Key’andre Thomas
Lantern Staff
Butler’s Department of Campus Safety was gracious enough to allow BSA (Black Student Association) and SGA (Student Government Association) to host a party in their building to watch the 2023 Chiefs vs. Eagles Super Bowl. There was a good mix of fans from each team that showed up and had a fun time before, during and (not so much) after the game. Overall, it was a fun get-together for the Butler students regardless of if they came to support a team or just to watch.
During the first half of the game, both teams came out strong being tied for a good while through the first quarter. The Eagles came out with a good passing game, while the Chiefs’ defense was slightly struggling. Not long into the game, Patrick Mahomes injured his ankle, which made some of the Chiefs’ fans worried about the outcome of the game.
“Man, this real stressful for me right now cause I know the true potential in the players on the team,” said Cornelius, a Chiefs fan and Grizzly football player. “It’s a lot of stress going on.”
But, of course, when it came to Eagles’ fans, they looked at the potential upside of his minor injury.
Chavez Brown, another Grizzly football player said “I’m a Philly fan, so I mean, it ain’t really doing me no harm that Patrick hurt his self. I’m just hoping Philadelphia wins, you know.”
As the game progressed, the referees made a couple of calls that upset people on both sides. Some people believed that those calls would cost them the game, while others felt like everything was going smoothly so far.
“One thing about the Chiefs is, there’s always the moments when they aren’t playing right,” with the Chiefs being down, Jayland Andrews, BSA President, said. “Then they always come through at the end and then surprise all of us and win, so I feel like that’s what’s going to happen right now.”
Aside from the actual game, some people simply showed up to see the halftime show that Rihanna put on. While not everyone stayed to watch it, some that did had mixed emotions about her performance.
“It was alright; I could have done better,” Kayla Ortman, a Grizzly track student, said.
While Carla Apodaca, a Grizzly soccer player disagreed.
“She’s just a goddess, (and) she’s the best in the world, so I loved it,” Apodaca said. “Yeah, I think she did really great.”
After the halftime show, everybody got back into the flow of the game. During the second half, the Eagles started to slowly lose their lead as the Chiefs kicked it up a notch while they still had a chance. As time went down and anticipation kicked in for everyone, students got completely thrown off guard when the TV suddenly got changed to the Tubi app and started to play Mr. and Ms. Smith. Everyone in the room suspected that someone was messing with the TV and started to get bothered when they could not figure out what happened to it. After a brief time, everyone came to peace when they realized that it was just a commercial.
With five minutes left and a tied game, 35-35, everyone started to realize that this game could swing either way.
Another Grizzly football player named Trent Johnson exclaimed that “It’s 0-0 now,” taunting the Chiefs’ fans in the room. Within those last five minutes, the Chiefs decide to go for a field goal and seal the deal to win their third super bowl ever, and their second with Mahomes.
After the game, Eagles’ fans promptly left the building with not much to say.
“It was a good game, but I still feel like the Eagles should have got it together,” Grizzly Track student Lee’Nesa Whittaker said. “When it came to the fairness of the game, they had their mistakes, but I feel like both teams played well, so it was a fair game to me.”
Aside from how Eagles’ fans felt about the outcome, Chiefs’ fans were ecstatic about the win. Ortman said, “I’m pretty happy with it; I won $1.50 cents” and Cornelius hollering, “You know the vibes!,” which made it clear that (almost) everyone enjoyed the game.
Andrews and SGA President Lillian Rippe were pleased with the outcome of the event, Andrews said, “It turned out really, really well. A lot more people than I expected,” and Rippey added, “I wasn’t really sure what we were going to turn out with, but I feel like we had a really good turnout.”
BSA and SGA arranged the event, and Chief Glendell Henderson provided the space of the Criminal Justice Building or the 1600 Building.
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