"Madame, bear in mind That princes govern all things--save the wind." -Victor Hugo, The Infanta's Rose

Saturday, February 03, 2007

Stupor Bowl

I hear there is some sort of football game scheduled for tomorrow. Oh yeah, the Super Bowl. (yawn.) While a few previous year's games have felt like national holidays to me, please excuse me if I fail to get too excited about it this year. I think there are a number of reasons for this:

• Who's playing again? The Chicago Bears and, ah ... lemme think ... The Detroit Pistons? Oh yeah, The Indianapolis Indians, or something like that. In the past I may have had some regional affection for certain teams (New England, Miami, Denver, and Tampa Bay, for example) because I've lived in or had close friends in those areas, but with no connection to either of this year's participants, I could frankly care less who wins.

• In other years the Super Bowl has been a fine excuse for a bacchanalia of food and fun; we've consumed a mountain of pizza, chips & dip, hot wings, BBQ weenies, nachos, and other things that aren't good for you, not to mention buckets of beer. In fact, icing down a variety of imported bottled beers in a huge aluminum tub the day before the game so it would be barely above freezing by kickoff time on Sunday had become somewhat of a tradition around the Toast household. This year, however, my doctor has me on a serious diet due to my possible future transplant surgery, so the mound of junk food is out. And considering all the medications I'm taking, beer is a definite no-no as well. Hey, football without beer? I mean, c'mon.

• Most people look forward to seeing the Super Bowl commercials as much, if not more so, than the game itself. But for the last couple of years, the ads have been widely available on the Internet so there's no reason to have to slog through boring football plays to view them. This year, many of them can be found on YouTube, and there are also a number of other sites like this one especially devoted to the "art" of the game day pitch.

• Another spectacular element to the Super Bowl in the past has always been the halftime show. But following Janet Jackson's infamous wardrobe malfunction during the 2004 event, the entertainment is now so "family-friendly" that it's become dull. Paul McCartney's appearance in 2005 was amazingly bland, and I was very disappointed with last year's walk-through by The Rolling Stones, who seemed to practically phone in their performance. This year's entertainer, Prince, may be a bit edgier, but I'm not expecting His Purpleness to come up with any big surprises.

Nevertheless, I'll probably watch the event tomorrow along with the other millions of world-wide viewers. For one thing, it beats actually going to the game, where ticket prices pop for an average -- average, mind you, of between $4,000 and $5,000 (although The Miami Herald has reported that due to a comparative lack of excitement for the teams this year, tickets can be found for the "bargain" price of around $1,500). And if the game action gets too ho-hum, I can always switch over to the Puppy Bowl.

1 Comments:

  • At 2/04/2007 05:45:00 PM, Blogger Daisy Martin said…

    Frankly I'm watching the Puppy Bowl myself. After a week of seeing these Hoosiers wear nothing but blue and white around town (when they couldn't be bothered in years past when the Dolts aren't playing good) lets just say this is one former Marylander that is ready to stick a few Dolts on the Mayflower moving truck. Go Bears!

     

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