It’s that time of year. Super Bowl Sunday. The one time of year that just about everybody in the country stops what they are doing, to do the same thing. Watch TV. Some watch it because their teams are in it. Some watch because they love football, and are but one game away from going cold-turkey ’til the summer rolls around. Some watch it for the commercials. And some watch it just because it’s the thing to do.
Some (like me) watch it from the comfort of their homes – largely, for me anyway, because I hate cigarette smoke. Some host Super Bowl parties. Some watch from sports bars or other public places. The important thing, though, is that it gives us all a commonality of purpose and experience.
Back in the pre-satellite and pre-cable days, there were but three channels that came across most TVs – ABC, CBS and NBC. It was a lot more common to see groups of people share TV experiences. When I was a kid, every kid I knew watched The Green Hornet, The Time Tunnel, Lost in Space, and Batman, as if it were required for passage into manhood. With hundreds of channels and TiVO, today you’re lucky if you can find somebody that watches the same show you do, at the same time.
As for me, I’m a Steelers fan (as long as they are not playing the Cowboys), but I feel sorry for the NFL’s cellar dwellers, the Arizona Cardinals. So I think the Steelers will win, but I won’t throw an embolism if they don’t. I’m hoping the ads will be great this year. I suspect they won’t – simply because we’re in a downturn in the economy. But we’ll see. Enjoy the game.
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