Well as I write this the Superbowl Roman Numeral something is on and Madonna may even be singing or performing or doing whatever she has been doing for all these decades. Good for her I say. Even though I cannot say I am a fan it is sort of good that Superbowl Halftimes are usually done by Old Fogies (being an Old Fogie myself)
But I am refusing to get myself sucked into this American Football Drama. For starters, I do not like football. I think it is a brutal, viscous sport that wrecks havoc on knees and bones, causes concussions, and destroys lives. I am probably being dramatic, but that is the way I feel. I have to work hard to be open minded to those that love the sport and accept their view.
I do not watch football during the year so it seems pointless for me to be caught up in it February. I do not live in New Jersey nor Boston (I think I have the cities right) and that makes the attachment level zero. But I think what bugs me most of all is the hype, the marketing, the advertising, the artificial frenzy that is being created like Whipped Edible Oil Filled Trans Fat Twinkies that are coming out of some sort of Frankensteinian Laboratory.
Television ads are a pain to watch but we tolerate them as it gives us "free" TV. Of course free TV is a joke; you need cable or a dish or very fast and cheap highspeed but that is a rant for another day. But on the Breakfast TV that we watch most mornings the advertisements have been played time after time after time. Jerry Seinfeld, you are no longer funny. Barking dogs; saw that 20 years ago with Dogs Singing Jingle Bells. What is the big deal about a television commercial? What can't I figure out?
I am not a soccer fan (I am a pretty poor male role model), but I can see the World Cup of Soccer. Once every four years, the best in the world play, lots of games, this is exciting and a Big Deal. The Superbowl is Sunday Afternoon Football.
I did chance upon a bit of pregame stuff while waiting at Pizza Pizza this afternoon. The commentators were a) shouters and b) largely monosyllabic and c) just plain not very bright. (mind you I am sure they get paid more in a week than I get paid in a year so the issue of relative brightness is open to debate)
I am sitting here, with my wife, The Beagle, and three sleeping cats. I am blogging and reading Half of a Yellow Sun. I just realized - I am the 1 %!! No wonder those guys were so mad last year. They are just jealous of my happiness. I am indeed a lucky man.