The 3 F’s

Pairing a deaf girl and the Super Bowl together seems more wrong than the Seahawks passing when they shouldn’t (too soon?). However, this football aficionado just couldn’t stay away (Daddy’s girl, amirite).

I’ll be the first to admit, I am more of a college football fan than a pro football fan (brb, drooling over USC’s new recruits), but I am always game for a good football game (wait, that was a lot of “game”s), a crazy halftime show, and an unholy amount of calories in the form of chips and dip, hot dogs, beverages, Seahawk cakes, and snacks galore.

So, last Sunday, I gathered with all of my new Helenes sisters (real quick: Helenes is an organization at USC centered on philanthropy, sisterhood, and commitment to the University), to watch the 49th Super Bowl go down. Now, whoever said girls don’t like football has clearly not watched the Super Bowl with the USC Helenes, because there was screaming. There was crying. There was excitement. There was soul-crushing sadness. The poor television, turned up as loud as it could possibly go, was all but dwarfed by the enthusiastic chatter of my new friends and the crunching of Doritos. Not gonna lie, it was a little bit difficult.

If you’ve ever seen the NFL Bad Lip Reading video on Youtube, then you see my struggle. That being said, if you’ve ever seen the NFL Bad Lip Reading video on Youtube, you see how fun it is for me to watch football. The Super Bowl definitely had its bad lip reading moments, so I was plenty entertained, even when I couldn’t hear the announcer. Football is also primarily visual, so I didn’t really need to hear the television. Having a full view of the television presented more challenges than understanding what was going on during the game (one too many Helenes, not enough space). Of course, when it came to watching that devastating play by the Seahawks that cost them the Super Bowl, I had no trouble seeing or hearing what happened. To be honest, I wish I hadn’t experienced that part.

Moving on, the social aspect of the game was definitely a challenge, but my trusty cochlear implant was flexing its technological muscles. Not only am I already pretty familiar with the voices of my friends, but also everyone talking to me was in my immediate vicinity, so I was able to pick up their voices most of the time. The nice thing about these types of events though is that a lot of people are in the same boat as me. I was not the only one saying “WHAT? I CAN’T HEAR YOU!” at certain points in the game. Of course, those lip reading skills came in handy as well. Lip reading in person is a lot different from the NFL Bad Lip Reading video, though — sorry to break it to you. Hey, I’m disappointed too. If lip reading was always like that, life would be ball (sooo many sports puns).

All told, yes. The Super Bowl is a tough hearing situation. I, for one, am not in slightest hindered by that notion, though. Friends, football, and food — that glorious trinity — is worth more than a little bit more energy spent on hearing everyone.

Yeah, I’ll have what he’s having. Or is he having what I’m having?

ALSO! On this wonderfully uplifting note, MAJOR SHOUTOUT to the CochlearWire blog for featuring Earplug! For those of you who don’t know, Cochlear is the company that designed my cochlear implant. It is a huge honor to be featured by them, and I hope to continue correspondence with them in the future. Check them out, check the other bloggers out! If you’re interested, follow this link: http://thewire.cochlearamericas.com/hear-and-be-heard-welcome-to-the-cochlear-wire/.

That’s all I have for now, Earpluggers. If anyone has any ideas for what I should do with the hole that football has left, let me know.