Fleeting Time in The Super Bowl and The Martian

This weekend, along with nearly 103.4 million people, I watched the Super Bowl. The Super Bowl is always a long game. The extended commercial time, halftime show and grandeur of the event all lead to a game that ends up taking roughly four hours to complete (this year's was 4 hours 15 minutes). I never really paid much attention to the extended time until this year, in light of our discussions in class. In particular, I made two observations about the game.

First, I observed the difference between time in a football game and time in real life. The Eagles and Patriots traded leads multiple times late into the game on Sunday. However, as each second ticked away, so much happened outside of the game. For example, the final two minutes of the game seemed to take years. The emotions that flew around the room for fans of either team were timeless. I found it interesting how although there were only two minutes on the clock in the game, life continued on away from the game for about 15. The differentiation struck me as I watched the final moments of the game. Further, the fleeting final moments of the game reminded me much of Mark Watney's understanding of time. A Tom Brady fumble, and an Eagles field goal that followed left the Pats only 1:05 to attempt to tie the game. The Patriots did not have any timeouts left, and had to utilize a meticulous strategy in order to hope to tie the game. This strategy reminded me of Watney because like the narrator of The Martian, each second proved extremely valuable. Further, the Pats had to mathematically devise a strategy in regards to time. In the end, they were unsuccessful, but the heightened importance of time reminded me of Watney's quest for survival.


This image of time plays an important role in our next reading, The Martian by Andy Weir. One aspect of time that I found particularly interesting in this work is that its fleeting nature acts a shot clock against Mark's life. As each day, or sol moves on, Mark's supply of food and air decreases along with his chances for possible survival. The narrator is widely mathematical in his understanding of time in relation to his food and air supplies.

He continues throughout the first third of the book to attempt to reach his Sol 1412 benchmark, when Ares 4 lands. For example, Watney tells of his efforts to harvest potatoes and how long the supply will last him. "Potatoes grow continually, so in those 76 days, I can grow another 22,000 calories of potatoes, which will tide me over for another 15 days. After that, it's kind of pointless to continue the trend. All told it buys me about 90 days." (Weir 17) He writes of how the potatoes will at least get him to Sol 490 rather than 400 when he would originally begin starving to death. This countdown, or goal of Sol 1412 creates a bleak outlook on time, and keeps the countdown in the mind of the reader. I am intrigued to continue to see how Mark Watney is able to move forward on his quest for survival as I will continue to pay specific attention to the importance of time in the work.