Super Bowl
Super Bowl
[Cueball standing.] Cueball: I don't know much about sports, which can be culturally isolating, so it's tempting to get vocal and defensive about not following them. Cueball: Caring about something makes people vulnerable, so not caring gives you power.
[Pictures of a weather map and Philae in the background.] But I know things I'm into don't always sound interesting to 100% of the people around me, and it means a lot when they sometimes try to listen anyway - and maybe even find themselves sharing some of my excitement!
[Cueball pointing to self.] Cueball: So while everyone is going on about the Super Bowl on Sunday, let me tell you what I'll be doing:
[Cueball standing again.] Cueball: Listening! Cueball: Hooray for friendship! Cueball: Also, eating snacks. Cueball: Hooray for snacks!
This comic shares title with 60: Super Bowl , published February 6, 2006. This appears to be only the second time that two xkcd comics have borne the same name. The first was 786: Exoplanets , published August 30, 2010, and 1071: Exoplanets , published June 20, 2012.

In this comic, Cueball , representing Randall , explains that even though he does not care about sports and is tempted to be scornful about others' obsession with them, he understands that people feel vulnerable about stuff they care about. And he will for sure be fed up with all the talk about the Super Bowl discussions and arguments over the coming weeks. (The comic was released on a Friday two days before Super Bowl XLIX , the championship game of the 2014 NFL season held on 2015-02-01).
However, since other people tolerate his interest in odd things like meteorology and the Philae lander (see 1324: Weather and 1446: Landing ), he recognizes that he should show the same consideration to them. This is an invocation of the Golden Rule , "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you".
In the last frame, he tells us that instead of celebrating the sports event on Sunday, he will be celebrating friendship (through listening to his friends) and, as a side note, snacking (as they are very frequently brought to Super Bowl-watching events). This suggests that the value of friendship trumps the discomfort of watching human activities that seem uninteresting to him – and of course, the free snacks also help ameliorate his discomfort.
The title text continues the " My Hobby " trope characteristic of some xkcd comics: here, Randall references people who scornfully refer to popular sports such as football, basketball, and/or baseball as "sportsball" and creates discomfort for them by pretending to be interested in this imaginary sport. This makes it appear as though they are in fact interested in sports when they are not, exposing their snobbishness. (It is worth noting that there is a Wii U game by that name .)
In a distant past, Cueball spent his time differently during the Super Bowl - see 60: Super Bowl . (This was the second time that two xkcd comics have shared the exact same name ). The year after he continued the trend with a Super Bowl related comic to "celebrate" the event: 1640: Super Bowl Context . Between the 2006 comic and this one there were no other Super Bowl related comics coming out in relation to the Super Bowl.
See also 1107: Sports Cheat Sheet and two other comics where he jokes with sport in general: 904: Sports and 1507: Metaball . He again directly mentions lack of knowledge in 1859: Sports Knowledge .
[Cueball standing.] Cueball: I don't know much about sports, which can be culturally isolating, so it's tempting to get vocal and defensive about not following them. Cueball: Caring about something makes people vulnerable, so not caring gives you power.
[Pictures of a weather map and Philae in the background.] But I know things I'm into don't always sound interesting to 100% of the people around me, and it means a lot when they sometimes try to listen anyway - and maybe even find themselves sharing some of my excitement!
[Cueball pointing to self.] Cueball: So while everyone is going on about the Super Bowl on Sunday, let me tell you what I'll be doing:
[Cueball standing again.] Cueball: Listening! Cueball: Hooray for friendship! Cueball: Also, eating snacks. Cueball: Hooray for snacks!
This comic shares title with 60: Super Bowl , published February 6, 2006. This appears to be only the second time that two xkcd comics have borne the same name. The first was 786: Exoplanets , published August 30, 2010, and 1071: Exoplanets , published June 20, 2012.
