Being that my hometown is a mere 10 mins from the Maryland border, I have been a die-hard Ravens fan since I could remember. As a kid, football was pretty big in my house, and my mom even had an office space dedicated to those lovely black and purple colors.

Naturally, when the Ravens were not in the Super Bowl, I simply did not watch the game. I didn’t really care about the anticipated commercials or the halftime show— why bother watching when my team wasn’t playing? Didn’t make sense if you ask me. However, this year was the first year I watched it (at least, actually paid attention to what was going on) without the Ravens being in it.

My brother and his family have always been die-hard Eagles fans, so I decided to go to their Super Bowl party and be a ‘pseudo’ Eagles fan for the night. What did I find out? Well, let’s just say, from now on, I will always be a ‘pseudo’ fan for one of the teams playing in the Super Bowl when my team isn’t in it.

Here are a few reasons why:

1. You get the joy of watching the game without all the anxiety.

Let’s face its— every die-hard football fan has anxiety when their team is involved in a big game, and you just feel stressed until the game is either over or your team is leading by 1,000 points (and sometimes not even then). Rooting for another team isn’t as stressful, however, if they lose that's no big deal, but it was still fun rooting for them!

2. You get to experience the same feelings of competitiveness that makes you have a favorite team in the first place.

Most football fans like the sport for its competitive aspect— and rooting for a different team doesn’t make that aspect go away. I still had plenty of fun yelling at the TV and celebrating when the Eagles scored!

3. Super Bowl parties are a lot of fun.

Even if you are a little hesitant to root for another team— at least go enjoy the party! It is no secret that Super Bowl parties thrive on their array of deep-fried foods and an assortment of dips.

4. There is so much more to the Super Bowl than just the game itself.

The Super Bowl is widely known for its awesome commercials and spectacular halftime shows, which are things I didn’t really care too much about before and prefer to read about the next day. However, I actually watched them both live this year and thought it was a really fun experience to know what people were referring to the next few days!

5. You get to feel like a part of something new.

At the end of the day, I will always be a Ravens fan. However, being an Eagles fan for the day made me get to experience being apart of a completely different group then I'm used to. Each fan base has its own special characteristics, and the eagle’s fans had a different aura than I’m used to. When the Eagles won and everyone went ballistic (read: bombarded the streets of Philly) I felt a part of that group and fan base, and I felt included even if I wasn’t as much of a die-hard fan as the Eagles fans around me. All in all, from now on I will definitely always root for a team in the Super Bowl (hopefully always the winning team) and now I will always root for the Eagles on the down-low #gobirds.