SUPER NOTHING TO ME!

II am writing this blog on Friday, February 3^rd, two days before the Super Bowl and readers are seeing it post-game.  I don’t even know which teams are playing, and I won’t care Sunday night which of those two win.  It is superfluous to me.

I can understand if you are someone who lives or comes from one of the two whatever cities the teams are from.  Then it would be natural to root for their success.  But even if your hometown team wins, unless you are a member of that team, it shouldn’t make any difference in your life who takes home the Lombardi Trophy. (Did I impress you by my knowing the name of trophy?  I did not even have to look that up!)

A big deal is made over the fact that last year’s championship game was, according to the Nielson Report, the most-watched U.S. program of all time with 106.5 million viewers.   But what most people do not realize is that while the February 28, 1983 final episode of MASH had a paltry half million viewers less at just 106 million, the U.S. population is 31% larger now than in 1983.  So in terms of the percentage of viewers, MASH is still the clear winner.

Just like the celebration of Halloween is a senseless excuse to eat candy (blog of Oct 20, 2009) , the Super Bowl is watched by the majority of viewers solely for the cleverly crafted commercials.  In fact there are 45 minutes of commercials airing and only 60 minutes of game!  What is so stupid to me about this is that during normal TV watching, people fast forward through the ads!  What a scam has been perpetrated on the American public!  If ad agencies can create commercials that are highly anticipated during the Super Bowl, why can’t they be that creative the rest of the year?

The statistics on food consumption are also staggering.  The California Avocado Commission (CAC), which produces 90% of fresh avocados in the country, anticipates that 13.2 million pounds of that vegetable will be consumed, mostly in the form of guacamole.  California is pushing big time for more avocado consumption because the industry is in trouble. So says the Agriculture MarketingResource Center “The value of U.S. avocado production dropped from $429.6 million in 2009 to $322.1 million in 2010. The total volume amounted to more than 149,300 tons, a decline of more than 149,100 tons from the previous year. According to NASS (2011), the California avocado crop fell to 126,500 tons, while the Florida crop fell to 22,500 tons. The number of acres under production continued to decline, falling to 59,930, and the yield per acre also dropped, decreasing to 2.5 tons.”

The kinds of statistics that are fun to me about the Super Bowl have nothing to do with who is expected to catch the most touchdowns or sacks the most opponents. The fact that during last year’s game, the National Chicken Council  reported that more than 450 million chicken wings (90 million lbs.) were eaten is fascinating to me.  Or that bets placed on the game in Las Vegas should top $94 million. How about 28 million pounds of potato chips and 8 million pounds of popcorn?  Now those are stats I can sink my teeth into!

However the game turned out, I hope the 100 million or so of you who watched had a good time.  My Sunday plans are for a manicure and a bubble bath.  I will drink one can of Diet Coke and eat one package of 100 calorie snack.