Yes, it seems silly to talk about the Super Bowl on a political blog. However Super Bowl Sunday is filled with silliness from hoopla over the ads, to performers for the pre-game stuff like the National Anthem and of course the halftime show. That one’s pissed me off for decades because the shows are WAY too long. Players cool down too much increasing risk of injury or exacerbating existing ones. It’s supposed to be a game to determine the year’s champion, not a feature of commercials and entertainers! However people pay small fortunes to attend the games, and huge TV audiences tune in. More often than not in groups be it at a favorite bar/pub or at a ‘Super Bowl Party.’ Alcohol gets consumed (not to mention other things), often to excess. Even those who don’t overdo it often stay up late to watch post-game coverage. Why it matters is that every year the number of people who don’t show up to work on Monday causes a big economic hit to the country!
According to Daily Express US the impact this year will be a three Billion (that’s billion with a B) hit. The linked article tells us the game later today is expected to draw an audience of over 100 million viewers. If the sports pundits are right it should be a thrilling game, just as the last two Super Bowls have been. Two great teams with rosters mostly healthy, true star quality on both sides of the ball on both teams and for weeks there’s the added factor of accusations of bias towards the Kansas City Chiefs. Believe it or not the CT surrounding that will drive up viewership, and regardless of the outcome lots of social media discussion tonight and tomorrow. That will add to the ‘too hung over from partying’ folks who will blow off work.
Numbers have been crunched and they are eye-opening:
An estimated 22.6 million workers are set to stay at home on Monday – up from 16.1 million last year – including 3.2 million who intend to call in sick even though they are not. A further 3.2 million intend to “ghost” their employers by not informing their bosses they will not be turning up at work.
Almost 13 million workers, meanwhile, have been prepared and organized pre-approved time off, and 4.8 million have swapped shifts with their co-workers. Another 13 million intend to show up late to work.
Many will show up to work despite hangovers, but certainly won’t be at their best tomorrow. That too adds to lost productivity. In all it’s estimated as I’ve already stated this Super Bowl will COST our economy up to THREE BILLION in productivity. You’d think Elon Musk and his crack team of DOGE-ers would be all over this. Hell, when you look at them they are the types of guys who’ve always been tormented by the “jocks” in schools since forever! They’d love nothing more than to pull the plug on the whole thing!
Maybe it’s because Trumpty has decided to attend the bigly game. He just couldn’t take the idea of all those cameras sometimes turning their focus on Taylor Swift cheering for her man, Chief’s tight end and future Hall of Famer Travis Kelce! Yes, that particular romance has increased the NFL’s audience as her “Swifties” are now football, in particular Chiefs fans! When I think about it it’s kind of funny that Trump is so insecure he feels a need to try and “draft” of Taylor Swift’s popularity to get some ‘funtime’ camera coverage of his own!
Well, as I said the whole thing is silly. It’s not that I don’t sometimes look at sports, especially when a person or team I like is in the spotlight or I see a chance at a thrilling game/event. I just long ago learned to put it in perspective. And sometimes marvel at how ridiculously serious I once took fandom. As for the Super Bowl I will tune in at least some of the time because it promises to be exciting and I’ve been fan of one of the teams since I was a kid.
But unlike other sports and championship games the Super Bowl DID in fact become silly. Like I said, commercials as well as pre-game and halftime entertainment get equal billing with the frequent game. And the game itself is IMPACTED to accommodate all the extra advertising and the performing artists who want to hog the spotlight. Other sports don’t have that happen. Not one. So yeah, it will be another Sunday of Super Bowl silliness, followed by a three billion dollar economic loss. At a time we are facing a whole lot more damage to our economy.
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The game is on FOX.
So, one TV shot of Sift, 300 shots of drumpie.
I’m hoping he gets booed bigly, like you’ve never seen before.