Improve Your Life Before Super Bowl XLI

Now that we have our teams for Super Bowl XLI (I think all elementary school teachers thank the NFL for using roman numerals so they have a real-life example why their students should learn roman numerals), it's now time for my annual two-week sabbatical from all things sports-talk, -center, -highlight, -analysis, -writing. -prediction, -reporting, and -media related. It’s just too much hype to handle. If you’ve followed enough of the league, there’s nothing new to learn unless you really have to know that Chicago’s team arrived in Miami under sunny skies. Writers need to fill their copy and reach their word counts so the smallest thing becomes headline news. Also, once someone has an original thought, it quickly becomes everyone’s thought (see Jerome Bettis’ return to Detroit last year). What we get treated to is the same story in every market.

Is it possible to hype the already super-hyped?

There’s nothing to gain from media day press conferences in Miami except for filler material. No coach or player is going to tell the press how their team is going to beat Chicago’s Cover-2 defense or the defensive line stunts the Bears are using to pressure Peyton Manning. On cue, these media days are so boring that a handful of people (some executive producers call them comedians) will ask questions wholly unrelated to football that are not only not funny (still with me?), but also satirize the whole concept of anything coming out of the next two weeks that fans of either team and the NFL need to know. Maybe these humorists are onto something. This also creates another layer of Super Bowl hype in which Super Bowl hype writers will complain about the work of other Super Bowl hype writers/comedians.

Oh, so you put your left sock on first on gameday? What a scoop!

I’ll admit that with this little’ol blog entry, I’m only adding another layer to the unnecessary pre-Super Bowl content available. While it’s also frustrating to read something about Super Bowl hype that serves only to complain about Super Bowl hype writers who complain about other Super Bowl hype writers (and media day comedians), at least you’ve just received your filling of Super Bowl hype. Congratulations.

Maybe this really is a comedy club afterall.

For the next two weeks, you may pursue a hobby, spend time with your family, or complete some home repair with the time you had set aside for pregame shows, ESPN (heavy on graphics and quick cuts, but short on content) segments, and Michael Wilbon fluff columns (I’m going to guess at least a few will be about the Bears and his Chicago childhood, sports profiles that never illuminate their subjects, and uncontroversial opinion pieces that only serve to drop names).

May the hype machine’s gears never get going.