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The Pastoral Lens
Things I Learned from Super Bowl XLVI
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
I'm a big sports fan. You name the game and I likely watch it. So, at the invitation of my youngest son, I attended his Super Bowl party this past Sunday night. There were 7 of us, including my two sons, myself, and 3 of their friends. We dined sumpuously on various snack entrees and settled in to watch the big game. Besides enjoying the action, I also learned a number of key lessons throughout the course of the evening. Here are a few of them:1. People pay for what people want, no matter what the cost. The game was sold out but the price of seating came at quite the premium. I'm not sure what the average ticket went for but this was not admission to a high school prep game. Our economy is slow but we still have money for what we want.
2. Sex sells (unfortunately). I spent a portion of my time scrambling for the remote to navigate the attention of my boys away from the sexually-suggestive ads that appeared during the game. Many of the ads were funny and tasteful, but...many clearly were not. It disgusts me that I can't even relax and enjoy a game with my sons because sooner or later someone is going to grace my screen wearing very little. Oh yeah, life just isn't life without beer, either (but that's a different story!).
3. The best team doesn't always win.Timing is everything. Don't get me wrong, the New York Giants did what they needed to do to get to the Super Bowl, but their record during the regular season clearly showed that they were not the best team. The league's best team during the regular season, the Green Bay Packers, missed their chance by losing to the Giants in the playoffs. Although Green Bay had 6 fewer losses than the Giants, their second loss came in the playoffs, while all 8 of the Giants' losses occurred during the regualr season.
4. Promotion, promotion, promotion! There is no event, no sport that gets more hype and drama leading up to it than the Super Bowl. It works, too, because this Super Bowl was the most watched show in television history, at 111.3 million viewers. The second place winner was last year's Super Bowl. Nowadays, ordinary people can become famous through the many social media outlets at our disposal. This event was no exception.
5. There is life after football. The Super Bowl is the final chapter of what most wives think is an unbearably long season of sports widowhood. Sunday's exciting game gave way to a mundane Monday morning and life as usual. You can't live on a mountaintop. Eventually, you must come down to reality.
So, the big game is done for another year. Lucas Oil Stadium will need a good cleaning before their next event, but the city of Indianapolis will recover. So will we. There are so many things in life way more inportant than a sporting event. God helps me to put things in perspective. Hold on loosely to the things of this world and keep your grip tight on God. That way, you won't fumble your chances at winning the game of life.
