For the United States, the Super Bowl is Independence Day in February.

The NFL leans into the spectacle, patriotism and capitalism that only a major American event like the Super Bowl can provide. Before “the big game” even starts, absurd prop bets and weeks of media hype saturate the news cycle. The game can’t kick off without a rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner”, all while a gigantic American flag floods the field and fighter jets fly overhead with fireworks blasting through the sky. Millions of viewers around the world tune in just to witness the grandiose commercials and extravagant halftime show in a showcase of the NFL’s power. The Super Bowl is America at its most America and there’s no way to escape it.

But an event that unapologetically celebrates America’s greatness is troubling at a time when America isn’t so great. The United States’ reputation on the global stage has been diminished since the election of Donald Trump and hasn’t strengthened through the president’s countless miscues.

The United States is the most powerful and influential country in the world, but its failure to provide sound leadership at a time when the world needs it is hard to overlook when watching the Super Bowl.

It becomes especially hard to ignore when the president of the United States erases the blurred lines between sports and politics by continually fuelling the fiery conversation around anthem kneeling whether on Twitter or addressing the nation in the State of the Union.

Reckoning with blatant patriotism is exactly what caused Colin Kaepernick to kneel for the national anthem in the first place. How could Kaepernick stand for a country that has brutalized and oppressed black people for centuries?

It’s hard to separate sports from politics when the leagues that organize those sports are overtly political. The symbolism of the national anthem during sporting events extends past just the military. It symbolizes the country as a whole and everything that entails.  That includes the country’s current problems– ranging from police brutality and racial oppression to issues with immigration, income inequality, freedom of the press and more.

Sports and politics have never been separate entities, but the bombs bursting in air during the Super Bowl pregame show could be more easily neglected while the foundations of American democracy weren’t in danger of imploding.

It doesn’t help that the Super Bowl and the NFL encompass everything America is about.

Baseball’s claim to the title of “America’s game” was ceded to football a long time ago. Unlike baseball, basketball, hockey and soccer, football’s reach in participation and audience doesn’t extend far outside of North America. While the NFL has made efforts to catch on in the United Kingdom, Mexico and Canada,  it remains the only major sports league made up of teams solely from  American cities.

The make-up of the league is predominantly American as well. According to a story published by The Washington Post earlier this year, the NFL has the lowest percentage of foreign-born players at 2.56 percent.

And unlike the NBA, MLB, or even the NHL, the NFL doesn’t have a uniform identity.  Like the United States itself, the NFL is divided. Owners, coaches, players and fans are rarely on the same page with the direction of the league and the sport. Acclaimed tweeter and podcaster Dragonfly Jonez wrote in a piece for SB Nation last year:

“There is no cultural homogenization in the NFL. The NFL is oil and water. Offense and defense. Black and white. City and country. Conservative and liberal. A NFL locker room is a place of shared purpose, not of shared ideals….The NFL and America deserve each other. The NFL and America are each other.”

The same league that produced Colin Kaepernick and the anthem-kneeling movement also ensured he may never play professional football again.

Despite the different faces of fans, the NFL caters to a certain sort. It’s why for so long the league tried to purge fun from the game, why Carrie Underwood sings the NBC Football theme, why Colin Kaepernick is unemployed and why you’ll never see a rapper as the Super Bowl halftime performer.

Sunday’s Super Bowl also shows the wide division in the league. In just one game you feature the Trump-supporting core of the Patriots in owner Robert Kraft, coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady along with the socially conscious Eagles Malcolm Jenkins and Chris Long. Those divisions extend into every NFL locker room.

While it may be hard to ignore Donald Trump and the problems America faces while watching the big game on Sunday, it’s equally hard to ignore the America worth celebrating. From the #MeToo movement and International Women’s march to the anthem protests, Americans have shown a resolve to maintain the country’s progressive reputation.

Sports and politics are now more intertwined than ever, and it’s hard to imagine severing that connection in the near future. But whatever happens on Sunday, you can be sure the president will tweet about it.