As a boomer who remembers the first SuperBowl back in the ’60s and the Steelers/Cowboys/Jets/Colts/Redskins eras, it has been interesting also "politically" to see just how this one game has changed from its inception to last Sunday’s SuperBowl and all the hoopla leading up to it.
Especially those commercial breaks, and the half time entertainment.
What started out simply as a game between two rival football groups and franchises, the AFC and the NFC, has evolved into a yearly event that is choreographed now almost a year in advance insofar as the politics that go into it insofar as even the selection of a venue for this all important game.
This year, of course, the Saints finally made it to "the Bowl," and the Who Dats, for the first time in 43 years, came back with the trophy to a city still reeling from the devastation of Katrina almost five years ago and in which the amount of citizens and residents has dwindled, while the amount of long and short term visitors mostly involved in Katrina related repairs and foreigners looking to make a steal on real estate has increased in leaps and bounds.
Many native born and long term residents have "moved on," to other states and will not be returning.
Once was enough for them, and since then another, Gustav, even occurred which then swelled the number of visitors to the City of Baton Rouge which already was bursting at the seams with the overflow from those also former New Orleans residents, some of whom now have suffered two devastating losses of homes or property in less than five years.
The Saints needed this win like no other. And the people of New Orleans are very loyal and grateful fans of "them Blessed Boys."
I still find it interesting that the Superbowl in this country, one in which the majority of Americans still claim to have a belief in God, is played on a Sunday to begin with, and why a Sunday was selected especially when college bowl games and such are over by New Year’s week. This also puts a wrench in some of those travel plans in order to be back at work then on Monday after all that celebratin’, especially now that it is held on Sunday nights and not during the day.
And, of course, now the "season" has been extended another week from the original which were held the last Sunday in January for many years.
The SuperDome, of course, used to be the the premiere venue for the SuperBowl after it was built for many of those games.
It, of course, suffered a great deal of damage after Katrina, but is back and the home field once again for the Saints.
Its just too bad that the game couldn’t have been played in New Orleans this year, instead of Miami.
I would think that in order to acknowledge the true fans and contributors to the NFL franchises and those teams who buy all those trinkets and pay those now outrageous sums for season and individual tickets, that a game such as this one should be played on one of the two "finalists" home fields, wouldn’t you?
I mean, the influx of tourism would help pay back some of those fans for their investment in those teams through all those seasons and all those games.
I know it might complicate those travel arrangements for some of those league officials and others who need to send advance teams to those locations in order to set up the camera crews and backdrops for some of the commentators and advertisers, but is that who is really important in the end, or the people that have stood in line and bought their tickets for so many years?
Perhaps in the future the selection of a home field for the game could be determined either by the regular season records of both, or on a coin toss.
Those that need to book their travel arrangements months in advance, well there is always local affiliates that could help with some of those arrangements by putting up a few of you executives and high end advertisers in their homes and thus maybe eventually reducing the price of some of those tickets in the process, or the price of your products.
I mean, this is a time of economic recovery in America, is it not, with a disappearing middle class which is being literally destroyed, for all intents and purposes.
It was also interesting to note that the half-time show was outsourced to a 60’s era British rocker group, The Who.
Now I am a Who fan as one who did grow up in that era, but for such a national event such as the American SuperBowl, don’t you think we could next year "in source" rather than "out source" the half time entertainment, with the exception perhaps of a rerun of Janet Jackson’s performance?
I mean were Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Simon and/or Garfunkel, Jefferson Airplane (Starship), Credence Clearwater Revival, or the remaining members of the Grateful Dead or Paul Revere and the Raiders all booked up, since it would appear they also could use the gig and may also be some of those in the disappearing middle class?
Is the half time entertainment also the subject of some of those free trade agreements, or are U.S. rock bands also headlining the halftime shows at the National Soccer/Football Championships in Europe and/or Canada?
Isn’t it time you also contributed your part to the American Economic Recovery and Relief Effort, Commissioner?
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