I received a kind offer to go hang out with a family in a suburb of Montréal to watch the Superbowl. I am never invited to these kinds of things, mostly because people presume I won’t be into it, but really, I am up for anything, even Major Televised Sports Events, as long as the company is good. The company was top-notch, so I accepted in a heartbeat.
I don’t know much about football, and never really cared about the Superbowl, but knew I would get something out of the game itself, and besides, there was the travel to this new and exciting suburb of Montréal to look forward to (Longueuil, for the curious) and the whole niceness of hanging out with a family, etc etc.
The food preparation was very intense. The barbecue was sparked up. Potato skins were made from scratch. Three big boxes of chicken wings went into the oven. Then the game began, and I have two major observations about it that I will share with you.
One – All the whooshing noises and fancy graphics were really impressive. There was this sense of grandeur that the television network obviously wanted to convey, and that big shiny graphic of the Superbowl logo with the accompanying “whooooosh” sound did the trick. Also, I was super impressed by the way they put digital images on the field, telling you what direction play was going and who had the ball and stuff. Very helpful for people like me who otherwise might not know what the heck is going on.
Two – The little “performative touches” by the players and all the back stories on them. The commentators were talking about how one poor guy had lost his grandma just a little while before this big game. These details really add to the drama. There were more whooshing sounds and fancy graphics and they would profile one individual player. This was also pretty cool because each player would try to personalize this profile moment, by winking or making some gesture. But the most interesting moment perhaps was when the New England Patriots would score. After the touchdown, they mocked the other team (the Philadelphia Eagles) by making wing-flapping gestures in the end zone, as part of their end zone dance. This was the sort of gesture that the Eagles would normally do when they scored. Of course, once it became a mocking gesture, the Eagles stopped doing it. Very effective.
Truly, sport is well-packaged performance art that is marketed to everyone. Sport inspires artists sometimes too – witness the formations on the field of Bronco Stadium in Cremaster 1, as well as earlier physical endurance work by Matthew Barney. I also have to admit to exploiting the pomp and circumstance of a large sport event for my Meta-Parade Grey Cup performance. There’s potential for artists to be inspired by sport, because at bottom it is a type of performance, involving skill and spectacle.
One reply on “Superbowl”
The hottest thing about the Superbowl is that HD camera they have on pully’s that flies over the players. I bet they’ll use this technology in the next war.
Football was always on when I was growing up – i didn’t watch much, but it was there so i sort of knew what was going on. it’s almost shocking to see it now…the spectacle and technical innovation involved is so much better and bigger.
The sheer size of NFL games is amazing. I used to go see Detroit Lions games at the Pontiac Silverdome with my dad in the 1980s. Once a year usually. That transition when walking into the stadium, as the low ceiling of the stands above gives way to the open space under the dome, and 80, 000 people in one place, was overwhelming. Detroit crowds were fairly rowdy. Sometimes smoke bombs would go off in one part of the stands, but the game and baton twirllers would go on. It was big enough to support this level of disturbance and continue unphased. Billy Sims, the Detroit QB, would sing a version of "Another One Bites the Dust" whenever they won.
I think Bronco Stadium is actually Mile High Stadium right? I don’t mean to be anal…i’m sorry.
An interesting contrast to the new HD broadcasts are the NFL Films. They were made by an actual company (that was recently bought by the NFL outright i believe). They used actual film, and had separate crews than the TV networks. Their POV was much more intimate, often shot from the ground, on the sidelines. And the sounds of helmuts hitting and grunts was quite intense. The editing was for glory. These films, sometimes going back to the Joe Nameth days, are seriously American and wonderful.