Superbowl

The Superbowl began with a clash of the two major football league champions, the NFL and the AFL. They wanted to know who the best really was, so the tradition officially began in January of 1967 with Superbowl I. Millions of Americans watch the event today every year, making it a solid staple of our culture, as well as a connecting piece for many people in our society that may not have anything else in common.

Baseball and football (at least our version of it) are two sports that are uniquely American. They both began here and have remained a tradition in our school activities and our professional sports for years, and will likely remain an organized sport in our country for many years to come. Like football’s Superbowl, baseball has the World Cup as yet another event that is highly anticipated throughout the nation, and our nation alone.

Even Superbowl ads have become somewhat of a tradition, and favored topic of conversation among us after the big game. Who ever thought commercials would be something people would want to talk about outside of being involuntarily (and frustratingly) subjected to them while enjoying our favorite shows? I guess that is just what happens when you live in a consumer-based society. We rely on consumers in order to keep our economy intact, so advertisement during the most watched television event in America is obviously going to be something business owners will be willing to pay a lot of money once a year to be a part of. For a commercial of such great cost, companies go all out in making the most memorable (and therefore, profitable) advertisements they can come up with.

The Superbowl, even with its relatively short existence, has become an icon of American tradition. The sport itself, the halftime show, the buildup of the big game, and the advertisement opportunities that annually come along with the making of the Superbowl has made it not just a simple game of football. It is the anticipation of a career milestone, the glory of being a national hero, the satisfaction of striving for something all season long and feeling the immense emotion that comes along with such victory or loss, the pressure of a successful thirty second commercial worth three million dollars, the dreams made and the dreams broken in countless coaches, players, and gamblers; the list of people and careers affected by this event are countless.