• Sun. Apr 28th, 2024

Superbowl Sunday

ByClarion Staff

Jan 30, 2012

The most watched television program is coming and the Clarion had the discussion if it deserves all the attention it receives?

The Superbowl is an American tradition that has been a top viewing pleasure since Jan. 15, 1967. 46 years of bruising hits, huge pass plays and commercials?

The game began as a combination of conferences to define one clear, undisputed champion.

Now, the Superbowl has a completely different meaning. Sure it signifies the NFL Championship game. But as the popularity of the sport grew, so did its interest from advertisers.

Some people watch the game for its advertisements. Some people watch the game for the halftime show. Which in its most memorable of moments featured a wardrobe malfunction that was seen worldwide — 90 million viewers to be exact.

The halftime show doesn’t appeal to half the viewers that it once did. We can all thank Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake for that.

But watching the game for the new Doritos commercial, or for the possibility of seeing one America’s stars exposed under a grand scope is not what the game is really about.

The Superbowl is a spectacle, there’s no denying that fact. But for the players, the game is a summit that they have been climbing toward their entire life. For some the players, the game means everything to them. More than religion, more than family and more than life itself.

Playing in the Superbowl and winning has been described as a euphoric feeling unmatched by any other by numerous accounts of players. It’s what kept John Elway and Brett Favre playing into there 40s.

So while you’re snacking on chicken wings and pizza, while watching the game on the new big screen television that you got on black Friday for this game, take a second to realize the true meaning—hard work.

Last year the game drew in an astounding 111 million viewers. There are only 307 million people in the United States.

That huge fan base makes football truly America’s sport.

Every year it gives our youth a role model to look up to. Someone to imitate in the back yard as the clock runs down. The Superbowl is a way to bring us all together, just like a holiday.

So to answer the question first posed in this column—yes, point, blank and period.