Trivia for you: Superbowl I was played on January 15, 1967; the Green Bay Packers won that inaugural contest. Fooled you; actually, there was no Superbowl I – they weren’t numbered until 1971.
The Superbowl is rich with sports history and is one of the most recognized sporting event each year.
Since I don’t have the time or ambition to go into all the details, I’ll simply proceed with the gist of today’s brilliant story.
Inasmuch as I am much older than the Superbowl itself, I feel I can speak with authority on this matter.
My late Father was an avid sports fan who yearned to be a sports writer and reporter. Unfortunately, due to World War II, he wound up working in a factory having to skip college in order to serve his country. But I digress.
Each day he would take the delivered morning newspaper to work to pour over the Sports Section to maintain his familiarization of the athletes and events, alike.
Although our home city was not tiny, it was not large, either. Most of our sports were received via radio or television. Television, for your information, was limited to three and a half channels: ABC, NBC, CBS, and the half was PBS. And because radio was portable, we were able to take the events with us while doing yard and house work.
But sports ruled when my Dad was involved. End of discussion.
Although we enjoyed baseball and basketball, football was our passion. My Dad played football in high school for a limited time until he was injured during a game that permanently sidelined him. Still, he enjoyed the game.
One day Dad was more irate than others after reading the Sports Section; he ranted about the crooked politicians who were doing nothing except moving our tax dollars from upstate to the larger city downstate. And he was correct.
The governor thought it was in everyone’s best interest for the entire state’s population to pay more in taxes to build a new sport stadium for the professional football team. Yea!
Too bad it was much too far away to drive to attend a game. None the less, our tax increase was for frivolous stuff that benefited those not needing benefits.
Eventually I moved away and into a larger metropolitan area where there were professional sports teams representing the baseball, hockey, soccer, basketball, and football worlds. Thinking they were sophisticated enough to support five different venues, the local politicians were gleeful to demand more and more money for the continued support of these activities.
Every few years those same elected, re-elected and re-re-elected and re-re-re-elected perpetual pols demanded more and more tax dollars. And there was little recourse anyone could take to stop this extortion, except leave the area. I left the area.
All the while the problem continued. Those non-sophisticated sophisticates were desperately trying to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear, without success.
Hint: You can throw suitcases full of hundreds at a problem but that won’t necessarily solve that problem.
All the money in the world will not make athletes faster, taller, skinnier, or smarter. It will only make them and the team owners richer, albeit on my back.
Until this day, local and state politicians are begging – no, demanding – more in tax dollars for the attraction or retention of professional sports teams to certain areas.
For the record, there’s a lot in the way of logistics and money that goes into sporting venues. Purchasing land, building the arena, new roads, parking facilities, landscaping, mass transit (subway) and bus routing, light rail service detours, hiring, insurance, utilities, printing, media accommodation’s, hotels, inspections, and, of course, the usual graft and public corruption that goes into making “things happen.” Wink, wink.
Always sold as a city pride thing, supporting sports teams often teeters on the ridge between entertainment and an annoyance. Repeated news broadcasts as well as newspaper spreads touting “the team” as the be-all-end-all not to be missed, and something in which to celebrate, can easily be overdone.
Keep in mind that my taxes were increased to pay for all the stuff two-paragraphs ago, plus exorbitant salaries, to help the municipality with their latest brainstorm. After years of regular cost-overruns, and “unforeseen” price increases, this boondoggle is now considered farcical, but way past the Rubicon.
So, more money is needed to salvage this new pig-in-a-poke. Only a few more tax dollars are required to complete this all-important project. Can you say “tax hike?”
A couple more years of media cheerleading this money pit and we’re ready for the inaugural game. Yea!
Billions of dollars over budget, and years behind schedule, we are now ready to field our professional sports team.
The airwaves are now plastered with stories about politicians pleading for support to buy tickets for this all important event.
Suddenly, the price of a ticket has risen to nose-bleed levels to pay for the added expenses. A gray-water hot dog is selling for ten bucks, and a flat beer is going for the premium price of $12! Parking is available for the bargain price of $28 per car. What would be the deterrent for not returning a second time?
You see, I can’t afford constant tax hikes AND outrageous ticket prices, plus $8 bottles of water.
Unfortunately, I am unable to watch the game at home on my television because the game is not a sell-out due to the team being simply awful. AWFUL. As such, I coughed up more money than a cat with a hairball for a system that I cannot afford to use!
Stop trying to make money off the average guy’s back, and start looking for a real job outside of politics. You suck at it.
