The Green Bay Packers will win the Super Bowl
 

Aaron Rodgers, Clay Matthews, BJ Raji, and
http://mvictors.com/WordPress/images/2009/bam_thumb.jpg

They're the best. Best team ever.

I don't know...they're only beating the Lions in that picture. That's not too impressive :wink:

Over here in the part of the UK that I "live" in they call Northern Ireland, we mostly got American football on TV in the form of brief highlights. What I saw I enjoyed, as it was so different from the usual fare.

Then last year the whole Super Bowl was shown on TV over here. Then I saw the game for what it really is:

A 4 hour funeral of TV commercials, interrupted for a few seconds every now and then with football.

This year I hear that we are not even going to have any eye candy in the form of cheerleaders to feast our eyes on, as neither of the teams in the final have any:eek:

Guess that the Green Bay Packers' cheerleaders probably froze to death:wink:.

So the Packers won 31-25

I only watched the 1st quarter partly because I figured that the game was as good as over by then as the Packers had a 14-0 lead.

I also had to get up for work on Monday and as the game would probably string out to about 3:30 UK time, staying to the end was not a good option.

Mainly however, I had seen enough interuptions in the play to last me a lifetime. I was watching the game on the BBC, so there were NO commercials, but I believe that everywhere else companies were forking out $3 million for a 30 second commercial slot.

American football is not so much a game, more of an advertiser's dream come true.

The superbowl has many more breaks and commercials than a regular football game; and believe it or not that is why many people watch it. A lot of people who wouldn't watch a regular NFL game watch the superbowl because of the performances and the commercials. Was it just standard commercials in the UK? In the US virtually every commercial is brand new, and a lot of them are pretty good or let you know about a movie or something else you didn't know about before. It sounds silly, but watching the commercials is the reason some people even watch the superbowl at all.

Also, the Super Bowl is a cultural institution in America. It's a lot like a national holiday. Families get together, people have parties, grocery stores are dead, but bars are full. Even if it's not your team, a lot of people have traditions and yearly parties.

Not to assume that you're a soccer fan, but many in Europe and Latin America are and the concept of soccer is completely lost in the US. Just different ways we grow up, I think.

The game in the UK was covered by the BBC. The BBC shows NO adverts at all (never did), can afford to do so as it is funded by the government through a licence fee paid by everyone who possesses a TV set. Thus when the USA coverage of the game cut away to commercials, the BBC switched to a panel of pundits in a press box at the game who discussed the game. Imagine that for a concept...a TV station that does NOT have any adverts. This applies not only to coverage of the Super Bowl, but to every programme that it shows. Thus the enjoyment of the play, movie or sport you are watching is not interrupted every farts end by some twat selling you soap powder, or whatever.

Miguel assumes that I am a soccer fan, well I suppose I am, but my of football preferences are Gaelic football, Soccer football, then Rugby football.

Gaelic football is my 1st choice by a long way, that is played firstly by people who play for a team in their own community, and if they are good enough can then be picked for their "County" team, the ultimate honour. The County team that wins the "All Ireland Championship" can rightly call itself the best Gaelic side in Ireland. All this is done by total "AMATEURS" who do not get paid for playing their sport, but go through blood, sweat and tears for the sheer honour of playing for their local club or county.

So, you are right it is a case of "different ways we grow up":
One that concentrates on the love of game, local town or County.
The other which concentrates on making big money or selling products

I'm glad of the way that I grew up. I played for the love of the game, I was never good enough to play for my County, but am proud to say that making money never came into it.

Why does eveything in the US have to involve $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$? LOL

I said "not to assume" you were a soccer fan. It was just the easiest example at hand.

I like what you say about Gaelic football, interesting. But really, yeah, that's how it should be done.

When you think about it for 5 seconds, professional sports-especially in the states- are absolutely insane. Completely utterly insane, you pay how many millions of dollars for these people to entertain you? Richest .1% just to run around.

And this is why I seriously considered moving to Mexico for a while. I absolutely haaaaaaaaate ads, etc. But after a while you get conditioned/they shove everything down your throat and I get labeled a miser by my fam/friends if I complain about it.

PBS and NPR are government funded here in the US and all they do is take breaks and hold fund raising shows saying "to keep PBS/NPR on the air and commercial free, please donate/become a premium member." Even though they don't have any paid advertisements, it feels like they interrupt the programs just as often to ask for donations basically. I don't think BBC does this, but I could be wrong.

In any case, 4 hours of football -- where about 2.5 hours of that is pundits talking, does sound quite boring.

Don't get me wrong guys...I do like watching NFL when it is shown in the form of highlights over here in N. Ireland. It can be exciting to watch played by great athletes. Plus the day of the game is like a public holiday in the USA.

But, I find the constant stoppages in a full length game exasperating, but most of all I detest the sell, sell, sell of the commercials.