Super Bowl XXXIX
I watched the Super Bowl last night. First of all, I wish they would go back to televising the game at 4:00 PM, like they used to. During the regular season the games are played at 1:00 PM and at 4:00 PM. Everybody likes these time slots. You can do more stuff when the game is over that way.
And what's with the 45 minute half time show. Why can't the Super Bowl be about the game? During the regular season halftime is only 12 minutes long. Don't get me wrong; Paul McArtney, I mean, how can you go wrong with him, he was terrific. Although, there were more than a few moments where I thought he was just lip sync-ing. Or maybe there was just a delay; in case of some kind of microphone "malfunction". Whatever.
The game was definitely over hyped. But the commercials were funny. Now, I am a fan of neither team, but if I were, I would have the same problem with the TV commercials that I do all season long when I am watching my favorite team: Too many commercials and too many long breaks. And this get's me back to the point. The "Super" Bowl is not about the game.
I know, I know. The Super Bowl is not abou the game. This isn't anything new.
The truth is the Super Bowl has never been about the game. I'll prove it. First here are a few points to defend my case:
First, the teams on the field; Donavan McNabb looked so nervous and dazed after the two weeks of hype that he couldn't even through a decent pass in the begining. The players get so worn out from all the interviews and probing, all the partying and carousing; they showed Ty Law, the injured all pro defensive back of the Patriots standing on the side line and yawning. Yawning! This was during one of the "most suspensefull" stretches of the "game" (I put "game" in quotations here because the actual game is: "How many ads can we cram into this time slot?", and "How can we fuse the Super Bowl to the prime time schedule of the network?", and so on).
And, what about the most impotrant part of the game: The fans. Most true fans of the Philadelphia Eagles and the New England Patriots - and any other NFL team, can't even come close to being able to afford tickets to this game. We're talking $500 to $600. That's just face value. The bulk of the tickets get scalped for thousands on eBay and on the street. Often big corporations in cahoots with the NFL get big blocks of tickets for the game.
My wife and I went to the Super Bowl XXXIII in 1999, here in Miami. We got the tickets at face value - $325.00 - through my wife's work associates (she works for one of the big corporations in cahoots with the NFL). We were laughing. There was a woman down the row from us logged into her laptop computer. There were a few real fans here and there who looked like they had spent a good piece of their savings to be there. That's sad, NFL.
The truth is, the NFL can give the tickets away and still make a fortune. All the money is made from TV revenue. Give the game back to the fans.
I say, play the Super Bowl in the home stadium of the team with the better record, like the playoffs. That's how it used to be done. And, drop the bye week.
Here's the proof, the Super Bowl is not about determinig a champion. Back when the forst Super Bowl was played, it was a match between the NFL champion versus the AFL champion. The game wsn't even sold. The outcome was a foregone conclusion. It was this way for a few years until the talent distribution between the two leagues stabilized and the competition for revenue from the AFL got too hot. Then the powerful NFL agreed to merge with the AFL. It was (and still is) about growing the NFL empire.
The game itself was kind of forgetable. Philadelphis was a bit sloppy in places, and New England was so sure of there edge over Philadelphia that they played conservatively, not to lose, and it payed off. New england looked sharp throughout. Philly made the pivital mistake early on and New England out sprinted them to the finishline.
Well, that's that.
posted by Vlad Kiperman @ 10:27 AM
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