by Don Hall

I always know what number of Super Bowl is occurring because the Super Bowl and I share a birthday. I’m fifty-eight and so is the Big Game. That said, I’ve never really been into watching it. I’ve never spent much time watching sports and have frequently judged those who do as a cohort in society who must also love monster trucks, pissy beer, and love their heroes despite the almost pathological number of them who beat up women.

Super Bowl 58 was the most watched sporting event in recorded history with an estimated 123 million people tuning in. That’s a lot of eyeballs. I watched the first half because my family loves their KC Chiefs (I bought my niece a Patrick Mahomes candle for Christmas in 2022 and they light it for every game like Catholics seeking the Virgin Mary) and I was in charge of the tailgate food. I begged off after Usher’s show and crashed. There was a huge party in the Sky Lounge about twenty feet from my apartment and ten minutes into my launch into REM sleep there is a huge outcry. I know it’s the game so I hopped up, put it on, and watched the second-only Super Bowl go into overtime. When Mahomes finally nailed the game winning touchdown, I yelled and pumped my fist. I even watched the weird post-game nonsense before crawling back to bed.

The NFL has pulled off a very smart feat—unlike basketball or baseball, each contest in the schedule is essentially a life and death challenge and because there are fewer games, each game becomes a must-see event for a plurality of Americans. In person tickets for this spectacle started at $6K for nose bleed seats and ads began at $7 million. This is big business.

On some level, society has become predictable (given the upcoming presidential contest between Biden and Trump is the very definition of a deja vu moment it’s difficult to see things otherwise). Too many opinions, spoilers, reviews, and online stuff to ingest combined with our addiction to the screens in our pockets take away some of the mystery.

There is mystery in a sporting event. No one can truly know or spoil the outcome until it has happened in real time. For someone like my niece, there is a cast of real characters whose past performance can be tracked and compared. For someone like the Program Director at the rock radio station I’ve been working at, there are Fantasy Leagues to join and bet on. Lots and lots of uncertain, unknown outcomes bolstered by the insider minutia that serious fans can sink their teeth in.

Uncertainty is a form of discomfort. While in society we fight against any form of discomfort we still need it in order to live. I practically invite discomfort in every aspect of my daily walk so I think I’m starting to comprehend the fascination. While I’ll unlikely become a bona fide sports guy, I’m thinking I’ll expand my time with it.