Even the haters can’t escape the Superbowl’s grasp
After watching this year’s Superbowl, I have come to two conclusions.
First, that was a spectacular football game and a great TV show. It had everything football games should have – big plays, missed plays, outstanding physical and mental feats by the players, great strategy from the coaches, and the drama of an overtime game. As for a television spectacle, the
Superbowl also delivered. There were all the interesting/annoying cultural aspects of the event. We had pop megastar Taylor Swift chugging a beer and cheering her hunky star football player Travis Kelce. A huge, over-thetop halftime show with Usher. And the commercials. Have to have the commercials.
Secondly, it beggers belief that a football game has become the only thing in our fractured United States that serves as a communal, shared event that nearly everyone has some sort of relationship to, whether it’s good, bad or indifferent.
The game has become so big that it creeps into every nook and cranny of the nation. Even people who never watch NFL football, or football of any kind, have to acknowledge the presence of the Superbowl. They take note of the big day, if for no other reason than to declare with haughty grandeur that they never in a million years would stoop to watch such a barbaric, moronic display. Some go further and take the opportunity offered by Superbowl Sunday to attack, decry and insult the intellectual capacity of those who watch the big game.
The anti-Superbowl crowd is appalled that a violent game involving huge men running fast, throwing and kicking an odd-shaped ball, and colliding with each other in concussionlevel crashes has become the symbol of the United States in a nutshell. It’s got it all: violence, infantile infatuation over a boys’ game played by men, over-the-top consumption, pop culture idiocy, and gross displays of corporate power and greed.
Anyway, back to the people who do watch the game and enjoy the whole shebang.
Some folks who tune into the game are actually football fans who follow the sport, root for their favorite teams and have at least heard of the two teams battling it out for the championship. They are there to watch the two best (or at least the two remaining) teams play for the big prize. They root, argue strategy and enjoy the game. Then they hash over the whole thing for days, if not a whole year, by watching replays, commentary and other odds and ends generated by the game.
But the true-blue football fans are a minority when you consider that 123 million people tuned in to the Superbowl. That is about six times as many people as the 18 million who watch an average regular-season NFL game. So there are quite a few people out there who just want to be part of the group event, to share something, even something as pedestrian as a football game, with friends, family, co-workers and random folks wandering around. The game provides a common frame of reference for at least a couple of weeks. A nice conversation starter while waiting in line at the grocery store or coffee shop.
Then there are the folks who just want to have a big theme party on a random Sunday in February complete with snacks and drinks or food and booze. Not a small group.
And of course, there are plenty of people who just want to see the commercials. At about $7 million for a 30-second spot, the ads are high-end marketing. Sort of. This year, no ad really dominated or tugged at the heartstrings or did much more than sell stuff. Or confuse people.
We’re happy to report Inyo County was part of the big show. The Alabama Hills and Mt. Whitney came on-screen. Unfortunately, it was for one of the worst commercials of the day. A sad NFL ad with football players (Falcons and Eagles) flying around.
The NFL didn’t need the ad. It had the US in the palm of its hand for one Sunday afternoon. A rare accomplishment these days.
OPINION
(Jon Klusmire of Bishop is old enough to remember the first Superbowl games, which were called the NFL-AFL Championship games. A simpler time.)