Future Ted tells his kids about how his favorite holiday was Super Bowl Sunday. In the present day, the gang prepares to celebrate their Super Bowl, when they are informed that a bartender at McClarens named Mark died. Although the gang doesn't remember Mark, they agree to go to his funeral instead of watching the super bowl, because they don't want to piss of Carl.
The gang tivos the game, and agree not to find out the score of the game so they can all enjoy it the next day. However this proves to be tricky as Robin is a News Anchor, Ted has to pick up chicken wings from a sports bar, Barney has a gambling problem, and Lily and Marshall have to deal with kids trying to tell them the score.
In the end everyone but Ted finds out the score, but Barney ends up ruining it for him too. Despite this, the gang decides to watch and enjoy the Super Bowl anyways.
Notes
Something I just got was that this episode was called Monday Night Football, because it happened on the night after Superbowl Sunday, thus being Monday Night, but Monday Night Football is also a different thing altogether. It's sort of a double entendre. Haha, and now everyone probably thinks I'm dumb for pointing that out. Anyways when Future Ted discusses previous Holidays he had talked about, and it flashes back to previous scenes from Belly Full of Turkey, Slutty Pumpkin, and How Lily Stole Christmas. This episode also shows how Barney developed his gambling addiction, damnit Marshall! Also the kid in Lily's kindergarten class shows up again later in the series, when Robin dates his dad in Season 3.
Review
A very fun sitcom plot, and it lead to everyone having a storline focused on the single plot of trying to avoid finding out the super bowl score. I particularly enjoyed Ted's Sensory Deprivator 5000! That's a cool device, and I wish they sold that in stores. Marshall shooting juice onto the kid's pants to make it look like he had wet himself was also juvenile and hilarious! I love seeing Marshall interact with kids, as he is such a big kid himself. We also get more Barney dealing with his gambling addiction, which is always fun to watch. My personal favorite part of the episode was when they had all the flashbacks to previous super bowls. I love seeing the gang develop their traditions, because we know that these are things that will stay with them all the way to Future Ted's time. I feel like a lot of us can relate to this. We all have traditions among our friends and family, and there's usually a story to how these traditions developed. That's what this episode is, and it's enjoyable to watch, because I just love seeing the history of this group whose friendship goes on to last for decades.
Ranking
8 out of 10.
Season Comparison: Season 1 vs Season 2: "Zip, Zip, Zip" vs. "Monday Night Football"
Okay this is kind of a close one. As a Barney/Robin fan my heart is obviously with Zip, Zip, Zip, but apart from that I would probably say Monday Night Football is the better episode. So the question is, do I care more about pure quality of the HIMYM episodes, or whether my Barney/Robin agenda is furthered? I'm going to sideline that issue by taking a direct look at both episodes. Do both of them have humor? Yes, although Monday Night Football is the funnier episode. Do both of them have character development. Monday Night Football doesn't really, so Zip, Zip, Zip wins that point by furthering Ted and Victoria's relationship, Barney and Robin's relationship, and by pushing Marshall and Lily's relationship further. Monday Night Football has the inside joke of Barney's gambling addiction, but I feel it's unfair to make inside jokes a category when Season 1 was the one who had to establish so many inside jokes. What anyone reading this has probably realized by now, is that I'm making excuses for what I'm about to do next.
Winner: Season 1 Episode 14: Zip, Zip, Zip.
Scoreboard
Season 1: 7
Season 2: 8
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