The Super Bore. - Or Was It?

Why, of course did I watch the Super Bowl! I’m usually proud of my strict and narrow-minded attitude against sports (as a spectacle, not as an activity). Let’s be honest—all the money, time, passion, interest, and effort we put into sports could be invested so much better in so many other areas where these things are seriously needed! This is just the most obvious aspect about it. And I know: ‘But it’s so exciting, and it’s a form of art, and it brings people together across national boundaries, and it generates so much revenue and this and that and most of all!’–Nope. Sorry.

But anyways, I won’t get started on this topic. Don’t wanna alienate each and every one of you! I like my friends regardless of their affiliation with sports ;-) So I told myself earlier okay, either you erect a flagpole on your front lawn or you watch the Super Bowl—try something ‘American.’ The second option was the cheaper one, so I opted for that. Also, it prevented me from becoming a Sunday-night social outcast. It won’t come as a big surprise to my faithful reader(s) that Sam’s family had once again cordially invited me over to their house, so I gladly accepted the offer and went there. He’d also invited some other friends, and we had a good time with some great food (the most important aspect of Super Bowl!). So then the game started and I tried to remember some of the things that Rene had taught me a couple of weeks ago when we’d watched football at Jacky O’s, but I didn’t recall a lot. I think I understood the basics even though I had no idea what the other guys’ “Oooooohhhhhh” or “What’s he doing?” or “Seriously, dude!” referred to most of the time. Didn’t bother to ask, either, because

a)      any explanation would have caused a string of follow-up questions: –“Wait, the line of what?”

b)      I didn’t want to interrupt watching the game

c)       I would have forgotten all of these things by Monday, and—to be honest—

d)      I really didn’t care too much about the mechanics of American football to justify going through a), b), and c).

Apart from that, I can proudly say that, early on in the game, I recognized two things all by myself (they weren’t too hard):

a)      Peyton Manning (Denver Broncos) must be some kind of superstar.

b)      This wasn’t his best game.

Now, I won’t walk you through the entire game. I couldn't do that and it would just bore you. If you’re interested in it, you've probably watched it yourself anyway. The Seattle Seahawks won 48:6 (or so). And it was entertaining to see, no doubt about that for me. But it was not a good game (Jimmy would disagree). The Broncos got served big time, and they did not seem to have much to set against that. But you still have the commercials! The game is interrupted like every single minute, so there is a lot of time to tell us

-          that the beauty of American diversity has to be somehow connected to the world’s most famous soft drink. Seriously, have you seen this spot? What’d you think? There’s a lot of debate going on currently about how outrageous it is that “America the Beautiful” was sung in languages other than English. Whatever you wanna think of that. I haven’t read any statement, however, that asks what this has to do with the product. It’s a soft drink!!! It’s not the federal government!!! I mean, we all know how commercials work, sure. They’re almost never about the product they advertise. They’re about the lifestyle that detergent X will bring to your home, and about the incredible success with women you’ll have if you just put on enough of that new fragrance of deodorant Y. But this spot—it just felt like the epitome of manipulative advertising, exploiting something that people believe in, that they have grown up to appreciate, to take for granted, to admire, to hate, or whatever. To sell drinks. The thing is—it works!

-             Or that the car you buy should be built in America. It’s not such a bad commercial, but the fact that Bob Dylan tells you all these things, like “Is there anything more American than America?” just in order to sell cars—that somehow just doesn't work out for me. Wasn't there a time when he was one of the most important critical voices of capitalism in this country? Hmmhhh. Well, maybe “times are a ‘changing” for the man who used to proclaim that he “Ain't gonna work on Maggie’s farm no more.”

I could go on complaining about many other spots, but I think both you and I have better things to do. There were also some very funny ads (featuring Stephen Colbert, the Muppets, and ALF)! Oh, and the half time show? I missed it. I was talking to Sam’s mum. Such a nice lady! But I think I didn't miss a lot with Bruno Mars and the RHCP…