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Another year, another Super Bowl. The Super Bowl has become such a major affair in America that it drives sales of televisions and food for the weekend. It is so integrated into our society that our own U.S. Government issued a report to people from other countries urging them to think of Super Bowl Sunday as an American holiday. Of course, only two teams get to the Super Bowl, leaving the rest of the country watching teams they don’t normally root for in the regular season. So why do we watch? It could be the commercials. It is the one time each year when people sit around and rank how well they enjoyed being advertised to and then talk the next day about what was the greatest ad. Imagine this happening at any other time! Our culture hates commercials so much that online streaming continues to grow in order to avoid it. On Super Bowl Sunday, though, let’s sit down and watch some ads!
Super Bowl Sunday is also a time of strange contradictions. The ratings on the Super Bowl continue to be sky-high, but if you’d believe some conservatives, they’d prefer not to tune in because, well, they don’t like black people. That’s not a joke.
About one-third of those surveyed nationwide said they are less of a fan now than they were five years ago, compared with about 1 in 8 who said they are bigger fans now.
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People who say they are less of a fan now than they were five years ago are more than twice as likely as everyone else to say the NFL is doing “too much to show respect for its Black players."
I hate to break it to people, but the league has been predominantly people of color for, well, as long as I can ever remember. As a Kansas City football fan who can admit that this year stings, I’ve had the joys of watching them all. Priest Holmes. Eric Berry. Patrick Mahomes. Dante Hall. I sat through some completely terrible seasons and some great ones, but I don’t think I ever said to myself, “Boy, I am really losing patience with how much respect we are showing for black players!”
Get out of here. I watched through several games in the playoffs where white quarterbacks had incredible praise while watching black quarterbacks get a lot of attacks. Russel Wilson is certainly a good example. He’s not the only one, however. Do we really appreciate Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes, and others in the same way that the league and analysts salivate over the next great white quarterback?
Admittedly, I may have bias thanks to my team, but none of that changes history. There are basic problems with the way, as a whole, we treat sports in our country. Do we over-emphasize sports in general and forget that they are primarily for entertainment? These are, after all, grown men going out there to entertain us and risking long-term physical damage to their bodies.
For a few hours on Sunday, we will all be entertained. That’s all. Entertained. We will hope for the safety of everyone on the field, watch a few commercials, and tune in for the halftime show. If you don’t like sports at all, and plan to do something else, you might try a good binge-watch or pick up a few movies to see. Might I recommend Encanto on Disney+ or The Power of the Dog on Netflix? Nightmare Alley on Hulu? Lots of great options.
Even with a weekend to eat and watch the Super Bowl, we still have elections and work ahead.
Wisconsin Spring Primary THIS COMING TUESDAY, Feb.15: Phone bankers and texters are urgently needed this weekend to support candidates in crucial downballot races, including secretary of state, attorney general, and school boards. Many of these races are technically “non-partisan,” but conservative talk radio in Wisconsin is pushing a slate of "Stop The Steal" candidates who support the Big Lie. The secretary of state race is particularly hot because the Republican Party is hoping to dissolve the Wisconsin Elections Commission and give the Wisconsin secretary of state exclusive power to administer and enforce all election laws. Primary races like these are often decided by just a handful of votes.
Your GOTV this weekend could make a HUGE difference. You'll remind Democrats what's at stake in the Spring Primary on Feb. 15 and the spring election on Apr. 5th. You'll also help protect the supervision of vote counting and vote certification for the midterms and in 2024. Please use this link to sign up to phone bank, send texts or do data entry for Wisconsin Democrats this weekend!