Cueball standing.]
:Cueball: I don't know much about sports, which can be culturally isolating, so it's tempting to get vocal and defensive about not following them.
:Cueball: Caring about something makes people vulnerable, so ''not'' caring gives you power.

:[Pictures of a weather map and ''Philae'' in the background.]
:But I know things I'm into don't always sound interesting to 100% of the people around me, and it means a lot when they sometimes try to listen anyway - and maybe even find themselves sharing some of my excitement!

:[Cueball pointing to self.]
:Cueball: So while everyone is going on about the Super Bowl on Sunday, let me tell you what ''I'll'' be doing:

:[Cueball standing again.]
:Cueball: Listening!
:Cueball: Hooray for friendship!
:Cueball: <small>Also, eating snacks.</small>
:Cueball: <small>Hooray for snacks!</small>

== Trivia ==
* This comic has the same title as [[60: Super Bowl]], released on February 6, 2006. While this is the second time this happens, there have been other instances of [[:Category:Disambiguation pages|comics sharing the same name]]. The first was [[786: Exoplanets]], released on August 30, 2010, and [[1071: Exoplanets]], released on June 20, 2012.
* In between this comic and the one nine years before, no other comics related to the Super Bowl came out. The year after, in 2016, the comic [[1640: Super Bowl Context]] was the third comic to talk about it.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:My Hobby]]
[[Category:American football]]
[[Category:Sport]]
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Space]]
[[Category:Weather]]
[[Category:Comics sharing name|Super Bowl 2]]
[[Category:Super Bowl]]