History in the making

W
hen Tampa Bay was selected in 2015 as the host city for Super Bowl LV, I’m sure they hadn’t an inkling that they would make history in 2021 for being the first city to host their home team in The Game of Games, the Battle of the Pigskin, The Last Game until September.
Apparently, this year it was all about making history at the biggest sporting event celebrated in the United States.
There was some glass to clean off the turf on Sunday as Sarah Thomas became the first woman to referee a super bowl when she stepped into the stadium as the down judge alongside the remaining six officials. Thomas became the first female NFL official back in 2015, so breaking barriers wasn’t something new for her, however I’m sure the thrill was nothing short of spectacular and women sports fans (or not) celebrated with her. 
This was the first Super Bowl played in the midst of the cornonavirus pandemic, which added new and interesting facets to the day. The Raymond James Stadium seats 65,890 fans, however COVID-19 restrictions whittled that number down to only 25,000. 
At least, 25.000 live fans. 
In order to try to create a national championship atmosphere, 30,000 cutout cardboard fans joined the living to cheer on the Chiefs and the Buccaneers. 
I sat and chuckled as I thought about Bill Belichick sitting at home watching the game unfold. There were the players he drove off (Rob “Gronk: Gronkowski) or cast off (Tom Brady), winning yet another ring while he sat pining for a berth to the Big Dance.
Brady — the QB and Golden Boy for the New England Patriots up until last season — added more kudos to his already long list of accomplishments as an NFL player, and made history all over the place by the end of the game on Sunday.
At 43, and in his 10th appearance, he became the oldest NFL player to win a super bowl championship. The victory also made him the winningest ever — individual or team — to claim the title. Brady jumped in his car for his drive home with his seventh Super Bowl ring, giving him one more win than the Pittsburgh Steelers and his old team, the Patriots, who each have six. 
Brady was also named the game’s MVP making it the fifth time he has been awarded that honor and two more than Joe Montana (my favorite MVP) who won it three times.
Whether we love him or we hate him, there’s no denying that Brady’s got game, and word on the street is that he’ll be back again next season to give it another go.
And we got the added bonus of a streaker making his television debut, although he kind of did a half-a$$ed job of it given he was wearing a thong leotard. It provided some comic relief, however, at a point in the game where Chiefs fans were probably feeling a little down. 
I also had to wonder how he got down onto the field, and was a little disappointed that the cameras quickly panned to the players during the disruption. Fortunately, other videos were readily and swiftly made available on social media so we could see how that whole thing played out.
So while the game itself was a bit of a yawner and Chiefs fans everywhere groaned along with Patrick Mahomes about the performance of the offensive line, there was a plethora of awesomeness to take away from the night.