Stupid Bowl

According to the bit of trivial that NPR throws in just before the news update, today is the 40th anniversary of Super Bowl 3, where the NY Jets upset the former Baltimore Colts.

I mention that to observe that the game was played on January 12th. Stuper Bowl 43 will be played on February 1st, three weeks from yesterday. One might wonder why they don't add in a couple more rounds of playoff games so almost everyone is in the playoffs (other than Detroit).

It used to be so simple. You had the AFL and the NFL and the top team in each went to the Stupid Bowl. Same for base ball, zzzzzzzz-snork- Sorry. Thinking about baseball put me to sleep for a minute, there. You had the NL and the AL and the top team of each "won the pennant" and went to the World Series. Now both sports spend about two months playing playoffs so nearly every team gets a chance in the playoffs.

The only reason to do this shit is for more advertising money.

That's when the teams are not extorting huge amounts of cash for new stadiums from cities that cannot afford it. Cleveland, for instance, one of the poorest cities in the U.S., ponied up a few hundred million dollars to build a new football palace for the reconstituted Browns. That money could have gone a long way towards doing something about their school system, but no, they had to built a new Church of the NFL.

It is beyond stupid and Cleveland is, by far, not the only city that has been held up by a bandit with a sports franchise. You need only look at the new Yankee Stadium to see that process in action. So if you live in New York City, when Mayor Bloomberg talks about how tight the budget is, just take a ride on the D or 4 train and look at what a few hundred million of your tax dollars helped buy.

This stupid shit won't stop anytime soon. No politician seems to have the guts to cross the rich fucks who play with a major-league franchise, for those franchises really are playthings.