The Superbowl is nothing more than watching rich people fight over a ball while companies spend obscene amounts of money to blast advertisements at you.
The Superbowl is nothing more than watching rich people fight over a ball while companies spend obscene amounts of money to blast advertisements at you.
No offense or judgement meant to anyone if that's your thing (to each their own). That's just how I see pretty much all professional sports - the super bowl is just the poster child for it.
The players on the field have more in common than us than the billionaires who own the teams. Don't confuse them for the actual rich class. Over an average NFL career most players make less money than most people will over their career, and they leave football with severely damaged bodies and minds.
They are workers just like us, many of them go on to live in poverty, just like us. The players aren't your enemy, the owners are.
Also, the NFL is a shit company.
Remember how they fucked over Kaepernick because he had the NERVE to kneel & stand up to injustice?
Also, remember how they formed a PARTNERSHIP with Musk's twitter AFTER he had shown everyone what a fascist white supremacist he is & promoted the worst people/"views"?
Fuck supporting that shit.
I'm not into sports and I have no plans to watch the Superb Owl today, but I do have a big appreciation for humans being awesome, and for that I can usually appreciate watching even if I don't care who wins.
Watching a 300lb man accelerate like a freight train or someone jump several feet into the air, twist over backwards, catch a ball and land where they meant to is definitely something I enjoy, because they do work their asses off to get that good and I can appreciate anybody's passion at that level.
That said, totally agree on the money side, it taints so many things (looking at you IOC).
bad post, clearly a popular opinion
Bread & Circuses
Next you're gonna tell me that the Marvel movies are nothing but watching rich people pretend to be fighting each other while poorer people pay to go watch. And WWE wrestling is...well actually the same description.
They are rich because we pay (with money or ads) to watch them. We pay because they entertain us.
I've never cared much about football and it's almost impossible to live in the US without constantly having to hear about it. I have to admit I've enjoyed the fact the Taylor Swift is now being shoe horned into football and people are mad cause they don't want to hear about her. If either fell off the face of the earth I wouldn't lose a second of sleep but oh the sweet sweet irony of listening to football fans whine about having to see and hear something they don't care about shoved in their face, Oh I'm so sorry that's happening to you, whats that like? Please tell me all about it.
I don't remember a ball or ads but I did find out the best owl.
Yup, it's Bread and Circuses all over again.
also something to note: they intentionally edge the fans constantly - the game's only an hour long. but we gotta pause play for commercials every few fucking moments, over and over again. punctuate edging with violent conflict - add in the lore/fanfic/tradition/dream job aspects - oh yeah, it keeps their attention.
all to watch grown men run around in spandex playing a children's game for millions of dollars, giving each other crippling brain and body injuries that will follow them into their graves.
Everything sounds weird when you break it down to the right essentials.
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Watching sequential images arranged to trick your brain into experiencing a story while you crush mutated grains between your teeth.
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Manually manipulating on-screen pixels at meaningful times to change later output.
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Interpreting shapes of printed ink in an attempt to replicate another person's mental patterns with the goal of experiencing a shared hallucination.
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Touring elaborately-staged displays of old junk and household items, sometimes with commentary.
"Everything is weird when you think on it too overly." And as a correlary, everything is frivolous when you essentialize it too uncommonly.
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...and it is not even a real ball!
At least it brought us the Puppy Bowl. Which is also full of ads, but hey, puppies.
I just think the sport is really neat.
The ads are pretty overkill even compared to what I see here in Europe during the soccer world cup, and yeah athletes are paid ridiculous amounts, but at the end of the day it's a lot of fun to watch, at least for me. It's a battle of both wits and raw athleticism between people pushing the limits of what the human body can do. That's super cool, and all the story lines that arise or crumble from the competition are immensely entertaining to follow.
When you get down to it capitalism tarnishes everything anyway, a lot of entertainment media is very much just vehicles to sell even more shit, but they can still be enjoyable in and of themselves.
It’s true.
At some point, though, you just let it go. It’s just easier that way. Watch it, don’t, like it, don’t, none of that changes what it is. And, presuming CTEs still wipe out 90% of players in the future, it won’t be around forever.
I watched the Nickelodeon one and absolutely enjoyed all the zingers from Tom Kenny as SpongeBob.
It's fun.
Greatest argument for it is that it's an incredible display and even celebration of some truly awe inspiring and extreme feats that human bodies are capable of. I've never been able to get into favorite teams or anything, but every time I'm around somewhere a good football team/game is on, dang if I don't see some incredible things.
Yes?
I don't mind people not liking sports the same way I'm happy if someone enjoys Post Malone music or Woody Allen movies even though they're terrible to me. I do get annoyed with people who make not liking sports a huge part of their personality though. Those who hear a conversation between others who are interested in a game and just have roll their eyes and make a comment involving the word, "sports ball".
There's a reason I'm not watching it right now.
Downvoted because I agree (this is !unpopularopinion@lemmy.world)
Silver lining: There won't be very many more Superbowls!!
I've zero interest, but I was forced by my wife to bust out the digital antenna and make it happen. She's only watching for taylor swift and the commercials though.
Professional sports are entertaining for many people. As are other forms of entertainment also full of ads and rich people doing silly things. But, I agree that the Super Bowl is over the top obnoxious. As much as I usually like watching football, I tend to avoid the Super Bowl unless one of my favorite teams is playing, which, unfortunately, is rare.
Advertisers are the best at spreading word.
It's probably why award shows (which are also smothered with ads) get so much publicity.
watching rich people fight over a ball
Put them in an enclosed space and let the poors sit above and laugh at them, and you might have won over the Lemmings as fans!
That's not an opinion. It's a reductionist description, a mere list of facts.
Hurr hurr I don't like sports ball. Insufferable.
Professional sports are watched by brainwashed fuckwits.