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Chris L.'s avatar

[Rushes to dig out DVD of Horse Feathers] Don’t forget the olympics, like anyone cares about gymnastics the other three years.

I would make a similar argument about how people get breathless over the economy, when even economists are usually grasping at straws, or everyone goes wild for mardi gras with zero intention of giving up anything for lent. Humans gonna human, I guess.

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Daniel Moran's avatar

I forgot about Horse Feathers! OK, that's a solid one. I'm more impressed by the analogy you draw to Mardi Gras and the olympics. To extend it: people watch it and talk about it at work--fine. Let's all cheer for the motherland. But they overstep when they pretend they care about the uneven bars for the other 3.99 years. I can image Canadians who watch curling matches all year and even pay for the ability to see them on TV rolling their eyes when fake curling fans whoop and holler, "More brush! Give it more brush!"

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Decarceration's avatar

I truly do not know how to react to the Super Bowl, and feel like I am a bad viewer.

When I watch with "sports fans", they don't understand why I am not screaming and shouting. I am not permitted to simply analytically watch the game and tell them I have no rooting interest (I would root for the Giants, perhaps, but when is that going to happen any time soon?). I am a strange person for sipping my beer, looking at the screen, and noting, "Solid run."

When I watch with non-sports fans, snacking and chatting and waiting for a splashy halftime show, it is odd to them when I don't grant them my attention. I am watching the game, I tell them meekly, as if that should be enough explanation that I am not hanging on every word about that story when they fell into the pool.

And then there are the viewers that perk up when they go to a commercial, and a potato chip company unearths some forgotten celebrity to perform inept pratfalls that remind us of the pleasures of what we're already eating. And I lose their attention, because they are excited about what sketch comedy hell has opened up to allow them to celebrate unchecked capitalism. And I wonder, what's in it for them?

Fromtheyardtothearthouse.substack.com

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Daniel Moran's avatar

Yes--the idea that you don't have a stake in it and are supposed to (as Holden says) commit suicide if a play goes sideways is what irks me. As I say, I'm all for the gnashing of teeth and rending of garments if someone is a true believer. (And "Sketch comedy hell" -- very good.)

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Adam's avatar

A good thing about the incredibly destructive rise of sports gambling is that it’s easier for fake fans to have material rooting interests in not only the game’s outcome but also who wins the coin toss.

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Kevin Cummins's avatar

I hate that the gambling sites/concerns have now ruined watching baseball also. They seen to be the only sponsors for that sport(my favorite)..A huge reason pro football became king was the "event" viewing once a week and the huge gambling aspect.

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Daniel Moran's avatar

Ha! Absolutely!

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User's avatar
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Feb 2
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Daniel Moran's avatar

She's never getting that tree back. All the noise, noise, noise!

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