American football and me

Super Bowl Sunday is the biggest annual event in American football. Its television viewership within the US itself is said to be 90 million. The halftime performances call upon big names among artists. Even the commercials aired on that day are the most exclusive and expensive ones. When you are new to a country, all this might be a little hard to take in.
My introduction to the Super Bowl was somewhat unique.I did not learn of it through friends. I learnt of it from a whole town, the little town of Hoboken on the banks of the Hudson. That is where I was staying at the time. I had known through TV and classmates of the upcoming Super Bowl and I thought my general knowledge and internet skills had told me all I needed to know.
It is the annual championship game of the NFL (National Football League). Football in America is not the football I knew of in India. That one played kicking around a round ball is called soccer in the US. But this American football is a totally different ball game, literally and figuratively. Very aggressive and somewhat rowdy, it is not for the meek hearted to watch, let alone play. And millions of people are watching at home and with friends in bars with a beer in hand and a cheer on their lips.
The rules at the time seemed so complex to me that I contented myself just knowing that touchdown is something the offensive team aims for and quarterback is some sort of a star player with lots of responsibility. The year was 2012 and the finalists playing the Super Bowl were New York Giants and New England Patriots.
New York City being so close to Hoboken, I did not wonder much to see people everywhere supporting the Giants long before the day of the face-off. On that particular Sunday evening, I had expected crazed, drunk fans everywhere and so I had stayed home, watching a movie on Netflix on my laptop in bed. I was not really into the game.
But when the whole street could be heard rejoicing, I peered through the blinds on my window. The street looked crowded. Everywhere on the streets of Hoboken were Giants fans, rejoicing, singing, some even dancing. I did not need to switch on the television to know the results of the Super Bowl.
The joyful sounds of celebration continued till late in the night. The next morning, at college, I mustered the courage to talk about the Super Bowl win with an American acquaintance. I mentioned to her that I was somewhat surprised by the celebrations in Hoboken last night. What she told me explained everything. Eli Manning, the star quarterback of the New York Giants, lives some blocks from where I had witnessed the fan celebrations.
I was pleasantly surprised to learn that a man with amazing talent and a fan following in millions, a man whose net worth the internet put at the time as around $60 million was practically my neighbor and I knew nothing of it. That aroused my interest to the extent that now, I at least have a basic idea of what American football is all about. I know the names of some teams and some players and that's not bad for a person who was a complete NFL illiterate not so long ago.