Day Forty-Two: The Stupidity That is the Super Bowl

As is probably expected, I am not a football fan. I have tried in earnest to watch it and understand it, but I can't get past the large men in too-tight uniforms and the slow-paced action to pay enough attention to what's going on. So when the Super Bowl comes around every year, celebrating the year's best athletes in football and glorifying it to almost a new national holiday, I either try to stay as far away as possible, or suck it up and use the excuse to have a good party with good food and decent beer.

So I sit here now, trying to tune out the Super Bowl, and paying half-attention to the barrage of extremely expensive commercials that come in chunks approximately every three minutes. As much as I don't care about football, the Super Bowl, the talk, the pre-game show, the post-game show, the tailgating concerts, the half-time show, the coach and player interviews, and the obscenely-priced commercial spots, it does fascinate me. It is a celebration and glorification of all that is American -- strength, economic stability and business dealings, commercialism, and competition. Maybe, just maybe, the Super Bowl is an embodiment of the American Dream itself.

Think about it -- millions of people all tune in at the same time, most of them eating similar foods and rooting for the same things (if not necessarily the same team), and making companies millions of dollars by viewing commercials and possibly buying products advertised. It's not even really all that negative, either. It brings people together, and I guess, in a way that I don't completely understand, it strengthens the economy...I guess. And what people aren't spending in products they see in advertisments during the Super Bowl, the mecca of TV commercials, they're spending on food and booze for their parties. It's not such a bad thing.

Still, despite the fascination I feel when it comes about, I'm not nearly fascinated to want to be near it if there isn't a decent party attached to it. I suppose it's a better alternative to the Puppy Bowl on Animal Planet (which is adorable, but tolerable for only about ten minutes, and absolutely nauseating when the Kitty Halftime Show comes around). But it does prevent other, more entertaining programs from playing on my TV, as it takes up hours and hours of time. And with these slight gripes, and the new fact that two commercials with unattractive, overweight men in briefs just played consecutively during the most recent commercial break, I am now bidding the Super Bowl adieu for the year and making better use of my Sunday evening.