Over Exposure

There is way too much coverage of the Super Bowl.  There, I said it, now lets move on.  I'm not the first person to point this out nor will I be the last.  The excitement about this game that the country has is unbelievable.  Is it because the entire season hinges on one game as opposed to a seven game series like the other major sports?  Or is it because our society just thinks that it is that important? 

With the lack of football, sports channels really need to stretch for stories.  One of the big stories this year is that two brothers are coaching against each other.  Jim and John Harbaugh are the head coaches of the two teams.  Yeah, it's kinda neat that it is happening.  No, it won't drive some huge wedge into the family where you are on Team Jim or Team John.  No, it does not deserve any extra coverage.  Unless you need a story.  I'm talking desperation time.  They did a joint news conference yesterday, which is cool.  What's not cool is that it got broken down by ESPN.  I'm talking about a break down in time talking, length of answer, how many times one interrupted the other one, how many times each of them smiled.  I'm not joking about that last one.  

Not only is the week leading up to the Super Bowl a stretch for coverage, but so is the day of the Super Bowl.  Coverage is starting at around 11:00 in the morning.  The game starts at 6:30 in the evening.  What could possibly be covered in that time span that cannot be covered in about half that time, or even a third of the time?  Once again, over exposure and over coverage.  I want to know who would sit through all that bullshit.  I want to know who would want to.  I would slap them.

It all has to do with the obsession we have as a country about the sport.  And it is driven by the sports channels.  ESPN, CBS, NBC, all of them put such importance on knowing every single detail about every single player that they have driven the time of pregame shows to longer lengths.  It has gone from one hour to two hours to even three hours on ESPN on Sunday mornings.  I know that there are always plenty of games each week, but do we need ten minutes on a Kansas City/Cleveland game that no one wants to watch?  

The game starts at 5:30 local time, and I plan on start watching it about fifteen minutes after it begins because even the start of the game is delayed by pomp and circumstance.  Whenever the Super Bowl comes around, I just hope for a close game.  Because my team may never get there, this is all I want to see.  An entertaining game.  Everyone always likes to throw out their predictions for the game, and I have not done well with predictions of the Super Bowl in the past, but that doesn't stop me and it won't again this year. 

Ravens: 19
49ers:  27