Tuesday Morning Thoughts: the Super Bowl Hype

Don’t believe the hype. Eddie Vedder once said, “you hear a song that's a great song; play it a million times…..you never want to hear it again...” The Super Bowl is no song, but every year you get the feeling that you’ve heard that tune before. Whether it’s the lame player stories, 2 week long injury updates, and what seems like an army of men and women reporters and commentators dissecting every, nook and cranny of the game. What happened to just enjoying a football game for 3 hours?

1. Don’t get me wrong, the Super Bowl is great. It makes the World Series look like a game of pick up hoops at Lifetime Fitness. Outside of the World Cup final, there is no more important sporting event. But what makes it so special? I argue that it’s the play and nothing more.

2. Let’s start out with the commercials. Okay, for a period of 2-3 years and about 5 to 10 years ago, SB commercials were pretty imaginative. But now, it’s this forced, got to go crazy to stand out, junk that increasingly dishes out diminishing returns every year. Although, that Audi commercials was fantastic.

3. Worse, isn’t it crazy that some people watch the SB just for the commercials? This means that people voluntarily take time to watch advertising. Somehow the rules of Tivo or DVR go out the window on SB Sunday. Taking out 3 million dollars for a SB advertisement seems ridiculous, except when you understand that a lot of people (I’m talking to you- loser who never played sports growing up) watch the game for the commercials.

4. At some point, all the ESPN shows, commentary, radio talk, Sport Centers, NFL Lives create such an enormous expectation on the game that makes it impossible for the game to live up to the hype. It’s a lot like the friend who tells you how awesome Batman the Dark Knight was. And then you read the critical reviews that claim it’s the best movie of the year, the best Batman ever. It’s too much. Of course by the time I see it, I think it’s completely overrated and about 3 hours too long. What do you expect, with all the hype I would have felt the same way about Godfather 2. Anyway, the hype creates impossible expectations.

5. Except, somehow, football and the NFL in particular (we can’t lump that lame excuse for a post-season in college-football to be included here) lives up to the hype. Sunday’s game was terrific, even if I could care less who won. But here’s the point. I avoided each and every pre-game show for 2 weeks prior to the game. Also, I convinced myself that the game would suck. Sort of how like New Year ’s Eve sucks. And guess what? It worked. Never mind that I was watching an Arizona team that went 8-8 in the regular season or an incomplete Steelers team that couldn’t run the ball (if the Steelers could run the ball they would have killed Arizona). It didn’t matter. I relaxed my frame of reference and just watched football. In the 4th quarter I ended up the edge of my coach, screaming and letting out phrases like “Oh my god. Larry Fitzgerald is a beast! Holly shit, that Harrison guy is dominating Gandy. I can’t believe I just saw that? How did Holmes catch that? Poor Warner..” You get the point.

6. So a day later I call one of my friends ( a girl), and she explains how she had an all-girl SB party at her house. I mistakenly go into how great a game it was. She responds, “yeah, but I felt so sorry for Larry Fitzgerald and his dad. I really wanted him to win. Oh and that story about …… (sorry, I stopped listening). But this is what drives me crazy. ESPN, NBC, Etc., are actually adding value with all the pre-game hype, commercials, and lame story lines. It brings people who otherwise would never follow the game to the TV. Girls are throwing girl-only parties for a sporting event. Things like this simply don’t happen outside of SB Sunday.

7. So what’s the point. Well, as you can seek I don’t have one. Well… maybe…. If you’re a true NFL fan, do yourself a favor. Lock yourself up for the 2 weeks prior to the SB, convince yourself that the game will be boring, and pay no attention to the pre-game, commercials or half-time show. In the end, you’ll find yourself actually enjoying football for 3 hours.

More random thoughts……………

8. I don’t know how Larry Fritzgerald’s dad stayed calm in the reporter’s booth when Larry Jr. scored his TDs. Either he’s a closet Steelers fan or he died.

9. Maybe Kurt Warner is a Hall of Famer. He sure looked like one for most of the game. But, I’m still not totally sold. Five years from now, will we still remember his play during this game? (P.S. Random tangent—How Richard Dent is not in the HOF, but Tripplet and Derrick Thomas are HOFs, completely baffles my mind).

10. Speaking of HOF. Larry Fitzgerald looks like an HOF to me. I don’t need statistics to back it up. You just need eyes and a TV to understand.