Thoughts on the Superbowl

I’m not quite sure why I got up from my nap to watch the Superbowl. It seemed the thing to do, but I was so tired I didn’t want to go out. I’d been more interested if the Steelers where playing, but they lost out to New England. My half-hearted loyalty to Pittsburgh comes from the three years I spent in the halls of academia in the Steel City. Mostly, I don’t care for professional football, but like the hoards of others in America, I tuned in.

Of course, the game is only a small part of the attraction. There are as many minutes of advertisements, or so it seems, as there are of football. These mini-dramas entice us to consume more calories. Why do I need to do that? I have a hard enough time maintaining the balance of trade between my caloric intake and expenditures. And there are all those commercials for water down beer! Life is to precious for cheap beer, I’ll continue to pay more and buy darker beers from local breweries.

I wanted to see Paul McCarthy perform at half-time, but was disappointed when the multi-media light and fireworks overshadowed his musical talent. It’s odd to think of McCarthy was a young musician when Green Bay and whoever played in that first Superbowl. Am I really that old? I remember watching part of that game on a black and white TV. We didn’t watch much of it. If my memory doesn’t fail me, after a few minutes, Dad took my brother and I outside and we spent the afternoon tossing the football. Maybe Dad was turned off by the commercials.

The National Football League produced the most interesting commercial of the evening. Showing star players for teams not in the Superbowl, they sang about how, as this season comes to an end, they’ll all be "undefeated" next week. That in and of itself isn’t a bad message. It gives hope. But the video showed these guys living lives of conspicuous consumption. The American way of hard work and thrift has been dethrone and a new idol, to get what you can and flaunt at any suggestion of prudence.

I still wished Philadelphia had won. But all was not lost, I spent the second half starching and ironing shirts, catching up on two weeks of laundry.