SuperBowl-ish Thoughts
Watching the SuperBowl when you don't enjoy football is like being a carnivore at an all-Vegetarian Chinese restaurant.
You can find things to enjoy but the pleasure is mostly lost.
Having no interest in the game itself, I had to find amusement in watching the various themes presented in the advertising, in the half-time show,
and in the fact that at our party, half the guests were watching the game in the Future. (Our High-Definition Satellite feed was delayed about 5 seconds
compared to theirs). They would cheer when nothing of interest was showing on our screen. I think they were doing it to tease us.
Here are the themes I noticed: Aerosmith gets shot into space. CBS allows an anti-tobacco industry commercial but won't show and anti-Bush ad. Josh Groban sings for the elderly demographic as a guy in an astronaut suit plants a flag on a fake moonscape surrounded by multiracial children and green astroturf. Janet Jackson sings music from 13 years ago with big projected words like "No" and "Justin" as she decries illiteracy and injustice. Kid Rock wears an American Flag pancho. Nelly touches his crotch while hot black chicks sing about it being too hot to wear clothes. Budweiser has three crotch-oriented ads. Beyonce sings the National Anthem (the only sincere thing in the whole show). Finally, Justin sings to Janet about making her naked by the end of the song, rips off her breast plate, and exposes her boob.
Naturally, a day later, FCC chairman Michael Powell once again finds the wrong thing to be offended by. So it's the woman's fault for showing her breast, but men can joke about crotches? And how dare MTV and CBS (both owned by Viacom) do something shocking to get ratings! Oh... wait... Michael voted FOR media consolidation.
The real interesting phenomenon here though seemed to be the clash of mainstreams -- the conservative sports agency (NFL), the conservative broadcaster (CBS), the raunchy adolescent football fans, and now the risque Hip Hop MTV culture.
Now if you could somehow have a sport in which all these teams competed on TV, THAT would be something I'd enjoy.
You can find things to enjoy but the pleasure is mostly lost.
Having no interest in the game itself, I had to find amusement in watching the various themes presented in the advertising, in the half-time show,
and in the fact that at our party, half the guests were watching the game in the Future. (Our High-Definition Satellite feed was delayed about 5 seconds
compared to theirs). They would cheer when nothing of interest was showing on our screen. I think they were doing it to tease us.
Here are the themes I noticed: Aerosmith gets shot into space. CBS allows an anti-tobacco industry commercial but won't show and anti-Bush ad. Josh Groban sings for the elderly demographic as a guy in an astronaut suit plants a flag on a fake moonscape surrounded by multiracial children and green astroturf. Janet Jackson sings music from 13 years ago with big projected words like "No" and "Justin" as she decries illiteracy and injustice. Kid Rock wears an American Flag pancho. Nelly touches his crotch while hot black chicks sing about it being too hot to wear clothes. Budweiser has three crotch-oriented ads. Beyonce sings the National Anthem (the only sincere thing in the whole show). Finally, Justin sings to Janet about making her naked by the end of the song, rips off her breast plate, and exposes her boob.
Naturally, a day later, FCC chairman Michael Powell once again finds the wrong thing to be offended by. So it's the woman's fault for showing her breast, but men can joke about crotches? And how dare MTV and CBS (both owned by Viacom) do something shocking to get ratings! Oh... wait... Michael voted FOR media consolidation.
The real interesting phenomenon here though seemed to be the clash of mainstreams -- the conservative sports agency (NFL), the conservative broadcaster (CBS), the raunchy adolescent football fans, and now the risque Hip Hop MTV culture.
Now if you could somehow have a sport in which all these teams competed on TV, THAT would be something I'd enjoy.
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