Reid Fischer's World of Rants

So which Super Bowl story are you most sick of hearing about?  Tom Brady’s foot?  The Patriots pursuit of perfection?  The Giants being huge underdogs?  Well if you’re sick of any or all of them, get ready to hear more about them.  Is it just me, or is the two week gap between the conference championship games and the Super Bowl too long?  It gets to the point where you’re relieved when the game finally kicks off because you’ve already heard every angle of the game analyzed a thousand times right down to the long snappers.   I know the NFL likes the gap because they want the game hyped as much as possible, but are we really missing anything if we were to eliminate a week of endless hype?  I mean, how many news stories about Tom Brady’s foot are we going to have to endure?  I say no fewer than 25 before game day. 

Then there is the whole party atmosphere surrounding the game.  Now, I enjoy a Super Bowl party as much as anyone else.  My party will have plenty of junk food and drinks and everything a football watching party should have, so I’m not saying you can’t have fun watching the game in a group setting.  My beef is more with those that are more interested in the pregame and halftime entertainment and the commercials than they are the game.  Remember Super Bowl 38 when New England won a great game against Carolina?  Well, this game should be remembered for New England putting together a great drive at the end of the game and winning on a last second Adam Vinatieri field goal.  Instead, this game is more remembered for the Janet Jackson fiasco at halftime (which I actually missed because I wasn’t about to leave my chair during the important part of the evening – THE GAME!).  I was so furious the next day when everyone wanted to talk about the halftime show, instead of what they should have been talking about which was the great game that was played.  I frankly didn’t care one iota if there was some “wardrobe malfunction” during the stupid halftime show.  Since when should a halftime show dwarf the game?  If it wasn’t for the game, there wouldn’t be anything else surrounding it.  I’ve heard of Super Bowl parties where no one watches the game but everyone intently watches everything else.  If you ever find me at one of those parties, than I have some oceanfront property in Wyoming you can have cheap.

In a lot of ways, it almost feels like football is over after the conference championships, at least in terms of what you would call a traditional football atmosphere.  My friend Vic told me one time he would much rather attend a conference title game than the Super Bowl, and at first I thought he was nuts.  Then I thought about it, and in some ways it makes sense that in many ways the Super Bowl doesn’t really feel like football because of everything else that is surrounding it.  There is the concept for many people that the “outside activities” are a bigger deal than the game.  For many people the day is just an excuse to party, and many are not that concerned with what is happening on the field.  I will admit I do enjoy some of the commercials, but for me the game is the sole focal point of the day.  Many years I do not even bother to watch the halftime show.  

In spite of all this, I do really enjoy Super Bowl Sunday.  Once the game kicks off, I’m into it just like I am any other game, whether my team is in it or not.  When it’s all said and done it is the final game of the season (I don’t count the Pro Bowl as a real game) and often times it does turn out to be a great game.  I just hope that if Sunday’s game is fantastic, that it’s not overshadowed the next day by some dumb commercial or heaven forbid a Tom Petty wardrobe malfunction.