Super Bowl I – 50th Anniverary

Where have you gone January 15, 1967? Happy Birthday Superbowl I: 50 years old today.

They called it progress: expansion of teams, players, games… money. Astro-turf came into vogue, replacing the embrace mud, blood and guts an large extent. Now fallen out of favor; the by-product of mother nature – grass – prevailed, remaining unmatched.

Today, hard tackling is frowned upon – hitting is bad, especially QB’$, resulting ‘go into a slide’ protective fetal position (legit as the BLM movement, the NFL’s version ‘legs up – don’t hit!’)

CTE? OMG. As the Surgeon General’s warning re: cigarette smoking or Silica Gel packets admonition ‘do not eat’ found various products, if someone really needs a personalized blueprint/has to watch a car crash on the street or gridiron to know what is possible, and that there likely will be consequences, common sense is apparently in short supply today… in direct contrast greater prioritie$ & exce$$.

No dresses on QB’$ (yet, nod Jack Lambert’s 1979 quip), but pink wrist bands & other accoutrements (both NFL and MLB) to acknowledge one good cause or another prevalent, having replaced the embrace mud, blood and guts to an large extent. Designer shoes & cleats – socks bearing sharpies and other assorted and sordid props too, are in; nod Lombardi – “what the hell’s going on out there!?”

Just a notch behind Benjamin$ today is the ‘I’ndividual… ‘team’ is second. Today’s players too many them, ‘follow the camera’ for opportunities to gyrate, as if throes gran mal seizure, play to the crowd. Sportsmanship is passe & old school… taunting is the in thing… ‘dog’.

Has the game advanced, is it better today, in any way at all?

You decide.