Standing on a curb in my neighborhood at halftime, I could see the gathered crowds through the lit windows of homes up and down the block. Some people hovered over snack bowls, others huddled in corners clutching beers, still others sat transfixed to the big screen, hi-def spectacle unraveling before their eyes.

PopMatters’ writers, too, fell to the Super Bowl seduction.  They’d recover, later, to rub their eyes, slowly clear their heads, and take a good look around and see beyond the scattered beer bottles, the greasy snack bowls with crumpled paper napkins piled inside, their own headaches perhaps sympathetically throbbing, a day later, to the muscle tears and bruises of the players. 

In these three assessments of Super Bowl XLI, written during the recovery stage with the aid of Alka Seltzer and aspirin, Neal Hayes examines the much-heralded appearance of the first African American coaches in the Super Bowl, and what that means for the future of race relations in the NFL; Jarrett Berman takes us through the hype and circumstance of one of the most commercialized nights of the year; and Ross McGowan explores the relationship between winning the big one and being a winner. Enjoy! 

—Tobias Peterson