Every year, two tribal ceremonies take place within days of each other: the United States’ President’s State of the Union (SOTU) speech and the Super Bowl.

When I was in high school, my sister and I watched our first SOTU speech together. As the president droned on about his accomplishments, she told me how the President’s party rose as one to cheer his accomplishments while the other sat in stony silence.

Since then, the ceremony surrounding this speech has become more elaborate while divisions have deepened. Pre-speech shows full of predictions, gossip, and celebrity-gazing set the scene. Then comes the speech, followed by post-speech shows featuring interviews of politicians and analysis from panelists pretending to be neutral while trash-talking those those with whom they disagree.

Interested members of the Red tribe and the Blue tribe watch this spectacle through their media source of choice while the rest of us shrug our shoulders. Invariably, the president’s popularity briefly bumps up in the polls before dropping back to baseline numbers as reality intervenes.

Then there’s the Super Bowl, with its pre-game shows, full of predictions, gossip, and celebrity-gazing as fans of each team dream of the glory their tribal warriors will bestow on their cities. On Super Bowl Sunday, a uniquely United States holiday, many of us come together to watch the game while binging on beer and bar food and trying to decipher those TV commercials. After the game, the winning tribe celebrates; the losing tribe mourns; and the rest of us head blearily home to prepare to engage in tribal rituals connected to our workplaces.

Accompanied, of course, by post-game analysis.

The SOTU and Super Bowl rituals thrive on over-the-top hype and competition. But while the SOTU is based on the speech-making skills of one man, the Super Bowl celebrates two teams of larger-than-life, talented men displaying their skills, smarts, and teamwork to win a game. While smarmy words mask the SOTU’s competitive spirit, competition is the foundation upon which the Super Bowl rituals rest. Divisions deepen after a ninety-minute SOTU speech while most of us celebrate the value of wholesome competition after a four-hour Super Bowl struggle.

Perhaps we could surround the SOTU with Super Bowl traditions. Start with a pop star earnestly mangling the national anthem. Interrupt the speech at random with noisy, indecipherable commercials and a glitzy half-time show as a cloud of beer-soaked grease hovers over the scene.

Or we could stop pretending that the SOTU ceremony is a unifying force, perhaps replacing the speech with a written report to Congress per the way it has been through most of our history. Or we could encourage the president to work with someone from the other party to craft and deliver a presentation that highlights both agreements and differences concerning how best to build on our strengths to manage the challenges our great nation faces.

That would be great theater with a real potential to bring us together.

Hail to the Chiefs kingdom forever!

And God bless America.