Superbowl XLII was only the 2nd football game I watched this season. I would usually rather spend my Sunday afternoons being outdoors, and my Monday night's resting. But, the cultural lure of watching the Superbowl was greater than my usual momentum away from watching football. I enjoyed watching the game with my Dad who was visiting. And I feel a responsibility to say that I found the commercials repulsive.
My summary of the dominant advertising angle: single out any thread of the cultured, refined, educated, intellectual, or non-traditional masculine, and beat it with your fist. Nay, attack it with violent force, and don't stop until it's reduced to a smoldering pile, or a bloody wreck.
Whether it was watching someone threatening to run over Richard Simmons with a car, smashing Justin Timberlake's genitals on a parking meter, or sending a giant mouse borg through the drywall to pummel an effeminate guy eating doritos, I saw it as various flavors of the same poison.
And while all that was running through my head, my body was enjoying a feast of barbequed delicacies, in recovery mode after riding 30 miles along roads normally choked with traffic. It felt like early morning on Christmas or New Years day. An atypical calm falling over the chaos of the cities. Where was everyone? Oh yeah, gathering to watch sports and commercials.
One particularly memorable stretch of the ride was the 4 miles of Cañada Rd that were shared with a couple of riders from the area who caught up to me to chat. We rode three aside, only passed by 2 cars over the entire time we rode together. While we rode south, the road was gently hilly, overlooking a gorgeous reservoir to the West with mountains in the background. Waves of clouds passing overhead, blue sky peeking through, made the whole scene dream like. I found silent pleasure in watching the guy on the titanium Independent Fabrications bicycle huff and puff to keep up with me on my proud steel frame. As my friend and cycling mentor Sean said in response to me telling him about that, "There you go, even $8000 doesn't matter if you don't put the time in."
Whether watching the "state of the union" through advertisement, or experiencing a state of bicycling bliss, life is a mixed bag. And on this past Sunday, I blame it all on the Superbowl. Giving thanks!
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