The Superbowl? Not So Much

I learned to watch football with my Dad.  We'd sit on the couch on Sunday afternoons, talking about the plays and watching either the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (back with the ugly orange uniforms) or the Chicago Bears (How 'bout them Bears!), or anyone else if neither team was on.  The games were fast moving, the cheerleaders appeared only in the background or in the change of sides, and the fans were insane, but in a good way.

These days, I avoid watching football games, in case ocular bleeding occurs due to the brain hemorrhage caused by wanting to watch someone actually do something.  The games drag on forever and ever, cheerleaders seem to get more airtime than the players, and the largest part of any game is the commercials.  I recently read a statistic - that out of a two hour game, only 11 minutes were spent in actual play.

Eleven.  Minutes.

The Superbowl is even worse than a regular game, because the next day I hear and read more about the commercials, the halftime show, and the fans than about the game itself.  

Ugh.

While I feel like an old fart for saying this, but whatever happened to football the way they played it when I was a kid?  What happened to playing the game, instead of whatever else they show?

On a deeper level, I wonder if the changes in football reflect a change in our society towards more commercialism and materialism.  Regardless, I now spend Superbowl Sunday like I do every other Sunday - not watching football.