An American Tradition

So, the superbowl.  I figure this happens once a year and happens to happen while I am writing this blog thang, so maybe I'll take a crack at it.  How this relates to writing and my life, I am not quite sure.  The only solid analysis I have is that instead of writing for like five straight hours yesterday I watched America's past-time.  So I guess it isn't helping.

I have a couple critiques.  I'll be honest, I don't watch football regularly or with enthusiasm, so this is sort of a once off exposition for me.  First, Christina Aguilara.  She messed up the words to our nations most historical song.  From a writer's perspective, this is like dropping one of the acts in Hamlet.  She seriously screwed the pooch.  Didn't she know that in Japanese The National Anthem of the U.S. of A. is an extended haiku?!  Leaving out those key words disrupted the flow of the river that is beauty, and therefore the game, and therefore the world.  We cannot just choose willy-nilly what words go into the song of a people.  We have meetings to decide those sort of things.  So Christina, take your grammys and figure out a 6-4-6 pattern that works in your ridiculous version the greatest song to ever be written.  

Now I take a step back and realize that I was not aware she missed those words as I watched her sing them.  Did you know that sometimes reading even great works of literature I skim?  Not often, but occasionally.  So maybe it's alright.

Second critique.  The Black Eyed Peas suck.  They look old and uncoordinated; their knees must have bullet hole wounds and Fergie is clearly a heavy smoker.  I don't think I have ever seen a half-time show at a Superbowl that lived up to what everyone keeps hyping the half-time show to be.  They all pronounce it (the announcers) with such clarity of voice and clear enthusiasm that every year I am fooled into believing it will rock. my. socks. off.  Nope.  Good thing I was wearing flip-flops Will.i.am, you owe me one.  I refuse to like any "band" that is presented as a "band" on national television where none of the members are playing an instrument of any kind.  They brought in Slash to play guitar and Usher to dance, so what exactly did the Black Eyed Peas bring to the stage?  Robots.  A space-tastic vision of the future that I actually quite enjoyed.  Those square-headed neon-suited dancers really brought it.  I could see their nostrils flaring in HD.  It makes me think about recorded versions of Aztecian blood-letting rituals in which crowds cheer an out of this world scene to tribal music.  I haven't quite figured out who gets sacrificed (maybe stage-presence), but it sure was a show.

Third critique.  I guess in the state of Texas when you show W. on the big screen the crowd is going to cheer.  But, like, really? The man pushed our country into massive amounts of debt and led us to a false war.  Need we cheer him because he is at a football game?

I realize football was only mentioned, just a moment ago, and in relation to the Bush.  Sorry about that.  The game was actually really good.  Rothelesberger is probably the biggest dude ever and Rodgers reminds of Anthony Green from Circa Survive.  I don't know why.  I guess there is not that much for me to actually say on the football part of the football game.  The pigskin carries its legacy into the year 2011, and I wonder if we will ever be such a desolate country that we cannot hold a grand event like this one.

The original idea I had for a blog post about the superbowl was about the commercials.  They are toted as the best of the year, and what that means to my ears is that big-league corporations are finally sitting down with some decent writers and telling a story that might matter, or a joke that is actually funny.  The funny lived up but the stories did not.  Senseless violence was used to great humor by Pepsi (I think) as many people got whacked by a can.  Not exactly a new idea, but classics aren't bad.  Go read Huck Finn one more time.  The best story I saw was for a car that flew through epic adventures.  It called on all well-known Western ideas of history and innovation, and ended (believe it or not) at an Aztecian blood-letting ritual.  Or something.  The commercial was cool, I'll give it that.

But it begs the question, why aren't ads in our world taken more seriously?  Maybe I have a skewed concept of how good it could be, entirely based on Mad Men, but I want more.  The next person to figure out a realistically effective way of advertising is going to make some serious cash.

I think the superbowl is a good past-time.  It distinguishes our country from the rest of the world, which could be a negative but in an increasingly evened out hierarchy I think pronounced independence should be regarded as positive, unless it is based on most bombs or largest military presence or....ok so the U.S. has some issues.  My point in all of this, I think, is that I appreciate that people watch a sporting event year after year, regardless of the status of our country.  I don't see Democrats supporting the Packers while Republicans back the Steelers.  Competition is rife but not in such a segregated way, and that is promising to see.  Yay!

p.s. this was a weird post.