First, I did not watch the game. I was with a priest friend for supper and he – like I – were not all that interested.
However, I am aware that the KC Chiefs kicker, scored a record length field goal. He is a devout Catholic who attends and serves the Traditional Latin Mass. As a matter of fact, he attends (or attended) the parish of a priest friend of mine. Shout out to them both.
When I got home I watched a couple of composite videos of what were claimed to be the “best” or “funniest” Super Bowl commercials. You would think that for the amount of money spent on these slots, the commercials would be good and/or funny. I watched them stone-faced. This tells me how out of step I am with the degeneration of the level of culture and wit in society. The people who paid for those commercials knew their audience. If those commercials were infantile or tacky, they knew it. And they depended heavily on celebrities. Big deal.
It could be that I hit the wrong set of commercials. I would like to know what you think.
Speaking of celebrities, Taylor Swift is barely on my radar. She wouldn’t be on my radar except that there isn’t a corner of the known cosmos into which this pop tart hasn’t been slithered. Today in tweet I saw this image, chugging a beer. But my point is… what sort of company does this pop tart keep?
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Mark Wahlberg had a commercial for a Catholic app. I don’t know the app so cannot comment on it
The dual reason I watched was for the game and the commercials. I think I caught all the commercials and agree with your assessment, Father. There might be 2 exceptions: the one where the babies talk about an investment firm (I believe), humorous, and of course the Clydesdales that they brought back (I have seen them up close enough to touch, when they were at our city’s Sea World), gorgeous animals! There was a darker aspect of the whole thing than ever, and I don’t waste one second on “half time” or any of the “entertainment”.
The “He Gets Us” ads I’ve seen on YouTube for a while were just uber-cringy. The SB version was flat-out blasphemous.
I was watching with my kids (aged 10 and down) on a DVR type setup, so could pre-screen the commercials and rewind in real time if they were decent enough to watch – we watched maybe 10% of them. To keep the kids interested while the screen was blank we played a game where I’d mention the various sins suggested by the commercial and they’d shout out which virtue could counteract that sin. There was a lot of love of this world/hope and of course impurity/temperance.
I watched with my kids, so the truth is, I switched away the majority of the time the commercials came on to be on the safe side. That said, of the few commercials I did see (which overall I thought were very lacking), I thought the State Farm commercial wherein Arnold could not say “Neighbor” correctly was somewhat funny. “Neighba..”
Very sad that sports are the new religion. Most games on sunday.
My favorite baseball pitcher was Sandy Koufax. He wouldn’t play on Jewish holiday’s. His Rabbi asked him why because he wasn’t a devout jew. He responded, that it was a good example for the youth.
Roger Staubach attended Mass everyday and when playing out of state, his hotel had to be within walking distance of daily Mass.
Most Germans here don’t even know the football rules. Or all those players.
So, I must admit that I don’t watch football as well.
And I don’t know Taylor Swift.
But the name of the guy sounds fast, something that could have been helpful in the game.
Swift’s pop music is second tier stuff. When she started in country music, that was better. Has she said anything about the man, Toby Keith, who gave her career a big boost and who recently passed away? A video from 2005 really doesn’t count.
I only watched the 2nd half and the finale. Glad KC won. Wasn’t interested in the halftime show.
I admit I did find the Uber Eats commercial to be very funny with David Schwimmer and Jennifer Aniston. I nearly threw a rock at the television when Bud Light aired their commercial. A few weeks ago I was at a dinner party and tried some Shiner Light Blonde…pretty good beer from Texas.
I don’t watch sports events and I don’t watch American tv or news. After reading this post, carried away by curiosity, I went to Youtube to watch the “best commercials. I laughed once, a bit. But I feel they are trying to be funny. The rest was completely out of my comprehension. So, I suppose I am not the target audience for these things either.
Regarding Swift, I have only heard one song from her in my life, because a friend played it to me. The music was… beh. McMusic. But the lyrics were interesting.
Something similar happened with an App called Hallow (an app for prayer). A promoter of this app gave me a free subscription, perhaps hoping that I might help him to promote it. But I just don’t get it. In general, I prefer reading and silence, not listening and non-silence. I listened to some programs, celebrities, and famous priests, but I still prefer some good authors. Perhaps I am getting old.
Very sad that sports are the new religion. Most games on sunday.
As we are neither Jews – with all due respect, they do have their rules – nor Protestants of the Puritan type (with a bit but less respect to them), far from being problematic it is on the contrary an very fine and Sunday thing to do on a Sunday to attend a match or, better still, play sports oneself. – By which I do not mean to disparage concerts, museums, family-game-afternoons, taking walks with friends, patronizing restaurants, make fine dinners one one’s own, cabaret shows, religious reading, high-literature reading or even cheap-novelette reading.
Now where Good Friday is, as it should be, a public holiday, you might discourage a lot of those things on Good Friday. But Sundays are neither Good Friday nor the Jewish Sabbath. (But they are something different from I-have-to-catch-up-with-my-household-Saturdays.)
I enjoy college football, but not professional football. After the Baltimore Ravens took a knee in England during the National Anthem, but stood for God Save the Queen, I lost all interest and have not watched since. To appease my dad, I watched some of the NFL playoff games last month. Those games were not nearly as interesting as the college games I watched last season. As for commercials and current entertainment in general, I do not understand the degeneration, the lack of humor, the stupidity, and the depravity. So I avoid it all and do not participate in conversations with people my age.