These have become kind of a tradition here, so here’s this year’s edition.
Sports wise, the short takeaway is that this was a good game, what with it going to overtime, and because of Brady’s records and all that. He really is a great player. You can tell because even I think so, and I’m not a football fan.
That’s the litmus test for real greatness, IMO. If someone who doesn’t follow the sport and doesn’t even know all the rules can immediately tell that you’re the best guy out there, than you probably are. I mean, I only watch one NFL game a year, so I can’t honestly tell the difference between a poor QB and an average QB, or an average QB and a pretty good QB. But Brady? He is awesome- there’s no question. He is the best. Everyone can see it.
Watching Brady tonight, I got flashbacks of watching the Bulls, back when Jordan was our sports hero, here. He is so obviously superior at his sport that even non-fans feel comfortable cheering for him, even when they don’t understand 100% of what’s going on.
It is kind of unfortunate that the Falcons lost. I was actually rooting for them, because I’d learned before the game that they’d never won a SB before. I didn’t know who was on their team, or anything, but I thought it would make for a good ending if they would’ve taken it, kind of like how the Cubs won the World Series.
But… the Patriots deserved it. They were the better team today.
So, congrats, Patriots.
Non-football stuff… Lady Gaga was also awesome, as usual. Hopefully, her performance will lead to a comeback of sorts on the charts.
So, everything was all good, except for… that. The feeling.
That other feeling.
Is it just me, or is football… boring, now? Even the Super Bowl.
It’s puzzling. This was a good game, at least near the end, when it really counted, but… it was kinda boring, even then. It seemed very samey, which struck me since I only watch one game a year.
Something’s happened to the NFL lately. It’s nowhere near as fun or as interesting as it used to be. I think I can say this with authority, since I’m a non-fan. I can look at it objectively.
It was a good game, but it seemed weirdly anti-climatic. To me, it was a tense game with a unique ending that somehow seemed rote and routine. Even with Brady’s epic performance, the whole thing seemed hollow.
Maybe this is the “Cubs effect”. Around here, you can still buy magazines celebrating the Cubs’ World Series win. And a lot of them, too. I went to the corner drug store today before the game and saw fully stocked rows of four different magazines commemorating the Cubs’ victory. And still, the hats and T-shirts were prominently displayed, as if the Series was last week.
It could be that compared to the madness that was the Cubs’ victory, any Super Bowl would look stale here.
But… IDK. The NFL really seems to have lost it’s luster, and it’s aura of mystique. Back in 2015, I wrote another one of these, and I started the post off with this: “The Super Bowl is the only NFL game I’ll really watch, because it mostly isn’t about the NFL. It’s about everything besides.” But, I feel as though even that’s no longer true. This year, I felt as though I was just watching the SB because it’s what I’ve always done, and not because I can actually glean something from it.
The ads, especially, were horrifically boring. God, were they boring. They were awful, awful, awful. It used to be that people watched the SB ads because they were more entertaining than normal ads. But, things have actually swung in the opposite direction. I would have rather watched any normal ads over the SB ads this year.
And it isn’t the politics. I mean, everyone took note of how overtly political and anti-conservative the ads were, this year. But, that isn’t a surprise, or even noteworthy. That’s just how TV ads are, these days. But what is noteworthy is how utterly charmless and devoid of humor this particular bunch was.
Most of the ads were like sermons; like lectures on Proper Behavior. They were morose and tiring, and some were outright condescending. It seemed like there was *no* humor in the majority of them.
It was awful. Really, it was awful.
The ads are making watching the SB a depressing, painful experience. As it stands, I watch TV to be entertained, so I’m thinking of skipping next year’s show because of the overwhelming number of sullen, intentionally boring ads in this year’s show.
The ads this year illustrate, once again, how badly the left is missing the mark these days. Ideals aside, who in their right minds would want to be ruled over by people as flat, condescending and dull as those types who made this year’s commercials?
You know- what I said earlier, about the ads being like sermons, seems more appropriate the more I think about it. It really did seem like Sunday school all over again, because I remember watching movies like those ads all the damn time in Catholic Sunday School classes. Really drives home the Christian origins of the multicultural mentality to me, as if more proof was needed for that.
Beyond the ads, it just seems that football itself is boring, too.
The game itself never changes.
The sports boom was brought on by the advent of HDTVs. For the first time, people could actually see what was going on on the playing field. HDTVs and new camera tech re-invented watching team sports. It made the old games of the past interesting again. But now, that interest seems to be waning.
Football, I think, will likely take the brunt of this.
Football was boosted by HDTVs perhaps more than any other sport. NFL games are perfectly suited for them- they’re just the right length for a get- together with family or friends, and have enough action to entertain, but not so much all at once that you can’t talk with people or get something to eat while the game is on.
IMO the NFL was boosted by the advent of HDTVs perhaps more than any other entertainment choice.
But, the novelty really does seem to be wearing off.
You know… I think I’ve said enough. It’s midnight, I’m tired of typing and I’ve already given this experience more attention than it deserves, really.