Today is Super Bowl Sunday, when the two best NFL teams play football in between commercial breaks.
For years, I’ve found the Super Bowl to be virtually unwatchable, too overly hyped for its own good. I know it’s naively cliche to say this, but it bugs me that the Super Bowl is an Entertainment Spectacular! instead of a sporting event.
Advertisers spend outrageous sums of money on commercials during the game, but the ads are exactly the same as they are any other time. They remain a vehicle to get stupid people to buy crap they don’t need.
And when has a Super Bowl halftime program ever been worth a shit? They’ve all pretty much been overwrought, overproduced garbage. And ever since Tittygate, it’s been a continuous stream of irrelevant dinosaur bands.
Of course, these all may be symptoms of my waning interest in football in general. I managed to finish second in my fantasy league this year despite watching a grand total of maybe 10 minutes of football the entire season.
I don’t really care about either team playing this year. I’ve seen Peyton Manning play enough that I know he’s awesome. And I don’t believe in the media-manufactured “storyline” of a sports team supposedly representing the hopes and dreams of a ravaged city. If the Saints win, New Orleans is not going to be magically reborn. It’s still going to be the same crime-ridden shithole it’s always been.
And yet, I will be going to a Super Bowl party this evening. Maybe I can just hang out by the food and the beer cooler.
>> If the Saints win, New Orleans is not going to be magically reborn. It’s still going to be the same crime-ridden shithole it’s always been.
Amen to that. “Who ‘Dat?” (or whatever the hell it is) and “Geaux Saints” also irritate me to no end.
fyi on an ad note, world series and superbowl ad revenue are always neck and neck…
2007— stupid bowl $151.5, FTWAmerika baseball week, $156.4, NCAA final dorks $168.4 in millions.
if somebody makes a tv spot with po’ folks trying to sell their FEMA trailers for scalped tickets in miami, id buy that for a dollar today.
Can’t really find much fault in this post, AC.
Ref. the commercials, most of the ads that people get a chubby in anticipation for are, as you point out, no different than the hundreds of thousands of other wastes of 30-60 seconds that are aired day in and day out. The only difference is that the Super Bowl ads are far more expensive. But right on the money with “getting stupid people to buy crap they don’t need”.
And I am also sick of the whole New Orleans being lifted to the Promised Land™ with a Super Bowl victory crap. I’ve never been to New Orleans, and can’t really say I’m dying to go, but it’s a friggin’ football game, people. It’s not going to change anything in your lives, other than bestow upon you a TEMPORARY feeling of inflated civic pride. I can’t speak on what kind of “shithole” New Orleans is, though I’ve heard stories. Still, I’ll be curious to see how badly the natives [further] trash the place if the Saints lose. Or for that matter, if they win, judging from what happened in L.A. when the Lakers won the NBA championship last year. And to Nick- agreed on the “Who ‘Dat” and “Geaux Saints” crap. We get it, Saints fans- you’re Cajun, you’re French… wacky. Now give it a rest.
I think part of it for me is that the media seems to try to almost obligate “us”, the viewing and especially the non-viewing public, to give as hot and steaming a shit about the Super Bowl as they do (not unlike the onslaught of Jared and Helzberg commercials this time of year try to obligate “us” to give a shit about the utterly ridiculous bullshit “holiday” known as Valentine’s Day, but that’s another issue). The media do likes to creates story lines out of nothing, don’t dey?
I really enjoy pro football, but for the love of Chrysler, the Super Bowl is but a GAME to me. Some of the last few have been reasonably close- at least on the scoreboard- but the vast majority weren’t close, and too many have been brutally one-sided. Of the close ones, many really weren’t that “good” of a game to watch, frankly. My own personal opinion is that the most exciting was the Rams-Titans game in 2000 which was literally decided within one foot of the goal line as time expired. THAT was an exciting game. But again, that’s just one Johann’s opinion.
I’ll watch tonight, and I’ll “root” for the Colts. I’m anticipating an extremely high-scoring offensive game. But it’s still just a game, regardless of the EXTRAVAGANZAZAzazazaza [fade] into which it tries to be turned.
Well, listening to the Super Bowl on the radio, even if only for a half hour, is a totally different experience. The commercials are super short and you can even still hear the crowd in the background during. Also, one would think the game was totally edge-of-your-seat-thrilling thanks to the voice of…. are you ready for this? Marv Albert! I swear.
YYYYES!
” … a vehicle to get stupid people to buy crap they don’t need.”
Isn’t that what Steve Jobs does every year when he dons a black turtle neck and acts smug in front of an audience?
When I hear Marv Albert, I wonder if he bit someone the night before the game.