Indianapolis Colts lose to the New York Jets 17-16 in a defensive battle that saw more stoppages for commercials than I think actual football that was played.
It was the perfect game for advertisers and viewers at home. Men with prostrate problems had plenty of time to make that run to the bathroom and squeeze out a little more. Those trying to maintain their New Years resolutions not to eat as much, had plenty of time to make it to the refrigerator and grab a snack.
For those of us in the stands, it was, “why are we all standing around here? Why aren’t they playing?” Oh..we were supposed to watch the big screens and be entertained on queue. Commercial, watch a sponsor ad, ok, now scan the crowd looking for silly people. Oh….there is a football game, what did I miss.
It’s been a couple of years, since I was at a Colts Football game live. Friends had extra tickets and invited us to go with them. I do enjoy attending live sporting events, so I could not pass up the chance. The tickets were in the upper “Terrace”. You know, the section where you walk vertically up to your seat afraid that one bad step and it’s lights out.
The focus on the game is so commercialized that it is hard to even find the game stats on all the sign boards they have. What down is it? The big marquee board that lines the stadium has a billboard commercial on it selling Toyota, or Budweiser, or something other than the game itself. Finally, my eyeballs found the game information in the end zones. Even then, the stats screen was surrounded by advertisements. It was kind of a Manhattan Electronics store experience.
Maybe I am a sports purist, but all the commercialization in the game is out of hand. We are bombarded with so many messages to buy this, buy that, the reason we went got lost in it all. I went to watch a Football game, not watch players standing around, so commercials could be run on television. All the ads displaying in the stadium were distracting from the real reason we were there.
All the other crap is just that, crap. I am not sure I would go watch a live game again. I’d rather stay home and make that extra run to the bathroom, or find a healthy snack in the refrigerator – overpriced stale pretzels just suck.
