The Big Game
Yep. It’s that day. And like 67% of American men**, I will be watching what is often referred to as The Big Game. Because The Big Game’s real name is trademarked, doncha know? And like 44% of American women, my wife, Muri, will be watching. We will not be watching at a Super Bowl (er … Big Game) Party like 20 million other Americans, unless you count the two of us sitting in the family room with an assortment of
appetizers and the two cats (Mr. P and Elvis) as a party. Elvis will probably watch, sitting on his favorite spot on the coffee table but it’s darn near certain that Mr. P will nap. On my lap. Until there is an exciting play and my body English sends him scurrying upstairs. Las Vegas has the odds that Muri will take a nap at 3 to 1, while the possibility of an Older Eyes nap are running about even. This is the kind of game I like … I have a favorite but the preference isn’t so strong that I’ll be miserable if they lose. The Seahawks are an exciting team and I like both their coach and quarterback. But they knocked the team I really wanted to see in The Big Game, the Packers, out of the playoffs. I also get tired of the Marshawn Lynch’s I-won’t-talk Beast Mode schtick, Richard Sherman’s big mouth and The Legion of Boom crap. So I’ll root for the ball-deflating Patriots. Once a New Englander, always a New Englander.
Unlike that 67% of American men watching, I’ll be wondering why we make such a Big Deal of The Big Game. The truth is, most years, the best games have already been played when The Big Game kicks off and a substantial number of the games have been real stinkers. Yes, there’s the halftime show. It always amazes me that while ticket prices mean an older and more corporate spectator at The Big Game, the half time show is selected for a substantially younger demographic. That’s why it always includes a young, exuberant audience on the field. Somebody has to applaud wildly when it’s over. I’ll be skipping the halftime show, thank you … I just don’t get Katy Perry. How many seventy-year olds do? Yes, there are commercials, too. The sports-talk doofuses have been talking about the biggest Super Bowl Party no-no all week and seem to have arrived at Talking about the commercials during the game as the most mortal of sins. Sorry, doofuses. 37% of viewers say they watch the game primarily for the commercials (44% of women, but I’d guess at least half the doofuses don’t think women should be allowed to watch). I’ll say this … I’ve never bought a single thing because I saw it in a Super Bowl commercial.
This year ticket prices are averaging over $5,000 and some have sold for $25,000. Now, I know that many of the high priced tickets are bought by corporations but some are bought by regular people. I’m sorry, but for $10,000, Muri and I can have a lovely spread of appetizers here in Anaheim Hills … AND have a lovely vacation on the beach in Maui. The former will be in the oven in a matter of hours and the latter is in the works. Sounds like reasonable priorities to me. But 19% of people polled by Harris Interractive say they would miss the funeral of a loved one to attend the SuperBowl, so maybe I’m the weird one.
Anyway, Go Patriots.
**Statistics courtesy of cnsnews.com
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Older Eyes 
February 1, 2015 at 3:26 pm
Funny, but informative too:). Yes, Go Patriots !!
February 1, 2015 at 6:21 pm
I like everything you said, except “Go Patriots.” I like Pete Carrol, from USC, and the controversy, beyond the balls, fuels the Seahawks support.
It helps that Boeing is a big customer of ours, maybe that helps. I’ll be spending quite a bit of time in Seattle this year, automating their 787, and 777 lines, so that helps.
February 2, 2015 at 11:57 am
It was a fabulous game! Lived up to the hype, and our Pats won. George and I use it as an excuse to graze and graze we did!
February 3, 2015 at 8:45 am
I was rooting for the Patriots, so I was happy they won, but the way it ended, it seemed like the Seahawks gave it to them. Oh, well … a win’s a win. We, too, grazed our way through the game. You wrote a nostalgic post a while back (that I’m too lazy to track down) that reminded me of a post I wrote about Diana’s Pool at UConn. I’ve reconnected with an old friend who’s still in connecticut and he sent me some pictures. I looked through my photo album and had a picture from 1966 of Muri sitting in the same spot. You remember, Diana’s, right?
February 3, 2015 at 11:03 am
Diana’s pool? Where was that? I thought I knew the whole campus pretty well, but I don’t remember anything by that name. I will have to ask George because he was a cop there for six years.
February 7, 2015 at 11:20 pm
It’s not on campus, it’s in South Chaplin near Storrs. We used to drive there to picnic and swim. Look here for a few pictures.
http://www.ctwaterfalls.com/falls/main.php?Diane1
February 8, 2015 at 7:38 am
Interesting! George had not heard of it either.