This Superbowl…
…seems really loooong to me. But then, I’m not a football fan. I went out to dinner with a friend, talked for hours, came back, and I see they’re just starting the fourth quarter.
But now I’ve learned there was a power outage. That must explain it.
I would imagine some of you are fans. Everyone in the restaurant I went to seemed to be rooting for the Ravens. You would have thought they were the Pats.
And then, of course, there was Beyonce.
Ravens just won the super bowl!
Go Baltimore! Congrats!.
I too rooted for the Ravens. Easy to do for they are only some 40 miles to the north of Washington, DC.
Can’t help but remind myself that a couple of Ravens’ footballers, though awfully good on the football field are common street thugs off of it.
For many football fans, Superbowl half-time is an annoying distraction. I’ve watched all 47 and never a second of the half-time. But whatever strikes one’s fancy.
So I hear they’re blaming the power outage on a YouTube video….
The Superbowl is usually not much of a game as one or the other of the teams usually is too uptight, too overtrained, or has read and believed their press clippings. This one was an exception. Alhough it appeared the Ravens pretty much had it locked up by the third quarter, the power outage seemed to give the 49ers a new lease on life. It ended up being as close as they get and Baltimore was lucky to edge the 49ers with an amazing goal line stand at game’s end.
As for all the pre-game hype and half time festivities, they have reached the point of wretched excess. And they keep laying it on thicker every year. It’s an adman’s dream marketplace for selling us all kinds of things we don’t need with what they believe are clever or cutting edge commercials (Often of questionable taste.). I will make an exception for the Dodge Ram commercial this year. It was a tribute to America’s farmers that is long overdue.
Well, it’s over and now the cities begin the process of building their teams up to be next year’s Superbowl contenders. It’s what we do because we love competition and we love our teams that represent us out there on the gridiron. IMO, it reflects our belief in competition and striving.
OlderandWheezier: not on George Bush?
So very very New Orleans — the power outage, I mean.
neo-neocon, 12:45 am — “OlderandWheezier: not on George Bush?”
HAHH!
That’s ^exactly^ what I thought as I read OaW’s post. And then you came along first . . .
Last time I saw a puppy bowl, it was on the White House lunch menu!
I actually stayed up and watched the game athough Beyonce and the power outage were hard to take. I’m a Marylander (western part-not Beltway) and I went to college in Baltimore, so I became increasingly interested as things got tight. My family is full of Ravens fans, so I am happy for them. I probably won’t watch another football game in the next 10 years.
BTW, the German announcers seemed to be for SF. I guess because it’s cool (same reason everyone here likes Obama).
I’ve always really enjoyed football, though most especially college footbal. But, as I’ve gotten older and wiser, it amazes me how little substance there is to a thing like the Superbowl. Or at least, the hype/marketing far outweigh the event.
We watched intermittently because our only interest was in the Ravens losing (since they beat our favorite teams, the Broncos and Pats, to get there). Ended up switching to The Walking Dead marathon. Looks like we didn’t miss that much, not even any good ads or that halftime spectacle (the pictures are enough).
The Ravens are owned by one man, an undoubted billionaire. The New Orleans Saints have been owned for decades by a Tom Benson, who bought them when they were the “Aints” and have made him a billionaire also.
The NFL players are predominantly blacks, all of whom sport tatoos, and their on-and-off-field conduct typifies contemporary black culture. RGIII does not fit that mold, and the sports press has spoken of him as a non-black, just as Allen West has been handled by the political writers.
The taxpayers of the various venues all subsidize NFL teams to greater or lesser extents. Subsidize the greatly profitable? What’s with that?
The Superbowl half-time is similarly devoted to gutter-seeking, black culture, sexuality, profit-driven excess.
The whole deal is symptomatic of a society in inexorable decline.
There, I’ve said it and I’m not sorry.
I was not rooting for the Ravens for several reasons: I’m a Steeler’s fan who lives in the Pittsburgh area and the Ravens are our biggest rivals, I lived in the SF Bay area during the Joe Montana years, and it’s my opinion that Ray Lewis should be in prison, not on a pedestal.
My 11-year old son said of Beyonce, “People shouldn’t dress like that in public.” Indeed.
I have to add: I really wish they had selected musicians from the NOLA area, such as the Nevilles and Harry Connick Jr. A missed opportunity to put a New Orleans touch to the proceedings..
I can see where Don Carlos is coming from, but at the same time I bet the Roman philosophers had their favorite chariot drivers down at the Coliseum. So I watched (the second half). Exciting game. Most people around here rooted for the Ravens, except for one bitter former Ohioan who reminded me the Ravens are really the Cleveland Browns.
Well if the Texans couldn’t make it, at least one Houstonian did (Beyonce). How could any male not find something about a beautiful, scantily clad woman to appreciate? You guys are a very tough crowd… you have to admit this was definitely a better show than the assorted Jacksons and friends, or the abomination with Paul McCartney out of the retirement home for the afternoon. Or Madonna with the weird boob things. Cmon man!
Good for the Ravens, and former Texans Jacoby Jones, Vonte Leach, and Bernard Pollard.
And Ray Nagan pocketing the superdome’s utility bill… who knew? As always, the Super Bowl was a good day to hang out with friends, eat, drink, armchair quarter back, question the eyesight of the officials, and root for the good guys. Whoever they might be.
Obviously many of us here in Atlanta still have a problem with Ray Lewis, whose double homicide is still “unsolved” by the APD and unprosecuted by the local district attorney. The Ray Lewis worship that seemingly pervades the sports media is truly mystifying. He and his posse killed two guys. With knives. Then walked on ALL criminal charges. Apparently Ray later ended up making some kind of civil settlement with the victims’ families.
Now who does that remind me of ????
My marriage has been long since I’ve never been weded to the TV on a Sunday afternoon watching the sport. I do watch a few College and NFL games during the season, but it is not all consuming. To shorten the Superbowl experience to something that is acceptable I turned the TV on 5 minutes before kick off, took a break during the entire half time show and the blackout and turned it off 3 milliseconds after the game ends.
When the power outage occurred, my first thought was to the backwater experience that is New Orleans. I’ve toured the “back of the house” of the Superdome and talked with some of the staff. Most are functionally illiterate and the building should have been condemned after Katrina. The whole city should have been abandoned after Katrina.
It was self defense man. Those dudes were badass. When OJ gets out, we’re gonna go on Oprah and tell our side.
Peace.
Carl- agree with that about Lewis 100%. And you can fault the owner and the NFL and the sports media, and to some extent, me and other fans. We don’t hold them accountable by refusing to accept it. That is- boycott a team. The NFL in general has a millionaire thug problem. With that much money at their disposal, almost any behavior is given a pass, or forgiven. Ben Rothlesburger has a problem with assaulting women, but he’s still playing. There are others examples too. .
By getting the the family to make these things disappear and pulling whatever strings are necessary at the law enforcement level, the NFL can give fans the illusion that the players are clear of wrongdoing. It’s no excuse to accept criminal behavior, but as a sports fan, you also have to accept the majority of them lead decent, honest lives. As a fan, you expect law enforcement to do their jobs, and families to reject bribes for the murder of family members. The breakdown of systems that should take these guys off the street is complicated, but money seems to be the biggest obstruction of justice with highly paid, high profile professional athletes.
I’ve been critical of the Ray Lewis business since it happened, and have always thought it was BS, but the owner should have acted when law enforcement did not. I don’t think the other guys deserve to pay for his crime- if he believes in God as he says, and he’s guilty, he will have to answer for it in the next life.
It’s not just the pros. Thuggery among star athletes is also overlooked at the high school and college level.
It’s not just athletes, either. Look at how long Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky got away with buggering little boys. You think people would have looked the other way for years if he had been a math teacher? But God forbid the sacred Penn State football program should come under undue scrutiny.
Anyway, I didn’t watch the game. I couldn’t, since I cancelled my cable TV subscription in November. I don’t want to give my money to the MSM any more. Media delenda est.
rickl,
It’s not just the biggies like the Sandusky affair. It’s also about admitting people to colleges solely on the basis of their athletic prowess. Colleges have sold out.