The Super Bowl is consistently one of the most watched televised events of every year, with this past Super Bowl setting a record for viewership around the world. Did you watch it? If you did, what's your excuse? Are you really that dedicated to pinnacle of American Football, or are there other factors that dictate how you spent your las Sunday night, and how you'll probably feel compelled to spend at least one February Sunday night a year for the rest of your life.
When we break it down, there's really not that much inherently exciting about watching the Super Bowl on TV, at least not more so than any other televised football game. Odds are your "home team" or the team you tend to root for throughout the year wasn't even playing, and if you happened to be a die hard fan of one of the two teams that made it this year, there's still a 50/50 shot that your team suffered an embarrassing 35 point loss. So why'd you (or anyone else capable of being easily apathetic) turn your attention to the season finale of the NFL? The underlying point here is that there's a little more at play than athletic enthusiasm and fan loyalty to what seems to be a natural inclination to feel compelled to watch what could easily be any other meaningless football game.
Maybe it's the blatant materialistic pissing contest that's put on display every time there's a break in the football action; the beloved commercials that are always captivating and exciting until you actually watch them. Are they effective? Using myself as a gauge, not any more so than commercials aired over the course of the rest of the year. Are they entertaining? This is also subjective, but by and large, not really. Does that stop companies from paying seven figure sums for a 30 second opportunity to fail at connecting with 100 million viewers? Oh no. Not at all. But maybe these ads work on you, and they're your justification for conforming your Sunday night to the pressure of American pop and TV culture, sacrificing yourself to four hours of Fox telecast.
Maybe you're just a party animal. Maybe you capitalize on the fact that some people you know like football enough to throw a party and invite you. You know what a party means right? Borderline dangerous consumption of alcohol and junk food. I suppose that could just make you a glutton. Nonetheless, perhaps your gravitation towards the Super Bowl revolves around your inherent desire for some pizza, rather than an appreciation for competition and sportsmanship.
Don't get me wrong, I say all this not because I have any vehement dislike for the Super Bowl, I'd describe myself as pretty passive towards the event in its entirety. I watched it this year, as I do pretty much every year, but I couldn't help but ask myself why I was glued to the TV set last Sunday, because for all intents and purposes as soon as my Fantasy team doesn't look promising I don't really care about football, and I tend to never spend my Sunday nights watching TV. Surely there must've been some other factors at play for me, and I couldn't help but think that I wasn't the only one watching that wasn't exactly a die-hard football enthusiast. No matter your motivation, it can't be that bad to devote one Sunday a year to pay homage to a cornerstone of American culture. I just know that for me the facade of actually being interested only works for so long, and if there were two Super Bowls a year, I'd probably take a pass on one of them.
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