… did we really need a pre-game show full flag-waving paens to “freedom-loving Americans everywhere,” complete with football players reciting (badly) quotations from famous Americans?
Did Summerall and Madden need to have an American flag festooned behind them?
Is the Super Bowl really a patriotic event? “Gotta wave your little flag around, or else the terrorists win.”
Feh.
79 view(s)
I was having the same reaction until hubby (Gulf War vet) told me that they do it whenever troops are overseas.
It struck me as more than “A Tribute To Our Soldiers Overseas,” and more an intentional plucking on patriotic heartstrings, which melodrama seems to have become more and more of the norm in commercial sports coverage.
So what’s your theory? The sporting arena is a convenient way to reach those long on patriotism and short on independent thinking? I’ll buy that one, but I’m a cynic. 🙂
I’m not so sure that it is that way, but I’m willing to bet that some folks think it’s that way.
Or it helps justify a 45 minute post-pre-game show. With advertisements.
well, baseball’s out, and more people eat ‘za than apple pie…
The only comments in the house during the short half-time show (we played Monopoly during the game and otherwise tried to catch the commercials) was, “So when is reciting the litany of names of the dead going to be a requirement?” and “How fixed is this game again?”
We’re not football people.