Have You Heard of This Thing Called "The Superbowl"?

HyphenSt1
Firstly - I debated with myself about starting this thread at all because I don't watch football and honestly could explain for hours about my criticisms on the game itself and the business behind it, but this is not what i want to focus on in this thread..

Secondly - I live in Washington (less than an hour from Seattle) and while i do not have a personal interest in the Superbowl, i feel fairly entitled to comment on it because i have not been able to escape hearing about this event everyday for at least a month..

Thirdly - I haven't been able to find ONE thread (though it is tough to sort through the searches results on Samaru) which is critical of the Superbowl, and i find this a bit disturbing. There are threads about "false-flags" and every other unfounded conspiracy, but not any which plainly talk about the nature of the Superbowl itself

here it goes:

If i don't care about football, why am i spending my time typing about it you ask? Actually it was a (near)near-death experience which happened just hours ago..

i was walking on a street in a town which is fairly rural.. a huge truck come BARRELING down the road, and come INCHES from hitting me and my autistic walking-companion..

the 20-something-year-old girls inside yell: "GO SEAHAWKS BABY, YEAHHHH!"

and right about then, i wanted to somehow interrupt all TV programming and simultaneously ask the entire audience a few things I'm confused about:

-WHO out there can defend the hysteria behind this "super-fan" phenomenon..!? a couple weeks ago, i found out what "the 12th man" thing was all about.. and i had a good laugh.. but doesn't the whole thing seem just a LITTLE bit underhanded? I'm not going to go into ranting about how it parallels nationalism (though I'm pretty certain it does haha) but I really do find it disturbing that people in the year 2014 can still be convinced to exhibit similar behavior but over a SPORT instead of their COUNTRY.. I mean.. what KEEPS it interesting for you? I'm not sure what conclusion to even draw, but i know I'm not comfortable with the situation.. strangely it seems that even many of the "conspiracy theorists" out there who are so fixated on Obama's birth-certificate, or Illuminati symbolism, never seem to pay attention to the more obvious things like this.. can ANYONE on this site say these people deserve to be millionaires for playing a GAME..?

-WHAT do you get from watching this game? Is it actually the thrill of the sport itself, or is it just another EXCUSE to get excited about something..? WHAT are you actually invested in? Say that you are suddenly, miraculously the BEST football player on Earth.. NOW what..? What does it change? Would you feel just as *special* if you were suddenly the BEST construction worker on Earth..?
..didn't think so...
..funny thing is that the big difference is that the construction worker actually BUILDS things... your favorite athlete throws a ball and runs..

their body functions properly.. good for them?

-WHEN do you think everyone will just stop caring about the Superbowl and Football altogether..? i mean, yes i know our entire WORLDWIDE culture has been in a slump for about 10 years now, and there's not many signs of any big change, but the superbowl has only been happening since 1967.. THIS IS A NEW THING! haha.. imagine if this generation somehow created a new/better/more-entertaining sport..!? maybe they even could treat sports as what they are (games) and perhaps people could start investing that ticket money into, i dunno.. something THEY could actually participate in, instead of sit on bleachers, watch sweaty strangers throw a ball around.. oh and have "family time"

-WHERE is the fun in gathering your family and friends together, gazing blankly at a screen, eating the crappiest food possible, yelling at the little men on the TV for not doing what you wanted them to do... oh and yelling at anyone who is trying to talk during the game, while you are trying to yell at said little men..

-WHY!!!??? just why..? Y!

-HOW do you find that you are "too busy" during most of the year, to do what you ACTUALLY ENJOY in REAL-life, and yet MILLIONS of people spend money they probably hardly have on seeing a game..


does anyone else see what I'm getting at? MODS should move this to the rant forum is you feel like it's necessary, but I honestly think that this is a social-issue that most people ignore or too busy participating in haha.

No, I do not see what you are getting at. You seem to just want to hurl stones at other people because you are not and never have been included in something. Seriously...how empty is your life? Have you EVER competed as part of a team? Have you EVER relied upon someone else--a "teammate"--to carry you when you were weak? Have you EVER physically dug down to find strength you did not know you even had so that YOU could carry your teammate and reach your goal? Sports are about a lot of things. Teamwork, sacrifice, devotion, hard work, team spirit, loyalty. Professional sports are of course about all of these things and also money. In all honesty, how dare you judge people for choosing to be fans of a sport, of a team, of spending THEIR TIME and THEIR MONEY how they see fit. Honestly, you sound like a lifelong outsider who has been excluded. So you want to dump on what other people enjoy. The NFL puts out a GREAT product and I for one will be watching til the day I die. I played the game and now I watch the game with my friends and family, heck even with complete strangers. We bond, we talk, we share joy and heartbreak, we tease each other and we make up over beers. In short, people like sports because they bring out the best in us and give us the chance to quash that which is worst in us. If you "just don't get it"...well that's just plain sad and you are missing out on so many good things. My advice? Stop being so bitter. Watch the game, buy a jersey, root for the home team. Go to a bar and buy a stranger a beer because you two are wearing the same shirt. You know what? You might just make a new friend.

AfterInfinity
reply to post by Zarniwoop

 

And our soldiers? Shouldn't they be making at least as much as our football players?

Absolutely not. You want to see war without end like you have never seen before? Pay soldiers like pro athletes. SMH...

AfterInfinity

Zarniwoop
reply to post by AfterInfinity

 

No... Not unless you want your taxes to increase by 1 million percent.

But they have my greatest respect, nonetheless.

Then why are our football players being paid so much more than our soldiers? Is it so much more dangerous or critical to run across a lush grassy field with a pigskin under your arm and a dozen men in tights chasing you? This is the point I'm trying to make here. All told, it's the gladiators all over again. It's basically the equivalent of hunting down a deer as one big massive pack of Neanderthals.

But whatever. I've said my piece, and it's getting repetitive now. I'm done with the Superbowl for this year. Time to move on.

edit on 3-2-2014 by AfterInfinity because: (no reason given)

They are being paid more because what they do makes tons of money and they get their cut. It's simple capitalism and there is nothing wrong with it.

reply to post by jaffo


I became pretty quickly un-interested in my own thread pretty quick, but this I find in need of response:

You seem to just want to hurl stones at other people because you are not and never have been included in something. Seriously...how empty is your life? .

I never hurled a "stone" that wasn't in the form of a question and I was never attacking anyone personally.. in fact i was completely focusing on the phenomenon of the super bowl itself, and the fact that it gets more attention from most people than other current-events, and i find that to be a perfect example of our current culture's flawed priorities.

believe me.. I've been a part of teams. forced to play baseball, soccer, and basketball thru middle-school, and it wasn't a matter of exclusion.. i just didn't WANT to be a part of the team, and i couldn't conjure that "competitive spirit" I've heard so much about.. it's not in me to want to dominate people, nor do i enjoy watching it..

but study the hell out of it? oh yes.

this is not an intellectual judgment, but an intuitive one and i don't "push" this judgment on anyone.. I'm merely QUESTIONING and the fact that it gets so many people so upset, and your heated response kinda proves my point for me..

I've done martial arts and snowboarding etc, and i did find those enjoyable, but again the competition aspect is completely uninteresting to me. i can't help but think to myself "so where am i going to use this..?"

martial arts is by far my favorite for that reason, but again I'm not into domination..

Have you EVER competed as part of a team? Have you EVER relied upon someone else--a "teammate"--to carry you when you were weak? Have you EVER physically dug down to find strength you did not know you even had so that YOU could carry your teammate and reach your goal? Sports are about a lot of things. Teamwork, sacrifice, devotion, hard work, team spirit, loyalty. Professional sports are of course about all of these things and also money. In all honesty, how dare you judge people for choosing to be fans of a sport, of a team, of spending THEIR TIME and THEIR MONEY how they see fit. Honestly, you sound like a lifelong outsider who has been excluded

where i HAVE indeed experienced all of these things, in a very potent way, was being in a 5-piece band for 5 years. Every single one of your "sports virtues" directly applies to playing music.. except i would make the case that it is in a much more profound way..

perhaps not in the physical realm, but in every other way it is a creative effort that requires everyone to fill-in what is missing and balance their abilities with the others. everyone thinks for themselves but functions as a whole.. It was an entirely self-made effort with no "coach" to dictate and think for us. it was entirely self-financed and whatever money we made from playing concerts, went into a communal fund for any band member to use towards equipment or maintenance.. and for all 5 of us to stick around for five years was absolutely an act of devotion, sacrifice, hard work, loyalty... without any stadiums involved.

shall i go on? I would say the only real difference would be that we didn't smash into guys at every show.. but even there we had plenty of scuffles with people who were "on the other team", but without the courtesy of wearing a uniform (besides perhaps dressing like rednecks)

if I'm to be completely honest, the only reason i created this thread (and wrote this response) is that i pity people who feel that attending something like the super-bowl and being "the 12th man" is somehow the height of what can be experienced for their time and money..

Honestly, you sound like a lifelong outsider who has been excluded

when being on the "inside" means what it does these days, i would say that i am proudly an outsider