Well, that was boring. This past weekend aired the most disappointing Super Bowl in recent memory for me, from a historically low scoring game to having ratings dipping to their lowest point in the past ten years. There were plenty of opportunities for the NFL to step up and make up for the already underwhelming teams.
From the New England Patriots fatigue held by basically everyone except Patriot fans to the belief that the Los Angeles Rams didn’t deserve to be there after a blown call against the New Orleans Saints.
Heck, Los Angeles making it recreated a sense that the League wanted to keep pushing the LA vs Boston narrative that was seen in the World Series (see the longtime Lakers and Celtics rivalry for more of this narrative), another championship that saw dwindling ratings.
And as a premature coup de grâce – the halftime show, usually the big draw for a lot of people failed to captivate nearly anyone. Maroon 5, better known as “Adam Levine and those who seem to play instruments behind him,” to Travis Scott playing only “Sicko Mode,” which is a song that is overplayed by nearly all watering holes here in Athens. The only decent part was Big Boi, the not Andre 3000 part of Outkast.
Add onto this a petition by fans to have “Sweet Victory,” from Spongebob Squarepants, played in memory of the show’s creator, Stephen Hillenburg, who died in late November of 2018. The League's response to this was to play a clip from the episode “Band Geeks” that would’ve led into Sweet Victory in the show, but instead led into Travis Scott performing Sicko Mode, a less than stellar tribute.
But what about the commercials? Since companies are estimated to have paid around $5 million for 30 seconds of ad time, the commercials had to be great like every year. Except, they weren’t, a majority of them had already been airing on cable and YouTube for the past month or so. Outside of a handful of these commercials, they were all something you would find watching a normal Sunday evening game. Thus leading to another draw for most people to be thrown out the window.
So this whole experience this year has left a bad taste in everyone’s mouth. Knowing the NFL, they refuse to learn from their mistakes. So what can we as consumers learn in their place? Well for starters, the Patriots dynasty is something that no one wants to watch, and as long as they keep playing in the Super Bowl, the ratings will continue to decline. Second don’t poke the bear that is the internet, especially when it comes to Spongebob, and third, companies don’t care to shell out $5-ish million dollars to show us the same commercials they already have plastered everywhere.
Logan Carr is a freshman studying political science at Ohio University. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnists do not reflect those of The Post. Did you see the movie? Let Logan know by emailing him at lc300918@ohio.edu.
