The Superbowl is nothing more than watching rich people fight over a ball while companies spend obscene amounts of money to blast advertisements at you.
No offense or judgement meant to anyone if that's your thing (to each their own). That's just how I see pretty much all professional sports - the super bowl is just the poster child for it.
Two facts:
Nothing wrong with that. SB parties are fun, and I usually never turn them down (even if I don't know / care who's playing).
Except this one where I did turn down an invite so I could stay home, drink in peace, and binge watch Succession (just started season 2).
Lol. I never used to really participate in superbowl get togethers. But this year I was invited with my wife to her friends gathering. I guess it depends on how much you buy into it or if it's just a way to hang out with friends.
I LOVE the Super Bowl. I just got my Costco run done in 45 minutes, not 2 hours!!
Also best time to go snowboarding or visit a national park
Aw, snap. Didn't even think of that. Silver lining for sure.
We went today too! We specifically planned for today knowing that most people will be at home. I do miss the parties, but such is life when you move across the country in middle age.
Hah, my wife and I just finished our Costco chicken!
Also, the NFL is a shit company.
Remember how they fucked over Kaepernick because he had the NERVE to kneel & stand up to injustice?
Also, remember how they formed a PARTNERSHIP with Musk's twitter AFTER he had shown everyone what a fascist white supremacist he is & promoted the worst people/"views"?
Fuck supporting that shit.
I quit watching the NFL a few years ago because the amount of advertising crammed into a single game is completely obscene now. I'll be mindful of your sanity and mood, and not break down how fucking over the top it is, but it's pretty much a commercials show, with some football breaks.
I'm European so I have a bias but I never understood how Americans watch a sport that stops so many times for ads. It just feels like the ads are the show and the game is the second plan.
I don't understand why the ads are so absolutely boring and stupid. It's also the same ad over and over again. I mean, make an ad which is a story line which you run throughout the game. At least make people laugh.
They'd rather just pound it into your subconscious, so when you need a widget in 6 months you pick their brand without even knowing why.
Not really an unpopular opinion is it..
Yeah, even my friends who were really into sports barely watch any anymore, the superbowl generally being the first they stopped watching. Number one complaint? It's more ads than game now.
See to me and my family the ads are one of the best part, not because we want to buy any of the crap or support the companies, but some of the ads are legitimately funny, and often some new movie or show trailer is shown as well which interests us if it's something appealing.
Edit: tbf this years ads being full of "He gets us" pandering, RFK Jr bullshit, and a local Injury Attorney wearing maga bullshit, makes the ads far less enjoyable, fuck this religious and political bullshit.
I've noticed over the last few years of watching football that they don't even care about missing actual action anymore. It used to be "Here's something cool that happened, let's take a break".
Now it's "Welcome back from the break, here's what happened while you were consuming ads, and it's time for another break"
I'm not into sports and I have no plans to watch the Superb Owl today, but I do have a big appreciation for humans being awesome, and for that I can usually appreciate watching even if I don't care who wins.
Watching a 300lb man accelerate like a freight train or someone jump several feet into the air, twist over backwards, catch a ball and land where they meant to is definitely something I enjoy, because they do work their asses off to get that good and I can appreciate anybody's passion at that level.
That said, totally agree on the money side, it taints so many things (looking at you IOC).
but I do have a big appreciation for humans being awesome, and for that I can usually appreciate watching even if I don't care who wins.
Agreed. I just wish it were possible to observe that kind of spectacle without every sense being exploited to sell me crap I don't need. lol.
I dislike so many "normal" things simply because they're so over-commercialized. Sports, Christmas, Olympics, most of the internet now, etc. The old joke "well, just go live in the woods then" is starting to sound pretty appealing.
Freight trains don't accelerate well at all. They carry momentum well, which is what the linebackers send into the receiving team.
You are 100% correct, I could not have used a more incorrect turn of phrase if I tried, hahaha. I fully admit not thinking that through at all.
Take my shamefilled upvote.
I’m not into sports and I have no plans to watch the Superb Owl today
That's really too bad because there's been some hot competition between two teams going on over in !superbowl@lemmy.world and you could have been enjoying it!
This is the most Lemmy ass thread imaginable.
A bunch of wannabe hipsters thinking that they're so enlightened. Because being against the grain is the height of personality.
Players aren't even that rich
The superstars are, but most of the players are destroying their bodies for 2-3 year careers.
A shocking amount of them don't know how to manage that amount of money either. Most end up broke within 10 years, most are destitute by retirement. Many get caught up in the lifestyle, blow the money never thinking about once they're done, and then their careers end all of a sudden without any fanfare.
First thing I'd do if I were hired? Talk to an accountant.
If someone gave me millions at 22 I would also mismanage it.
Whenever I get signed for anything over 50k I'm talking to an accountant, or banker at the very least.
N ot F or L ong
Even the players seem to embrace this as a motto around the NFL.
The career span of an NFL player is crazy short, and you're one hundred percent right, these guys are often permanently damaged from decades playing football just to get to the NFL.
I don't even like owls that much
Alright that got me lol
You should though.
bad post, clearly a popular opinion
I'm downvoting because I agree completely.
Grown men chasing a ball bitching about how much they're paid to chase the ball.
Close. They are. They're.
I blame autocorrect
Life is nothing more than sleeping, shitting and dying.
You can attach that pessimism to anything... But in reality, the Superbowl is a celebration and something millions of people to look forward to. It brings a large group of people excitement and half of them happiness
Why take that away?
Why?
How about: Taxpayers paying to build stadiums that they cannot afford to buy seats in just so an already disgustingly profitable private company can have a huge subsidy?
At no point in my post was I disparaging anyone who enjoyed it. You do you, friend. I was just giving my unpopular opinion on why I don't care for it.
Bread and circuses.
Ayyy that's a good fucking reply.
If circuses weren't important people wouldn't be complaining about the Netflix crackdown.
There's a pretty long list of reasons why professional sports, and especially the NFL, shouldn't exist. All I can do is not contribute. If trogs want to waste their money muh teeem, I guess I don't give a shit anymore.
I've never cared much about football and it's almost impossible to live in the US without constantly having to hear about it. I have to admit I've enjoyed the fact the Taylor Swift is now being shoe horned into football and people are mad cause they don't want to hear about her. If either fell off the face of the earth I wouldn't lose a second of sleep but oh the sweet sweet irony of listening to football fans whine about having to see and hear something they don't care about shoved in their face, Oh I'm so sorry that's happening to you, whats that like? Please tell me all about it.
Huntin’ deer, chasin’ trout
A bud light with the logo facin’ out
Next you're gonna tell me that the Marvel movies are nothing but watching rich people pretend to be fighting each other while poorer people pay to go watch. And WWE wrestling is...well actually the same description.
They are rich because we pay (with money or ads) to watch them. We pay because they entertain us.
Yeah yeah it is all a fake conflict between millionaires orchestrated by billionaires. I still enjoy the MCU.
Bread & Circuses
And it was a great distraction for israel to start bombing Rafah while they played their superbowl genocide brainwashing advertisement.
Yep! The Super Bowl Sunday Massacre. Grotesque.
There were side bets if someone would end up throwing up gang signs like tua
I don't remember a ball or ads but I did find out the best owl.
All sports, all awards shows, all reality TV (though sometimes starting poor people (working for rich people)).
Don't forget the bullshit showings of patriotism and military recruiting.
Pretty much.
I catch a lot of flack for various opinions that I have but my unabashed disgust for organized sports seems to irk people a lot more than my disgust for religion or my pity/disdain for current republicans and extremists in general
I think it's because we are disgusted by the owners but appreciate the players. There is nothing wrong with sports at the game level. Kids playing and enjoying it. Appreciation of the dramatic storytelling unfolding in front of us is fun. But add in the corporations and commercials and it sucks a little. But that takes away from the kids on the field doing what they love and making a living doing it. I just cant fault them.
I think its about the lack of tribalism being shown
Yup, it's Bread and Circuses all over again.
also something to note: they intentionally edge the fans constantly - the game's only an hour long. but we gotta pause play for commercials every few fucking moments, over and over again. punctuate edging with violent conflict - add in the lore/fanfic/tradition/dream job aspects - oh yeah, it keeps their attention.
all to watch grown men run around in spandex playing a children's game for millions of dollars, giving each other crippling brain and body injuries that will follow them into their graves.
Everything sounds weird when you break it down to the right essentials.
"Everything is weird when you think on it too overly." And as a correlary, everything is frivolous when you essentialize it too uncommonly.
...and it is not even a real ball!
You are mistaken. It's pseudo-gladiator cosplay voyeurism and there's a lot of freaks that like to watch it so it's legal.
Well, I insulated my self again this year. I wonder when I'm going to learn who won the stupid game. I don't remember who won the last one since I'm blessed with the best brain trait ever... don't remember shit if it's not important to my ADHD.
Chiefs won this one, they won last year too
I've been saying this for over 20 years now, and it's only gotten worse. The money wasted on one superb owl could fix homelessness, but please, let's keep paying exorbitant sums of money to watch men with literal brain damage move ball good.
The money wasted
The video game Red Dead Redemption 2 cost somewhere around $400 million.
Stadium cost 750 mil
And yet I'd rather see RDR2 not released than homeless on the streets
I just think the sport is really neat.
The ads are pretty overkill even compared to what I see here in Europe during the soccer world cup, and yeah athletes are paid ridiculous amounts, but at the end of the day it's a lot of fun to watch, at least for me. It's a battle of both wits and raw athleticism between people pushing the limits of what the human body can do. That's super cool, and all the story lines that arise or crumble from the competition are immensely entertaining to follow.
When you get down to it capitalism tarnishes everything anyway, a lot of entertainment media is very much just vehicles to sell even more shit, but they can still be enjoyable in and of themselves.
I always joked I might be able to get into [insert sport here] if I could buy it on BluRay and watch it 6 months later and not have to sit through the ads and breaks. lol
I think there's some NFL pass things that allow you to do that, actually, where you can watch everything whenever. A lot of them aren't accessible from Europe sadly, but if you're American there's plenty of options for you.
There's also sports anime lol
That's how I got introduced to American football, watching and reading Eyeshield 21, and it got me interested in seeing the real thing. Sports anime are pretty cool since they present you with a curated narrative with lots of ups and downs, and they're usually a lot harder to predict than traditional shounens, since losing doesn't doom the universe or something. They're genuinely a nice entry point to sports in my opinion, at least if you enjoy anime already.
How do they do ads during the world cup when the game doesn't stop?
American football continuously stops allowing for seemingly infinite advertisements.
They put ads all over the stadium, ads on the score bug on TV, the commentators will sneak in product placement during the game, the jerseys themselves have ads on them. They find ways.
That's definitely part of it yeah, soccer is more continuous, so they can't cram ads in like they can with football. There's still a lot of it, but it's not as crazy. American football is openly about ads as much as it is about the sport, it's pretty nuts.
I'd argue that it also leads to an enormous amount of food being tossed out and wasted. Granted the only reason that's in mind is because I'm going to be going dumpster diving lately to try and capitalize.
Oh, for sure. Pretty much any event or holiday gathering always seems to generate a lot of food waste. At least holiday dinners tend to turn into leftovers rather than garbage (at least in my experience).
At least it brought us the Puppy Bowl. Which is also full of ads, but hey, puppies.
This is UnpopularOpinion, not UnpopularFacts.
It's a pretty popular opinion on this platform
It’s true.
At some point, though, you just let it go. It’s just easier that way. Watch it, don’t, like it, don’t, none of that changes what it is. And, presuming CTEs still wipe out 90% of players in the future, it won’t be around forever.
I watched the Nickelodeon one and absolutely enjoyed all the zingers from Tom Kenny as SpongeBob.
Let people enjoy things. You don't have to engage with it if you don't want to.
let people dislike things. you don't have to engage with them if you don't want to
My family and I choose not to celebrate Suberbowl anymore. We don't really sports in the house and, our close friends don't sports either.
But do you athletics?
I do not, most of my motion and exercise comes from either working construction or skateboarding.
It's fun.
They didn't get any of my money. I watched the game for free and got away with it.
Did you watch any ads though?
Beyond the ads football is getting so slow, even regular season games. I don't remember it taking this long to get through a game as it does now.
Today's game was so long and so boring.
I don't mind people not liking sports the same way I'm happy if someone enjoys Post Malone music or Woody Allen movies even though they're terrible to me. I do get annoyed with people who make not liking sports a huge part of their personality though. Those who hear a conversation between others who are interested in a game and just have roll their eyes and make a comment involving the word, "sports ball".
How is it any different that grown men with obligations standing around at work, not working, regurgitating stats they heard on Sports Center that morning and arguing over which guy they like on the team, as if they have any stake whatsoever in either team?
Some people like things, some people don't. It's just petty and frankly childish to have that "my team can beat your team" mentality because let's face it, it's just a grown up version of "my daddy can beat up your daddy."
I've pointed out to people before that being super into sports statistics is a socially acceptable form of an autism style hyper fixation, and it angers everyone.
some like things, some don't
The replies about the stats goes so well with my thought on this.
If I was to talk about some other topic as much as people talk about sports ball stuff, I'd get crap for it.
If I don't want to talk about sports ball crap, I get crap for it.
It's a weird double standard sometimes. Maybe because sports are so prevalent and common?
I'll discuss the latest Rick and Morty with my friends. At least sports are "real". Who won was actually played by real people that affects their lives (the players are rich but they gain fame and a cash bonus for winning).
Meanwhile Rick Sanchez finding the alternate Rick who killed his wife was scripted to be entertaining.
I don't think this opinion is unpopular (or at least not any more unpopular than not watching sports in general). But expressing it like it is unpopular is.
It's certainly unpopular in the real world (or at least in my neck of the woods). People need to remember this community is "Unpopular Opinions" and not "Unpopular Opinions on Lemmy"
Is it more unpopular than not liking or watching sports in general?
That's why I was saying, what is unpopular is probably saying it like it is unpopular or unique. There's a reason why jokes and alternative events like the Superb Owl and Puppy Bowl are popular.
Yes?
Greatest argument for it is that it's an incredible display and even celebration of some truly awe inspiring and extreme feats that human bodies are capable of. I've never been able to get into favorite teams or anything, but every time I'm around somewhere a good football team/game is on, dang if I don't see some incredible things.
but I also get to eat too much food and have "an excuse"
Veing an adult will blow your mind.
Most of my friends and co-workers are all married, so I totally get "the excuse" being a thing to look forward to. One of the perks of bachelor life is just doing what I want, and I really hate to give that up one day.
Yup. Made a spread of delicious appetizers for dinner - dips, finger foods, veggies and fruit. I'm not even watching the superbowl and yet I felt obliged to pig out.
There's a reason I'm not watching it right now.
Downvoted because I agree (this is !unpopularopinion@lemmy.world)
Fair enough, lol. But I should point out that it's Unpopular Opinion and not "Unpopular Opinion on Lemmy"
Silver lining: There won't be very many more Superbowls!!
I've zero interest, but I was forced by my wife to bust out the digital antenna and make it happen. She's only watching for taylor swift and the commercials though.
It's a distraction served to the working class by the ruling class so we dont spend time thinking about how badly theyre robbing us and how badly theyre destroying the planet and how soft and fleshy their necks are.
I hate this mentality, this weird "THEY WANT IS DISTRACTED" mentality. In reality, it's a product that they make money on. It's a business. It's not some arm of a conspiracy or secret society designed to subjugate the masses. It's just entertainment. While it might serve as a distraction as an outcome, its not like its the point, this type of dialouge is pointless
Clueless European here: is Superbowl something like Champions League?
It’s like the final of champions league
It’s basically a grand final for the US’s American Football Season. I “think” teams in one league play each other whilst teams in the other league do the same. The respective top team from each league play each other in a super final.
Professional sports are entertaining for many people. As are other forms of entertainment also full of ads and rich people doing silly things. But, I agree that the Super Bowl is over the top obnoxious. As much as I usually like watching football, I tend to avoid the Super Bowl unless one of my favorite teams is playing, which, unfortunately, is rare.
A man from England told me this, when talking about the difference between Rugby and American Football. Rugby is a thug sport played by gentlemen. Football is a gentleman's sport played by thugs.
This is a very well known phrase in England, but it refers to football (soccer) and rugby. I have never heard this in reference to American football and cannot even imagine how the meaning would translate.
The meaning of it comes from football being a supposedly gentle game of skill, but played and loved by the common people and with a long history of bad behaviour on and off the pitch, versus rugby being a rough, bruising, injury riddled sport that was played by aristocratic rich kids in private schools who are all excellent young men destined for greatness.
Of course this is mostly oversimplified bollocks, but with just enough truth behind it to make it funny.
I think you confused football with Amerixan football. It is referring to what you would call soccer.
Nope. This was a comment from a Brit when we were discussing the difference between Rugby and American football. I found it an apt description at the time.
Feels… vaguely racist.
Maybe not even vaguely. Like I really cannot think of what the distinguishing line between “rugby players” and “American football players” is that would make one group ‘thugs’ other than “one of them is predominantly black”
I read it as American vs British, disregarding race.
He was describing American football players/teams as thugs. It is not meant with race in mind at all. For a little context there was some big argument going on the TV and the American team was throwing a hissy fit and screaming at the officials.
Edit, to add: Rugby can be quite violent, but the players have some respect for the game and officials. I don't really follow sports, but I found Rugby fascinating when I was over there! What a neat game.
Too many blow outs because one team lacks a defense. Guess it depends on what they use to rank a defense. Interceptions, fumbles, sacks, turn overs, safeties or safetys, ha safety’s no one gets a fucking safety, you throw the ball away, some guy has got a concussion if he gets sacked for a safety, he couldn’t tell where he was at, but I guess it’s better than a turn over on downs. But I mean what I’m trying to say is if everyone plays the game perfect then it’s just blocking, tackling, and getting in the way. You can’t guarantee you’re gonna get interceptions or swat passes or get any fumbles, you just tackle when they run or after they catch the ball. Short and steady works in madden, you play as the shittiest team and beat the returning football champions, but it’s no easy win. Like if you’re playing as the 2006 patriots vs the lions (0- 16) lions, or one of those western football teams like the raiders, they had some bad years but, it’s winnable with them against the best on all madden, you gotta be really strong and stay focused, any unopen receiver pass is an interception, but most teams punt the ball on 4th down. We play this professionally or it’s some crazy childish game, you don’t do the hail Mary till ends of half’s if necessary, but even if your gonna lose you may want to narrow the score a bit or get on the board.
Anytime they go to throw the football or shoot the basketball your supposed to throw one of your hands in the hair like you’re gonna block it and it psychs the guy out some, like whoever’s about one on one or double teaming him. I never seen a guy make shot if I put my hand in the hair, no kidding, I never missed one, fade away!!.
So this year’s Super Bowl Chiefs - Lions, or maybe Bills. The bills will throw it if you let them in there. God damn does New York love losing championship games, either that or they gotta win with a perfect score.
Fuckin Bills, you pricks, if I wasn’t involved with Buffalo, we’d spank your Amazonian asses, that’s how you show your guests you give them a blizzard football game.
Yeah Amazon is based in Buffalo chase that bank boo ya. Someone asked what that place was and they took off north west expanding everything before the gates closed again, literally.
So I gotta own the lions, giants, patriots and the bills, and then they find out I’m some old mfl commissioner. Well that’s gonna look like fraud. Well is it fraud or was it simulations. Come on Sean Seidel tell us. You wanted me to buy the Chargers because I liked San Diego but if I’m in San Diego then so is Dale Ross, so it’s different down here when we’re in San Diego, someone has to pay all these people a settlement who moved there.
But the god damn chiefs, they rape everyone, I don’t know if we’d let the lions play chiefs, we got a good thing going here with pizzas and watching NFL football. The chiefs must all have their own tribe they lead. Different parts of the season are different. After thanksgiving everything changes and then Christmas football games.
We use to want two NFL teams in the same area so like you could get into one arena or play for it where you have to win to get into the league, but you may need two more teams or even a whole division. You start bitchin and complaining about stuff and no one says it but like they’d wanna see you try,
It gives the area a certain buzz, or it’s all this traffic going east and west, north and south, football and weed doing this. With baked cookies, icing and candy.
I know it sucks Ren ever since Joe Louis arena flooded it’s been all down hill for us, no one wanted to invest millions of dollars into some area with big muscular teenagers talking about dropping out of school and not playing no prosports. What do you mean Ren your doing more steroids than Arnold Swarzennegger, wait a minute you guys are wrestlers.
We can’t paint the metal and Jerry rig it, we’ll get sued if something happens and you’re supposed to pump oxygen up top there for the people watching and suck all the co2 and methane out the ceiling.
Stadiums become a nest for breeding bacteria and viruses. Joe Louis arena was somewhat solid tungsten. And that’s why no one liked it or wanted it used that currently played or watched hockey. The palace was sanitized or it was too dirty to operate.
I didn’t want 4 stadiums in the same square mile, an opera theater, a boardwalk riverfront, the pistons left auburn hills, man that palace was something else, you get a certain buzz in there. They play basketball and hockey in the same place. We probably should watch basketball and some hoops but it became some getting high thing. We don’t lie about the disease thing as people that’s why we just kept getting high till they stop talking like a bunch of looneys. We smoked crack because you all were saying stuff that usually crack heads would say, so where is the rock that you were smokin man.
Then why didn’t you guys bring it up, that I commit fraud by posting flyers in public and then it not going on, well I thought we were all getting arrested because fighting is illegal and we’re doing this in public, and it’s some kind of dictatorship, we did call that the Detroit police department once before Mexico or whoever this guy is with big bales and last name not Guzman moved in back in 04. With wrestling it was a bit harder to organize local wrestling, with the nfl you just set up a table in a field or on a hill somewhere and you do NFL stuff. That’s how the league was pre 2009. After that it became more like madden till 2014.
Advertisers are the best at spreading word.
It's probably why award shows (which are also smothered with ads) get so much publicity.
watching rich people fight over a ball
Put them in an enclosed space and let the poors sit above and laugh at them, and you might have won over the Lemmings as fans!
That's not an opinion. It's a reductionist description, a mere list of facts.
Hurr hurr I don't like sports ball. Insufferable.
No shit, Sherlock. Got any more cuttingly insightful bits of wisdom to share? Compasses point north for the most part, perhaps?
Dear sir or madam:
Some crackpot has written me an abusive message, and it seems they used your account to send it. I'm replying to you as a courtesy in case you wish to take action against this lunatic.
Cheers.
Professional sports are watched by brainwashed fuckwits.
The players on the field have more in common than us than the billionaires who own the teams. Don't confuse them for the actual rich class. Over an average NFL career most players make less money than most people will over their career, and they leave football with severely damaged bodies and minds.
They are workers just like us, many of them go on to live in poverty, just like us. The players aren't your enemy, the owners are.
Something about Dallas Cowboys owner being in a crowd protesting integration.
Wrong:
https://en.as.com/nfl/who-is-the-lowest-paid-player-in-the-nfl-is-there-a-minimum-salary-in-american-football-n-4/?outputType=amp
TLDR: Average is 2.8 million per year.
What's the difference between a million dollars and a billion dollars?
It's a billion dollars.
You've still got way more in common with the players than the owners.
Average doesn't work so great here with those QBs at the top making $50m a year, bud
Yeah, at first I thought they were saying it evened out considering most people's careers are longer than an NFL player's, but even just 1 year as an NFL player nets more money than I'll ever earn in my life. Several lose it all, but that's from spending it on hookers and blow, not because they're forced to live paycheck to paycheck.
Did you read the rest? The median (which means half makes less, and half makes more is 860k.
That means if they get the crap beaten out of them, and save every single penny and don't pay takes, they would have 3.4 million.
As of 2015 80% went bankrupt
I don't do odds that bad.
First. You still have more in common with players than owners.
Second what's the average career length of an NFL player. Last I checked it was 2.5 years, may have changed. That's 7 million over a career. Over a 50 year career, which most of us work, that's about 116. Clearly upper middle class, but not rich.
Many athletes leave the game and work labor jobs like the rest of us.
Not saying they didn't have a front loaded ahead start and also not saying they don't have an upper middle class average. All I am saying is..the owners are your real enemy. We have more in common with the players than we do with the owners. The players are not your enemy.
Dude...Travis Kelce owned most of Cholula at one point.