America has three very popular professional sports: baseball, football and basketball. If your local team is lucky enough to get into post-season play it can be pretty exciting. I remember when the Seattle Mariners first made it into the playoffs. Everyone in the Puget Sound region became a fan. During that time I called some government office and the complete stranger I spoke too brought up Edgar Martinez. The championship games in all three sports are big ratings winners on television. Many Americans, even non-football fans, will have Superbowl parties. Usually most of the women congregate in the kitchen while the menfolk drink beer and shout at the TV. The sponsoring networks carefully plan their broadcasts to enable as large an audience as possible. The Superbowl is always on a Sunday afternoon and the World Series games are generally in the evenings.

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