Super Week

January 31, 2015 (Saturday)
Tomorrow evening, Seattle and New England will square off and compete for the title of “World Champion” at the Super Bowl. The NFL, aided by millions of Americans, has created something out of nothing. Until 1967, there was no Super Bowl. Even then, it was called the “AFL-NFL Championship Game.” And that’s what it was. The teams met, played, and then went home. Game over. The next year, the game was called, the “World Championship Game.” It drew more attention each year. When the next game rolled around, it was named, the “Third World Championship Game.” It was finally called, the “Super Bowl,” in 1970. The next year the game got a number, being named, “Super Bowl V.” The Roman numerals have been used every year since and this year is it “Super Bowl XLIX.”
Every year more hype is added until nowadays it is kin to a national holiday, and far more than 100 million people will watch the game. We now have at least two weeks of activities of many kinds associated with the Super Bowl, especially in the host city, but also throughout the nation. The final week of this spectacle is now known as, “Super Week.”
I read that tickets to the game start at $800, with most tickets priced much higher, but as soon as tickets become available each year, the best ones are scooped up by corporations which then builds good will and gains clients by distributing them to people of choice.

The actual championship game is almost lost amidst the celebrations, shows, parades, news conferences, celebrity hype, illegal gambling opportunities, and no telling what else. Will I watch the game? Yes, unless something happens to divert my attention. Why? Probably because “everyone else” will watch, or maybe because the match-up this year seems to promise an exciting game. We’ll see.
This institution (the Super Bowl and the hoopla attached to it) is destined to hang around, because so much money is involved. A list of those who will profit in some way because of the Super Bowl would be too long to read. As long as it is about lots and lots of money, the tradition will continue. And we all know what the Bible says about the love of money. The word, “evil,” is in there somewhere.

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If 100 million people in America watch the Super Bowl, it humbles us to know that number is only 1.4% of the world’s population. World population is now estimated at near 7,000 million.