Thoughts on the Superbowl

Congratulations, Seattle friends!  Tough luck, Denver friends, better luck next year.

Of course I didn’t actually watch the game.  The time zone thingie made it rather impractical.  I’m old enough that there is pretty much nothing that’s going to keep me up until 4 a.m., especially when I have to wake up at 7 a.m.  I don’t even stay up for election results, and that’s a hell  of a lot more important to me than a stupid football game.

This is how Americans eat on Super Bowl Sunday

Also, what with all the commercial breaks, an extended half-time for the show, time-outs and anything else that can stop the clock, the game (which is officially 60 minutes long) takes about 3 hours.  That’s as long as a Lord of the Rings movie and those at least had the justification that they were trying to do justice to a long and complicated book.

Of course, most people don’t actually sit still for that long, there are trips back and forth to the kitchen and the bathroom and, unlike watching a Lord of the Rings movie in the cinema, you are allowed, even expected, to jump up and down and cheer and shout excitedly at irregular intervals.  Of course, Seattle fans had a lot more of those chances than Denver fans.

A lot of people I talked to (mostly Denver fans) were complaining that it was really a pretty poor game but one thing I liked about the result was the completely unexpected nature of it.  I love seeing experts proven totally, wildly wrong.  It happens more in sports than real life but it still keeps things interesting and gives us hope that anything can happen.

The weird thing about Super Bowl Sunday is that, like Black Friday, it is morphing into an American holiday.  What with the elaborate snack trays, and extended groups of family and friends gathering at the home of whoever has the biggest TV, it is like Thanksgiving in February.

One Super Bowl tradition I really don’t get is this obsession over the advertisements.  I don’t care how much money they spend on them, how high the production values are, how many celebrities are in them, it is still just a commercial.  They are trying to convince you to buy something.  It may look like a work of art, but it is still just a sales pitch.

There’s one commercial in particular that I’ve been hearing about, and that’s just because of the reaction to it.  (disclaimer: as I said, I didn’t see the game and I haven’t seen the commercial – I  am commenting on the reaction.)  I’m referring to the Coca Cola commercial wherein, apparently, some people sang America the Beautiful in languages which were not English.

Teabaggers are going nuts and threatening to boycott Coca Cola.  They are offended that such a patriotic song should be sung in any language other than English.  I’m sure I’m preaching to the choir of my liberal friends when I say those people are racist, illiterate morons.

But, one thing I’d like to add: There’s no way they are going to boycott Coke.  They were raised on Coke, it was the drink which weaned them from their mother’s milk.  They deep fry it and eat it on a stick.

The Coca Cola company doesn’t have a thing to worry about.  This will blow over quickly.