Super Bowl v. Puppy Bowl: There Are No Winners

For reasons I do not fully understand, I found myself actually watching the Stupid Bowl. In years past, I would hide in my study, avoiding the spectacle of Steve jumping up and down, shouting at the den TV.  If he called me in for a particular commercial or half time act, I went, but otherwise, I pretty much steered clear of the whole debacle. And no, I did not see the infamous wardrobe malfunction.



Lambeau Field

But this year, I actually watched the game. The Packers were playing and as ambivalent as I am about the Vi-queens, I have a slightly odd soft spot for the Packers. It has to do with the town owning the team, as if a piece of old-time America, when sports were, well, sportsmanlike, has been preserved for all of us to marvel at. Somehow Green Bay has managed to keep the team, keep Lambeau Field, and keep a kind of sanity that is seriously lacking in the big business of sports. True, they’ve sold naming rights to the entry gates, but the club has stood pretty firm on not renaming the stadium. This doesn’t mean they are a better team, it only means that the share-holders and the club are in agreement that history means something, and roots are to be respected. I don’t know if I’m delusional on this subject, but really want to believe in the mythology of Green Bay.

Undescended Peas

All this, however, does not help the cause of the overblown, overstuffed, overexposed thing called the Super Bowl.  I happen to remember Super Bowl I, and not understanding what all the fuss was about. It was a single game, not even a series! And to this 14 year old person, it was boring. There were a couple of marching bands, and Al Hirt was the halftime entertainment, not quasi-singers dropped out of the sky to be drown out (which may not have been a bad thing in some cases) by badly balanced audio. Frankly, the half-time shows are grotesque and revolting. They do nothing to enhance the event.

I don’t know exactly when football changed into this juggernaut we have now, and I don’t really care. The halftime show was dull. The ads were mediocre. (Except for the VW Darth Vader ad which obviously was based on one of my sons...you know who you are.) The post game commentary was equally pathetic and I lasted about 3 minutes listing to that claptrap. These guys couldn't string a cogent sentence together without cue cards, and they just keep saying the same thing over and over and over. The self-congratulatory back slaps are beyond plastic. And I can’t help wondering if the Coliseum in Rome was any different after championship gladiator matches.

 
Basically, this is just another exaltation of the culture of violent stupidity. Do we really need to elevate two teams running at each other like the bulls of Pamplona to something worthy of lavish praise? Or is this just one sign of the media controlling our visual input until we are dulled into acquiescence toward gore?

Puppy Bowl on Animal Planet

And if all this isn’t enough to make you sick, now it looks like the Puppy Bowl has gone the same way. Ads for BEVERLY HILLS CHIHUAHUA 2 are everywhere and even the blimp and the water bowl have sponsors. It’s really hard to concentrate on unnecessary ruff-ruff-roughness when there are pop-up ads everywhere! 


I keep asking, and will ask here, too: WHAT ARE WE TEACHING OUR KIDS?????????

At the end of the day, I think the sellout of Puppy Bowl is the sadder of the two events.

Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

Only a couple weeks until the pitchers and catchers are called in.

Translation....every day brings us one day closer to spring.