When the Puck Drops at the Super Bowl
Oddsmakers agree on the probable results.
Oddsmakers agree on the probable results.
This is no longer the age of the event. This is the age of the platform.
The bowl game used to just be a Sunday afternoon game, albeit a pretty big and important one, the last one of that season.
I have to say right here that I LOVE FOOTBALL, lest there be any confusion.
Gameflation!
Now, the super bowl can cost you $8000 for a ticket to attend. And $5000 to park close enough to use your ticket. In fact, trademark laws may not like me to use the name of this game in this article.
And you can’t begin to imagine how much it would cost you to advertise to those poor souls who have to watch it on TV.
We have all spent the last six months building our anticipation for this. The game results may have already been decided and scripted, for all we know. The magic is in the pageantry for the fifty-sixth time.
And here we go!
It is magnificent pageantry, too.
Not many years ago, our entertainment had a concept called “product placement.” For instance, you might see a drama in which one scene had a very recognizable brand of cola on the desk.
We saw it and knew immediately what it was.
Less subtle
There existed what we termed “subliminal advertising.”
Now, unfortunately, we are a less civilized society. We don't just use an opportunity for exposure of our product or idea, we usurp the opportunity. We want the event to spotlight us.
We might take over a bridge, a day, a month, or a sports event, anything that might allow us time to direct the spotlight towards ourselves or our belief.
We may not just want you to buy our product, we may want you to think as we do. Act as we act. Embrace ideas we may not otherwise embrace. Support our causes. Be scolded. Buy our chips.
Gametime!
On a lighter note, today’s game also still gives us the chance to assemble, in a restaurant or a bar or in Ralph’s garage rec room. We can scream and vent and eat. And wear team apparel.
We can eat ourselves crazy. All crazy combinations of food and delicacies on the buffet. Stuff we might not ever eat under normal circumstances.
This may be the ultimate country’s division, a four-hour civil war, complete with a half-time and refreshments.
So, in essence, today's game will send us one more step hurtling toward our sociological and personal destruction.
What are the odds we are the winner, today?