Super Bowl Excesses Demonstrates Nation's Misaligned Priorities
By Mildred Robertson
Before I start my rant about Super Bowl excesses, let me
give full disclosure. I am not an avid sports fan. My brother was a jock, and
my father was an enthusiast, and, back in the day, there was only one TV in the
house…you get my drift. Sports all day, every day.
So it is not unusual that, when given access to four
televisions in my home, not one is tuned to an athletic channel. So much for
the entertainment desert that was my youth.
Even if I had not been sports traumatized as a youth, I
nevertheless would be appalled at the Super Bowl fervor that engulfs our nation
every year. At first it was just the advertising budget.
I get that Super Bowl exposure can launch a company into the
stratosphere, but millions being spent on 60 second spots, no matter how
dramatic or star-studded, just seems ridiculous to me. Call me crazy, but Beyonce’s butt, or
Bieber’s chest don’t’ figure into my decision to buy one product or another.
Then there is the price of the tickets. That someone would
pay upwards of $5000 to $10,000 for a weekend of entertainment is patently
ludicrous. Particularly in light of some of the social challenges our world
faces.
If everyone caught up in this Super Bowl fervor were to
expend just $1 in a collective fund, how many hungry children could we feed or
clothed; how many homeless might we house; how many underprivileged kids could
we send to college? How many Flint Michigan residents could we give water
filtration systems? I am a humanities
major…someone do the math.
I am not knocking football, sports or entertainment. I just
think we have our priorities mixed up when we choose to expend so much of our
resources on so frivolous a pursuit when there are so many pressing social and
domestic challenges that go sorely underfunded.
Watch the Super Bowl. Enjoy the half-time activities. Wear
your favorite team colors. Eat, drink and be merry. There is nothing wrong with
that.
My question is this…can you bring that same kind of passion
to everyday situations that require our attention? Can you justify funding infrastructure or
healthcare, or college tuition like you justify paying $5000 for one Super Bowl
seat?
Just know that, where we lay our treasure…that is where our
heart lies. 
