While the rest of the nation lounged on comfy sofas, downing chicken wings, popcorn and pretty much anything that can be eaten off of a potato chip, Logan Morrison enjoyed the Super Bowl in a less than traditional way. He and Marlins catcher John Buck, along with Andre Dawson, Jeff Conine, and the rest of the team contingent, caught the big game surrounded by hundreds of troops in Bahrain.
So what does a Super Bowl watch party with the troops entail? Watching the game on an 18x18 screen in the wee hours of the morning, at picnic tables in the chilly outdoors. Other than the location and time difference, though, it was about like any party you'd find on Super Bowl Sunday. The troops hung out in their NFL gear, talked sports, cheered for their favorite team, and dug in to an all-American spread that included hamburgers, hot dogs and milkshakes.
If there was one pretty big difference between watching the Super Bowl in Bahrain as opposed to the USA (aside from the presence of AK-47s and grenades and such) it was the absence of the second-most exciting part of the big game (no, not watching Cameron Diaz feed A-Rod popcorn): The commercials.
The Armed Forces Network doesn't air commercials, which is good news if you're watching Monday Night Football, but not such good news when it's the Super Bowl, the one time of the year that commercials are revered nearly as much as the game that's being played in between them. I'd like to offer a word of comfort to the LoMo and the troops where the commercials are concerned, however. They didn't miss much this year. And what they did miss, like creepy pants-sniffing Dorito man, was really worth missing. Consider yourself blessed.
The Marlins continue on their Caravan of Troops this week, and you can follow along with LoMo, John Buck, and the rest of the Marlins contingent on Fox Sport's Florida's Marlins Visit Our Troops Blog, or follow the tweets of LoMo (@LoMoMarlins) and Jeff Conine (@FSMarlins) on Twitter.