Super Bowl Mania

As the favorite son of the Mississippi Delta prepares to battle the boy from the Swamp it is interesting to think how America has changed since the first Super Bowl. More specifically the importance of consumerism in America. According to Dave Ramsey it was normal in the 1950s and 60s for American families to live in a home that was less than 900 square feet and to drive one car. Wives did not work and if they did it was part time. The Super Bowl began almost the same way. Tickets were a bit more than regular season tickets and it did not garner much national attention. Today the Super Bowl represents everything in America that is consumerism. Supermarkets will have special displays for chips, beer, and charcoal grills. Television advertisers will pay millions of dollars for thirty second ads. The halftime show will feature the extravagant and always entertaining Prince. The million dollar heroes will battle for sixty minutes on the million dollar turf grown specifically for this game. The thousands of fans at Dolphin Stadium paid their thousands for a single ticket or even a hotel. Thousands more will flock to South Beach and the hot spots of Miami to participate in the fever of a South Florida party. It will be a weekend of money spent and if we are lucky a good game. When I tell people I do not have cable they are shocked, this past weekend I had cable and I was glued to the TV. Constantly changing the channel to see what was on the next station. The more and more I watched the more and more I saw and the more I wanted. There is something to be said about living the simple live. Desiring to have that small house with one car. At some point, acceptable American culture changed from one that was lived within ones means to know where the average American household credit card debt is $13,000. The Super Bowl is not a celebration of the best from the NFC and the AFC, rather, it is a yearly celebration of all that is consumed.

As I have heard on the radio and TV, the only real way to watch the game is on a plasma.