Here's a fact.
The Super Bowl is Sunday.
Here's another one.
Nine out of 10 people watching it don't actually give a damn about what teams are playing, who might actually win or about the game of football in general.
OK, so maybe that's not a proven fact, but I'd bet money on the chance that it's almost 99 percent true.
In fact, I bet as you read this article you're thinking to yourself, "Well I'm going to a Super Bowl party on Sunday but I'm going to mingle and eat good food."
The Super Bowl has become its very own worst nightmare. It's the epitome of a spectacle and the furthest thing away from a sport.
This year, Super Bowl XLII won't be a competition between the New England Patriots and the New York Giants as we've been tricked into believing. Nope. This year's game will be a battle between America's most competitive Fortune 500 companies.
At $2.7 million per commercial, you better hope more than just football fans are tuning in for the game.
You better believe people will be muting the game and requesting silence when it's time for the commercials. Seems kind of backward doesn't it?
I guess I just don't get it. The players of the National Football League fight through 16 regular season games and three rounds of playoffs every year in order to make it to Super Bowl Sunday. And while year after year tickets get more expensive and TV ratings get higher, it becomes more and more of a joke.
Those people, paying thousands of dollars to not sit in the "cheap seats" - which run at more than $600, I might add - aren't the die-hard fans who sit through blistering cold temperatures at Lambeau Field every year. And they're certainly not the fans who practice football as a religion.
Those fans get replaced by celebrities and wealthy nobodies who only go to the game because they have the money to afford it.
And the people watching the game at home. That's a whole other story in itself.
I was listening to the radio yesterday when the DJ began talking about Super Bowl plans and what to expect.
After she finished talking about the game, she said something along the lines of, "but don't worry, you don't have to be a fan or care who's playing to have fun." She talked about how girls who don't care can make a new dip to take to the party and instead of enjoying the game, they can enjoy the food.
It took everything I had to not call in to the radio station and tell her how utterly ridiculous she sounded.
I'm certainly not trying to insinuate that the food and commercials aren't a unique and exciting part of every Super Bowl Sunday, but when they become the main attraction, and the game becomes an accessory, something's not adding up.
Much like baseball, football and the Super Bowl are supposed to be American icons. They are supposed to signify tradition and a season of hard work and competitiveness. And they are supposed to be rewarded with the title of the nation's best.
Unfortunately, that's not how the Super Bowl is viewed any more.
Think about it, two weeks after the game, are you really still talking about who won and how great the game was? No, you're talking about the halftime show and your favorite commercial of the evening.
We can't respect and enjoy a game without millions of advertising dollars. We don't see this happen in the World Series or the NBA Championships. We don't see it in the Stanley Cup Playoffs or Wimbledon. It's only the Super Bowl. It's only every February.
I'm not saying there aren't still loyal fans out there who watch the Super Bowl because they actually care, and I'm not even saying that those that don't care can't watch. What I'm saying is that we need to get the Super Bowl back to its roots.
Back to a game that's played for bragging rights, not commercial dollars.u
Be the first to comment on this article!