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this post was submitted on 11 Feb 2024
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Unpopular Opinion [Locked]
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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.
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.
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Advertisers are the best at spreading word.
It's probably why award shows (which are also smothered with ads) get so much publicity.
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.
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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.
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.
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.
How do they do ads during the world cup when the game doesn't stop?
American football continuously stops allowing for seemingly infinite advertisements.
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.
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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.
The NFL plus subscription lets you access either the entire broadcast without commercials, an alternate version that's cut from snap to tackle (and is available pretty quick at least in the playoffs; I watched some late games in the morning before work), or the coaches film (that's slightly slower).
Overseas it's different, but last I was aware it was better and included live feeds in addition to everything else.
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.
Whenever I get signed for anything over 50k I'm talking to an accountant, or banker at the very least.
If someone gave me millions at 22 I would also mismanage it.
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.
Two facts:
- I'm about to head out to a Super Bowl party.
- I agree with you.
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.
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).
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.
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"
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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.
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Heh, we'll see, I guess. I fully expected a flurry of downvotes right out of the gate, but I'm also thinking the timing may be skewing the results a bit.
It's just funny because this was up yesterday from in here
Trust me, this is not that. lol. I honest to gods thought I was going to get ripped a new one for daring to say anything bad about the Superbowl.
Around here? Doubtful.
Fair point. That's on me. I was treating it as "General Unpopular Opinion" and not "Unpopular Opinion on Lemmy". I agree there is a difference. lol
but I also get to eat too much food and have "an excuse"
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.
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.
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).