Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Perspective, Please

Not being much of a major league sports fan, I’m still as happy as anyone in the New York metro area that the N.Y. Giants won the Super Bowl. It’s always great when “your” team wins, although admittedly, Feb. 3 was the first time I’ve ever watched them play a whole game. (Maybe the fact that I was in TWO football pools this year had something to do with it. Money being my great motivator, and all.)

It’s not that I dislike the Giants, or any sports franchise; I just have better things to do than plop my butt in front of a TV for three or four hours at a clip. (And yes, sometimes that means picking up the dog poop in the yard, or doing chores around the house, or napping. I happen to have skewed priorities.)

But what did bug me (and continues to do so) is the media and the way they’re still hyping the game long after it’s over. Yes, they won; Yes, Eli Manning stepped up, came through, made the save (add your own cliché here). Nice job, kid. Four years in the Bigs, and he’s got that championship ring. Can’t take it away from him.

But traditional media, print, TV and radio, have been going on and on (and ON) since Sunday night, and it’s getting a bit tiresome. It’s almost like there’s no other news worth talking about, although we DO have that presidential-primary thing happening.

There’s a lot of concern these days about folks’ shortened attentions spans, what with the advent of new technologies, the Internet, text messaging and everything else. So why does the media need to keep hammering this Super Bowl win home? They played, they won, they surprised more than a few folks. Whoop-di-do.

My feeling is, if they spent less time talking about the game, and more time on the future of the country, we all might benefit. And it has nothing to do with the fact that for the sixty bucks I put down on various football pools, I won NOTHING! (Visual: Stomps off muttering…)