This was my umpteenth Super Bowl, and I’ve never not enjoyed one, although this game is probably the most boring in my memory.

That said, I would be a liar if I said I even knew who was playing until two weeks ago. Football is not one of the things I follow.

Nor is most of popular culture. I couldn’t name, for example, the three performers at the halftime show without them being announced. Nor could I name the dozens or so famous faces who appeared in commercials throughout the evening.

I’ve always felt somewhat stupid for my complete lack of cultural awareness, especially when so many people around me, either at this game or in life in general, seem to know peoples’ faces, names, accomplishments, relationships, and controversies almost on cue.

Of course I’ve ‘faked’ my way through most of life without knowing who Adam Levine has dated. But I can’t help but think that a good number of Americans who aren’t me spend a good amount of time thinking about a lot of things of which I am simply not aware.

I of course enjoy the ritual of the Super Bowl and participate to the utmost of my ability, but this knowledge gap I have with 100 Americans humbles me. I can’t fully share in this ritual with everyone else. In a way, I am an outsider–no more tuned in than a visitor from another country who hasn’t learned the right cues yet.

Of course, this could all be in my head. Maybe all those other 100 million Americans are as ignorant as I am, and everyone is faking it. I don’t know which is a more sobering thought: that I am the only one who doesn’t get it, or most everyone else is just like me.

Either way, congratulations to the Patriots, and Tom Brady in particular. He is an incredibly impressive athlete, and it seems that most people should agree to that fact objectively. But instead, almost everyone outside of New England seems to hate him.

I guess sports rivalries are another thing I don’t really get.