Super Bowl vs Super Bowls

2014: A new year, a fresh start. And what better way to kick it off than with the biggest event of this sport’s calendar. Last year’s competition saw victory grasped in the most nerve-wracking of circumstances by the narrowest of margins, watched by a capacity crowd urging their favourites on to victory.

Surely, I hear you say, I am writing about last year’s thrilling Super Bowl XLVII, which saw two brothers go head to head for the first time in Super Bowl history. The final in which the Baltimore Ravens edged out the San Francisco 49ers in a thrilling display of sporting prowess.

However, I am in fact writing about the much lower profile, yet no less entertaining (well, maybe a little less entertaining), World Indoor Bowls Championship. In 2013, after two drawn sets, ninth seed Stewart Anderson scored the most delicately poised of victories, beating third seed Foster 10-9 in the one-end shootout which was full of drama.

So, a memorable 2013 for both these sports at opposite ends of the commercial ladder. What has 2014 got in store for these two polar opposite sports.

Well, there was no shortage of drama in this year’s World Indoor Bowls Championship. The organisers got the (predominately octogenarian) crowd going with some contemporary R’n’B hits including a track by Pharrell Williams, setting the scene for an exhilarating final.

For the second year in a row, the crowd were treated to a thriller as the match went to another one-end shootout, which was edged this year by Scotland’s very own Darren Burnett despite losing the first set 7-5.

Bowls is a game which has struggled to assert itself in the 21^st century. Compared to the glamorous affair of the Super Bowl, it would be quite easy to miss the WIBC entirely. You’d be forgiven.

However, when you’re watching the Super Bowl this evening, spare a thought for the less glamorous sport which keeps so many entertained in their twilight years.

What do you think Bowls could do to improve its profile among young people? Faster greens? Bowling together? Landmines? Comment below with your thoughts…

Image courtesy of www.ibtimes.com