Maroon 5 & The Super Bowl

Is all publicity good publicity?

It was a strange game, since the NFL's ratings were resuscitated by the Chiefs and their passing attack, and this contest was fought on the ground, until the Rams realized that going to the air was their only chance of victory and then Brady aired it out and put the stake in the heart of the competition.

Actually, the only heartfelt moment in the contest is when Robert Kraft honored Belichick and Brady after the trophy was awarded. Although I must say I liked it when they booed Goodell, before Jim Nantz elbowed him aside.

That's what Trump has wrought, decorum and respect are out the window, you can say what you want to whenever you want to. Actually, that Republican Congressman yelling out YOU LIE during Obama's State of the Union address predated Trump, but that's the America we live in, a divided one. Separated into elites and nincompoops.

Kind of like that laughable talent show after the game was over, "The World's Best," what a train-wreck that was. A dog and pony show of those ignored if it weren't for this program, pitched to the brain dead. Talk about shooting low, it's as if CBS just decided to throw in the towel, concede to Netflix. But that's the America we now live in, one of dumb and dumber. Meanwhile, the evening was sans politics and all we care about is politics, which is another reason why Maroon 5's performance seemed so lame. When given an opportunity to take a stand you punt?

It's not that Maroon 5 were bad, it's that they were EH.

A rock band that went pop and followed trends with featured artists that stands for nothing, just like the game of football itself. There was no way in hell Maroon 5 could have succeeded. And they're being trashed in every publication known to man, never mind the Twitterverse.

You see we're at the end of the paradigm. Not playing the Super Bowl is more important than playing it. You get more cred for not doing the show. As for reaching potential customers... Adam Levine already reaches them via "The Voice." Reminds me of my friend Chris Zarou, who manages Logic. Logic did his 1-800 suicide song on the Grammys and there was no bounce. Everybody who cared was already aware.

Used to be football games had marching bands. And Up With People. We made fun of sports. That was part of the sixties ethos, we rebelled against conformity, organization and dictators, like Belichick. The players are interchangeable, it's a coaches game. Otherwise why would they all need headsets with BOSE painted upon them. Once you yield to the almighty dollar, you've lost the plot, like the commercial time outs.

Then again, if you're addicted to football, there's no convincing you the game is not America's Pastime.

But I implore you to listen to Malcolm Gladwell's podcast "Burden Of Proof": https://bit.ly/2s2HY59 How much evidence do we need before we stop watching football because of C.T.E? You will stop, you just don't know it yet. Kinda like the MTV Video Music Awards. They were cool and exciting, a must-see with memorable moments, and now they're completely irrelevant. That's what's gonna happen with the NFL and its halftime show, it's just that the commercial industrial complex doesn't want you to know. Kinda like in the sixties people were for the war until they started showing all the atrocities on the evening news. The "New York Times"'s latest C.T.E. story, of a guy who barely had any experience in the NFL, will make your skin crawl. "Was C.T.E. Stealing His Mind? A Gunshot Provided the Answer": https://nyti.ms/2WzBd8i

You remember how MTV used to have its own halftime show during the Super Bowl, before the NFL got "hip"? Pretty soon, Netflix will have a C.T.E. documentary that launches on Super Bowl Sunday, it's coming.

So the game was boring, there was only one broken arm, but we won't know the true injuries for maybe decades. Kinda like smoking. Which is way down now, people got the message, you're a pariah if you smoke.

As for tattoos... Did Adam Levine convince you not to have them? I remember cutting my long hair when it was no longer a statement of your beliefs, just a fashion choice. Now that we're tattooing faces, a real rebel would go clean. As for Adam doffing his shirt and showing us his ink...it seemed like a wannabe rapper from the suburbs trying to be hip, it was laughable.

If you're sensing a lack of passion in this article, BINGO!

I just don't care.

I liked hanging with friends. I liked eating all the things I don't except for special occasions. But I felt like I've experienced this ritual too many times, and it's long in the tooth.

And I'm sitting on the couch thinking...am I just jaded and are kids into this?

And then I realize kids have much better things to do with their time. Why dedicate four plus hours to the ancient games of adults. It's not like we have the Super Bowl of the Colosseum, what would that be in Roman numerals, Gladiator Bowl MMXIX? These contests die out, the paradigm shifts.

Steve Jobs makes Super Bowl commercials a thing, and everybody tries to imitate Apple's for thirty five years and no one succeeds...isn't it time to give up?

Isn't that the story of today, of this decade, how those who think they know what is going on don't? Like Trump, like Brexit, like so much in the world today.

There's been tumultuous change and everybody thinks everything is still the same.

But it's not.

Like music is so dramatic and fascinating that our eyes will bug out when we see it performed during football halftime. And that we will be impressed with explosions and fire, talk about primeval.

As for the movies advertised... Calorieless fantasies.

It's like the powers-that-be are convinced everybody in America is dumb, and will accept this pabulum. That we will not be able to watch men causing brain damage to each other and we won't be able to stop watching mediocre pop acts and tertiary sideshow performers on television.

The revolution is happening now, and you just don't know it yet.

This is the nadir. No one in their right mind will play the Super Bowl again.

Parents are already keeping their children from playing football.

It's kinda like global warming. People scream about it but you don't see the changes and then you do and believe too.

Audi trumpets the percentage of electric cars they'll produce and Trump cuts CAFE rules.

But that's business.

In a country with no soul.

We need someone to bring the soul back.

And so far Kaepernick's got more of the right stuff than Gladys Knight.

Today it's about refusing the check, standing up for what's right.

Be forewarned.


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