At the Super Bowl, It’s Nice Guy vs. Underdog

The Daily

The New York Times

News, Daily News

4.3 • 107.6K Ratings

🗓️ 8 February 2026

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

For football fans nationwide, this year’s Super Bowl between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks is inherently exciting. For non-football fans like the Daily host Michael Barbaro — not so much. In this episode of “The Sunday Daily,” Natalie Kitroeff — who is a big Philadelphia Eagles fan — makes it her mission to draw Barbaro and other non-football fans into the excitement and drama of this year’s matchup through storytelling. She talks with two reporters who cover the teams for The Athletic: Chad Graff, a senior writer covering the Patriots; and Michael-Shawn Dugar, who covers the Seahawks.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Michael. Hey. Welcome. Take a seat. Happy to have you here. This is not a chair I'm used to sitting in the one opposite. I'm the host now. I'm the host. Welcome to the Sunday Daily. I'm Natalie Kittrow-F, which you know. I do. I'm saying that for the people at home. And you are...
0:21.4	Michael Barbaro.
0:22.2	You're Michael Barbaro.
0:23.4	That's right.
0:24.8	You may know that I'm a sports fan.
0:28.2	You know that, right?
0:29.4	I like all of them, but football is my absolute favorite sport.
0:34.1	It's something I've loved since I was little.
0:37.1	Do you know what my favorite team is?
0:38.8	I don't. You don't? No. You even though I, I incessantly talk about it all the time.
0:44.6	I just don't listen. Okay, the Philadelphia Eagles. Wow. Okay, that's a surprise. The Philadelphia Eagles.
0:52.0	I am obsessed with the Philadelphia Eagles. I think about it constantly.
0:56.7	Football is just a really big part of my life. You are not a big football fan.
1:03.9	That's a true statement. I have never heard you talk with passion about football.
1:09.3	No, you haven't. My passions lie elsewhere. Okay, so today is Sunday, February 8th. I assume you're aware that the Super Bowl is tonight. I am. Okay. Seahawks versus the Patriots. Oh, good. I was going to pop quiz you on that. Yeah, sorry. I will say. Sorry to disappoint you with my knowledge. Look, I'm happy. We're not starting from zero.
1:29.3	Let me ask, are you planning to watch this game?
1:32.0	I wasn't, but I have been invited to a kid-friendly football watching party
1:39.4	with the asterisk that it's being advertised as also a K-pop Demon Hunter sing-along.
1:45.8	Oh, okay.
1:47.1	So the game's going to be on.
1:49.6	Uh-huh.
1:50.5	And it's going to be kind of in the background for me.
	...

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