Every year I am amazed by the Super Bowl phenomenon that sweeps this country. But before I explain the basis of my amazement, let me make one thing clear - I love football. I grew up cheering on the Dolphins at home games (my father has had season tickets since he was in his 20's) and when I went to college I had season tickets to see my beloved Gators. To make extra money I also filmed high school football games and edited highlight tapes.
But there is something about the Super Bowl that always puts a bad taste in my mouth. Although the Big Game is supposed to be the culmination of the FOOTBALL season, it seems as if football is the last thing people worry about. Instead, the Big Game is about the halftime show and the commercials. It is about the promotion of consumerism and pop culture.
For example, last night during a Miller Lite commercial the Miller Lite spokesperson was complaining about the cost of Super Bowl commercials. As a part of the joke in the commercial he said that Miller Lite would be airing the one second commercial, due to the high price of the regular 30 second spots. The commercial ended with the voice over telling viewers to watch for the one second commercial. Not watch the game, but watch the commercials.
Now, I don't particularly care for either of the teams fighting it out during this year's Super Bowl. What I care about is watching a game that is supposed to celebrate those that made it to the top of their profession by being motivated, working hard, and competing week after week. Unfortunately, that is not what I am going to get.
35 comments:
Ms. Stoklosa, I am sorry for your disappointment. Personally I don't like football. I associate football with screaming and carrying on. For some reason it always makes my brothers crazy. When I am with my dad he is always watching football and screaming at the TV. I always tell him that they don't care what he thinks so he should just stop wasting his breath. I have learned over the years to just keep my mouth shut. You don't mess with an angry football fan. You are right about the commercials though. Most of them are funny. Then their are some that just try so hard to be funny but they are really not. I don't know about you but when I watch TV I feel that commercials are so annoying. During the football game however, my family gets so excited when the commercials come on. I can tell that it raises their spirits. Personally, I don't think that commericials are here to advertise things anymore. I think that they are here to prevent violent outbursts. This way, when the commercial comes on fans have a distraction from the game.
Hahahahaa! Very true Mrs. Stoklosa. I agree with you 100% but I think most people watch it for the commercials also because I know people who say that the whole time. I am voting for the Beloved Steelers. They played hard all season and deserve to hold the lambardi trophy this Sunday!!
I completely agree with you. I am just watching it to hopefully see the Cardinals win. When I heard the amount of money it costs companies to air for 30 seconds on the Super Bowl it made me wonder. I started to wonder why those companies are wasting money trying to air when they could use it to give more jobs and open more stores. I see it as a waste of money, but they think it will bring in more money.
Mrs.S-I found this to be very funny cause when I was younger and didn't care much for football I just turned on the super bowl to watch the commercials. That is still the reason why I think my mom watches it cause she really doesn't know how football is played, and last year after every brake my mom would text me asking me if I saw the commercial that was just shown.
I honestly don't like football, but I grew up with rugby, so I understand where your coming from. Many of my childhood memories include my dad yelling at the tv. Watching the games, I would always get so into them. Rugby games have very little stops, the game is split into 40-minute long halves, so commercials are only on during half time. I think this makes the game more enjoyable because it isn't always stopping and starting like football is. And when your watching tv, its not to see commercials, people usually walk away during them. Why spend your entire Sunday sitting waiting for commercials to come on?
Ms. S. This is completeley true. My friends and I usually watch the Super Bowl for the commercials, unless our favorie team is playing. We are usually doing something else and when the commericals come on we pay more attention to them.
I love football, not as much as you though. When it comes to the superbowl though, I love the ads. Superbowls are usually comepletely one sided, atleast from what i've experienced. The ads just give you something nice when your team is losing.
Well, you are absolutely correct. As a football player myself, it's hard when the people that come to watch you, are there for other reasons. i.e. At our home football games, most of the people are there for other reasons, like meeting up with friends, or watching the cheerleaders at half-time, and almost everyone who says they go, can't tell you what the score was when the next monday rolls around. It's frustrating sometime because it seems like people don't care about all the hard work you put into practicing to perform in the game. As for your commercial problem, i feel your pain, but at the same time, some of the funniest commercials air during the Super Bowl. It's the extra little gift that you get while you're watching the big game.
I completely agree with you. Every year, for as long as I can remember, I've celebrated Super Bowl Sunday at my grandpa's house with the rest of my family and family friends. My grandpa has two sons, my dad and my uncle, other than them the family is mostly female. Due to the this, Super Bowl would always be about the commercials, that is until I was old enough to understand the game myself. The Super Bowl should be a celebration of the hard work and determination that both teams had displayed all season long. Instead, it has turned into a pop culture competition to see which product can produce the most memorable commercial.
I completely agree with the fact that the majority of people watch the Super Bowl for the commercials and the half time show. It has been like that for years and will almost surely be like that this Sunday. There is one exception that vividly stands out in my mind. Last year I am pretty sure that more people watched the game than the halftime show. The set up for last year's Super Bowl was amazing. On one side you had the undefeated Patriots with a legendary coach and hall of fame quarterback. On the other you had the Giants who had battled against all odds to make the Super Bowl. O yeah and they were being led by a guy with Manning on the back of his jersey. When it all came down to it, the game was one of the best games in history. I remember how crazy everyone got in my house towards the end of the game. It was truly amazing to watch and I'm sure someone who doesn't really appreciate football was glued to the t.v.
Ms.Stoklosa you have to go for the Arizona Cardinals they have been the underdogs all this playoffs. But yeah it is true. My mom only watches the super bowl for the commercial. I hope the Cardinals get lucky and win the super bowl. You know all about luck. Like the Florida Gators got lucky winning the title. Nah I'm just playing go for the Cardinals.
My family is not much of a football fan, for the exception of one or two, so the superbowl is just another excuse to have a big party, like all hispanic families do. We focus more on the eating, drinking, and seeing ALL of the relatives- even the ones I have never met before- than anything else, and the commercials for me personally are the highlight of the night. Who knows? It must be a cultural thing.
Unfortunatley the Super Bowl has become all about the commercials. As much as I love football, I don't think I have watched a full Super Bowl yet. The last Super Bowl I had my dad warn me when the commercial breaks came so i could come and have a laugh. The game itself has just been put on the back burner of events for that day.
I see where you are coming from about your perspective about the Super Bowl. However, I believe the Super Bowl is a great game played to show the best teams. It is exciting for the fans and I think it is a game worth watching.
The superbowl is supposed to be about "FOOTBALL" i completely agree with you thoughts on how it has been turned into a pop culture thing. Even people that don't watch football believe it is the right thing to do to watch the superbowl. It has been turned into one big advertisement rather than good old fashion state rivalry.
Someone should regulate the advertisements in the superbowl.
To start off with I am also a gator fan, but unlike you i did not choose to be one. I was born into it, my family is full of gators. My mom attended to the University of Florida along with two uncles, an aunt, two cousins and my brother.
There is also one other person who attended the university in my family, my Father, however his obsession with the Gators has forced me to exclude him from my original list and write this new paragraph about him. His car is covered with gator vinyl stickers, it has gator heads embroidered on his seats, and its tires instead of saying Goodyear, say Florida Gators. Also at our house my father has tiled Albert the Alligator into the pool, painted one of the bathrooms orange and blue, and every game day he puts up a banner-sized Gators flag and a six foot inflatable gator. But the ultimate proof of my father's fanaticism sits permanently on his right arm, it is a tattoo of Albert the Alligator.
In response to your opinions on the Super Bowl I have to disagree, I happen to like the super bowl commercials. They give us a much needed break from the mockery of a championship game we call th Super Bowl. It is usually an anti-climatic end to a good football season. If it was up to me, I would make the NFL's playoff system more like the BCS system, which I happen to love. It just makes sense that the two teams with the best record play for the championship.
I agree with you Mrs. Stocklosa, But I also think the real beauty in all this is also the display of American capitalism to its fullest. I dont even care about the teams, i just watch it for the ridiculous commercials competing for peoples' attention. Yes, im very sad:-( dont blame me though, i wasnt raised on wacthing footbal as a child.
I agree with you on your point Mrs. Stoklosa. I myself watch it for the game itself, but also the commercials. They are entertaining while you wait for the game to come back on. Those commercials make the waiting time shorter than watching regular old boring commercials you see a thousand times over everyday. So this argument has its ups and downs. It just depends on your taste.
I love football also, but its not the gators :( I love F.S.U. sorry :D My dad went their my sister went their and i plan to go their i hope we can still be friends and on the big game this weekend i plan on just to watch the game to see the commercials because i have no care for any of the teams that are playing :(
I don't enjoy Football. Thats the truth. But I do agree the Superbowl is an event.
I don't come from a culture where our sports are followed by commercial brakes (I'm not quite used to that, it feels like its bad timing), but I can do enjoy it. The game it self wouldn't be an event to watch in it self (It really isn't that interesting if you weren't raised on it i guess), but the Superbowl, even with mediocre games and really, really unnecessary half time shows is still interesting to anyone looking outside.
This is a spectacle that people are willing to point to. The own Superbowl commercials allure to the expensive price of being in the Superbowl, and the fact that it is a unique thing, and therefore make a one time only commercial for that specific event. This is something that you rarely see outside the country, yet, here it is a tradition. I believe the game is not at its purest form here, but it is surely at it's best in my opinion, because, and no offense, if i have to put up with hours of slowed down boring downgraded rugby it better have good commercials.
i really dont care for the super bowl that much. The only thing that interested me is that the super bowl commity actually disided to bring the rolling stones out of the grave and expect them to do something amazing. They didnt do anything and they looked like they were ganna' callapse because their like 1m years old.
I agree Mrs. Stoklosa. It seems these days, people don't really use the game entirely to watch the actual football. Instead they are bombarded with all these commercials going on, its not even about football anymore. People spend millions of dollars on commercials so viewers could get just a 30 second view. Frankly i think its ridiculous. Football should be the main concern, not the advertisements it brings.
Ms. Stoklosa, i believe you 100 percent.most people you talk to will say the same thing,"i wonder whos commercial will be the funniest"? i love football but i do have to admit i do love to watch the commercials but i find the game way more important.
Mrs stocklosa i agree, but i have to admit that the media part of the super bowl is genious. The commercials and the halftime show make this the most watched event every year. For us true football fans, if we could cut the crap and get to the game we would be better for it. Hopefuly we get another NFL classic like last year.
I ENJOY WATCHING THE SUPER BLOW FOR THE COMMERICALS. I THINK THEY ARE THE BEST PART OF THE GAME. I NOT MUCH OF A FOOTBALL FAN BUT I CAN GET INTO THE GAME. THE HALFTIME SHOW IS ALSO EVERY ENJOYABLE. I CAN'T WAIT TILL SUNDAY!!!!
The commercials are good and i think they just watch it for that too.
Ms.Stoklosa I am sorry you feel this way. I can't say I'm the biggest fan of football although my dad and brother are. Boys always seem to be screaming the at T.V. and it's like they can't hear you so why even bother. The only result out of this is my mother and I getting lots of headaches througout the football season. I personally only tune into the superbowl for the half time show and commercials. Call it corney but the commercials are usually funny. My favorite one from last year that I can remember is the pepsi one to the song " What is Love" and everyone in the commercial does the head bop like they do in the movie "Night at the Roxbury." When Chris Katan's comes out in the end it cracks me up every time! Maybe this year you found a commercial that entertains you!
Mrs. S, I think your right. But I really don't mind! The commercials are friggen hilarious. In fact, most of the time I don't even watch the game and instead just wait for somebody to inform me when the commercials are starting. I personally don't like watching football actually because I can't stand watching other people have fun and always feel the urge to go outside and play myself.
It's true the super bowl is know for it's commercials. It's the best time for people to promote their business because of the millions of people watching. A 30 second commercial can cost up to 3 million dollars, so for that kind of money they have to be good. Although it is a football game and their should be more football shown thats just not going to happen. It's in the tradition of the super bowl.
I happen to love the commercials. They are hysterical. I almost wet my self when I saw the one second commercials. I don't care much about any team other the Fins either. The game didn't mean much to me so I only Watched it for the commercials. Oh and the half time shows suck more and more each year. I personally don't give two craps about that tradition. For me the Superbowl is all about beer, women and, Chips and salsa.
I never really have Superbowl parties I usually just watch it by myself on the couch, because my family does not really watch football. This year a new episode of The Office was on after the game and it was by far the funniest I have ever seen. If anyone does not watch this show I urge them to immediately take care of it and watch the entire series in one sitting.
In my family we always get together on SuperBowl Sunday every year. But now that I think and refect on it, we never do it for the true meaning of the superbowl to watch the game. We throw the party and try watching but I personally think we pay more attention to each other and all the new commercials. Takes the fun out of the true experience.
I think your right to think that. Don’t get me wrong, I love foot ball too, but unfortunately a lot (not all) of women are not the biggest fans. And those women are forced to tag along with their boyfriend or husband to watch the big game. They don’t have much interest in the game except for the chance to see what commercials made it to the super bowl.
The race to make it to the top of their league for football players goes both ways with the commercials they run as well. If your company has a commercial playing in the super bowl, you must be a big shot company or you did really well financially that year. So in a way it’s a super bowl for them too. You might even want to call it the super cup.
I rescind what I said earlier about how the super bowl should be strictly about the game itself. Sure, it's a great game, but still, the commercials this year were HILARIOUS! my favorite one was the dorritos commercial. And, from what i've heard, it turned out to be the best commercial of the superbowl, and the directors won some serious dough. SO, although the game brings a lot of die hard fans, the commercials serve as a hook for those new to the super bowl phenomenon.
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