Super Bowl...Chiefs...Football Rant
1-29-01
I watched the Super Bowl yesterday. Actually, I read the paper and worked on my taxes during the game itself. I really just watched to catch the cool commercials and the MTV halftime show. I know, that is sort of like saying I only read Playboy for the articles, but it's true. Amazing, I wasn't really sure who was playing, didn't know any of the players, and was surprised to find some who I could have swore were members of other teams last time I paid attention. You see, I am the most fickle of fair weather fans. If my team, The Chiefs, are having a good, winning season, well then call me Mr. Football. If not, I don't even like to wear my Chiefs sweatshirt at any time during that particular winter. A few years back I played Fantasy Football, and that was pretty cool. It actually made me pay attention to the teams, and who was playing where, and how they were doing. I was genuinely interested in the sport. (There was money involved.)
Also, I used to get in those illegal office pools. We never played for money though, really, it was all just for fun, and the love of the game, and office comraderie. I swear. This also made me more aware of the Football being played around me, and so back then the Super Bowl was fun to watch because I knew some of the teams and some of the players. Now I work mostly from home, and I don't want to take the time to mess with Fantasy Football or office pools anyway, and the Chiefs really sucked this year. (So much so that they fired the coach and didn't even tell him. He had to hear about it on the local news. Sort of like someone calling you up and saying, "Would you like to comment on the tragic news about your son?" And you say, "What news?" And they say, "Oh, um, sorry, nevermind, I'll call back later.")
Anyway, my point, and I do have one, (stealing a line from Ellen) is that it seems the Super Bowl, at least to me, has become less and less about the game and more about the EVENT. It's like the Grammy's, the Golden Globes, and my oh so sacred Oscars. I'm sure other people think this, and I know it's gone on for some time, but it's just interesting to think about. 130 million people watched. People had parties, cooked food, and all gathered around the big, friendly, warm television. Do we need these excuses to socialize? Is that it? Can we not just decide to have a party and invite everyone over, and maybe actually just TALK? We could play games. If it's warm enough we could even toss around the ball ourselves. But no, we invite everyone over to lounge about and watch the tube.
When the Chiefs were good, we used to do this every Sunday. It didn't matter who was playing. Every game was an Event. We cooked, we partied, we hushed up as the game began. Gee, what fun. And I think I am most bitter now that I think about it, that the Chiefs had a bad year, because well, I didn't get to do as much socializing as I used to. And I'm mad I'm not in any office pools because I used to make a good 40 bucks a month off of those. (Fake money of course) Anyway, maybe I'm just bitter because other people get paid ten million dollars over four years to PLAY football, something I used to do for free, just because it was fun. That's like some Yahoo getting paid to write down random, idiotic thoughts that you may have yourself sometime, and that you may actually express to your friends for free, and here they go and pay people to just write, and not even be all that funny sometimes, and...oh, wait a minute. Nevermind.
I watched the Super Bowl yesterday. Actually, I read the paper and worked on my taxes during the game itself. I really just watched to catch the cool commercials and the MTV halftime show. I know, that is sort of like saying I only read Playboy for the articles, but it's true. Amazing, I wasn't really sure who was playing, didn't know any of the players, and was surprised to find some who I could have swore were members of other teams last time I paid attention. You see, I am the most fickle of fair weather fans. If my team, The Chiefs, are having a good, winning season, well then call me Mr. Football. If not, I don't even like to wear my Chiefs sweatshirt at any time during that particular winter. A few years back I played Fantasy Football, and that was pretty cool. It actually made me pay attention to the teams, and who was playing where, and how they were doing. I was genuinely interested in the sport. (There was money involved.)
Also, I used to get in those illegal office pools. We never played for money though, really, it was all just for fun, and the love of the game, and office comraderie. I swear. This also made me more aware of the Football being played around me, and so back then the Super Bowl was fun to watch because I knew some of the teams and some of the players. Now I work mostly from home, and I don't want to take the time to mess with Fantasy Football or office pools anyway, and the Chiefs really sucked this year. (So much so that they fired the coach and didn't even tell him. He had to hear about it on the local news. Sort of like someone calling you up and saying, "Would you like to comment on the tragic news about your son?" And you say, "What news?" And they say, "Oh, um, sorry, nevermind, I'll call back later.")
Anyway, my point, and I do have one, (stealing a line from Ellen) is that it seems the Super Bowl, at least to me, has become less and less about the game and more about the EVENT. It's like the Grammy's, the Golden Globes, and my oh so sacred Oscars. I'm sure other people think this, and I know it's gone on for some time, but it's just interesting to think about. 130 million people watched. People had parties, cooked food, and all gathered around the big, friendly, warm television. Do we need these excuses to socialize? Is that it? Can we not just decide to have a party and invite everyone over, and maybe actually just TALK? We could play games. If it's warm enough we could even toss around the ball ourselves. But no, we invite everyone over to lounge about and watch the tube.
When the Chiefs were good, we used to do this every Sunday. It didn't matter who was playing. Every game was an Event. We cooked, we partied, we hushed up as the game began. Gee, what fun. And I think I am most bitter now that I think about it, that the Chiefs had a bad year, because well, I didn't get to do as much socializing as I used to. And I'm mad I'm not in any office pools because I used to make a good 40 bucks a month off of those. (Fake money of course) Anyway, maybe I'm just bitter because other people get paid ten million dollars over four years to PLAY football, something I used to do for free, just because it was fun. That's like some Yahoo getting paid to write down random, idiotic thoughts that you may have yourself sometime, and that you may actually express to your friends for free, and here they go and pay people to just write, and not even be all that funny sometimes, and...oh, wait a minute. Nevermind.