Published: Good Men Project (February 3, 2015)
Matthew Rozsa discusses what the Super Bowl can teach us about gay rights, common sense, and more.
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Super Bowl XLIX: What a fitting conclusion to the great American sports story, as set in the NFL circa 2014-2015.
This statement is not meant as a compliment, of course, but it isn’t entirely derogatory either. For all of the ongoing controversy surrounding the institution of professional football in this country, there is still much to enjoy and even admire about the game. As the latest Super Bowl managed to capture both the light and the darkness in a single four-hour event (for a Super Bowl is always more than just a game), both sides warrant deconstruction. After all, there are many valuable lessons to be learned from that game.
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1. Football fans need to be more sensitive to social justice issues.
Katy Perry’s halftime show has rightly received extremely positive reviews, but there was one detail that surprisingly escaped popular attention—namely, the irony of “I Kissed A Girl” appearing in the medley of hits she performed that evening.
Perry’s song has come under criticism for appropriating and exploiting lesbian experiences for their presumed eroticism, particularly in a culture that often argues “Guys kissing is gross, girls kissing is hot.”
On the surface, the inclusion of “I Kissed A Girl” could be perceived as an act of political defiance, spitting in the eye of a culture with a notoriously poor reputation on gay rights. Indeed, this year alone included reports that a a Minnesota Vikings punter was fired for his pro-LGBT stances and outspoken opposition to the drafting of Michael Sam, the first openly gay player picked up by an NFL team. That said, Perry’s song has come under criticism for appropriating and exploiting lesbian experiences for their presumed eroticism, particularly in a culture that often argues “Guys kissing is gross, girls kissing is hot.” In an ideal world, of course, a male singer could have performed a piece about masculine homosexual relationships and have had it fly under the radar just like Perry’s piece. Considering that this almost certainly wouldn’t happen, the fact that the presence of “I Kissed A Girl” received so little attention is more depressing than encouraging.
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2. Athletes’ lives matter.
There were plenty of injuries in Super Bowl XLIX, but each time offered one that really stood out. For the New England Patriots, it was Julian Edelman’s head injury in the fourth quarter, which left the former concussion victim visibly shaken and led many to worry that he was suffering from Second Impact Syndrome. Although he was later cleared as having avoided brain damage from that hit, the fact that many still suspect the situation was much worse says a great deal about the NFL’s lost credibility when it comes to the welfare of its players.
Jeremy Lane of the Seattle Seahawks may not have suffered an injury as threatening at the one that likely plagues Edelman, but it was certainly more gruesome. After picking off an impressive interception in the first quarter, Lane landed on his arm in a position so awkward that pictures should come with a viewer discretion warning. Lane’s prognosis remains uncertain, and while both he and Edelman have much to be proud of in terms of their performances in that game, one has to wonder if they’ll feel the price was worth it years down the road.
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3. Class also matters.
I’m sure that Bruce Irvin isn’t proud of being the first player ever ejected from a Super Bowl, but he absolutely deserved it for provoking the scrum which broke out between various New England and Seattle players as the seconds ticked off the clock. That said, while few pundits have defended the abysmal spectacle, more derision seems to have been directed toward the reputations of Coach Pete Carroll for calling one of the weirdest plays in Super Bowl history. If Americans are sincere in their ostensible belief that character matters more than simply winning, the sore losers and graceless winners who set such a poor example on national television should be the primary post-game goats, not the coach who made a lousy play call.
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At their best, football games can be metaphors for universal life lessons, and that was what Carroll and Offensive Coordinator Darrell Bevell gave the world last Sunday night… in their case, on the importance of common sense.
4. Common sense still triumphs.
Make no mistake about it: While there were far worse things in Super Bowl XLIX than one flawed coaching decision (see above), that decision absolutely deserves to be ranked as one of the most boneheaded moves in professional sports history. That said, I’d argue that its notoriety is actually a good thing, since it taught Americans a valuable and oft-overlooked lesson.
At their best, football games can be metaphors for universal life lessons, and that was what Carroll and Offensive Coordinator Darrell Bevell gave the world last Sunday night … in their case, on the importance of common sense. While they have offered various explanations for risking an interception instead of handing off the ball to Marshawn Lynch (one of the best running backs in the league), the overwhelming likelihood is that their mistake was simply that of overthinking a straightforward situation. Having spent years trained in the minutiae of football and honing their skills as master tacticians, Carroll and Bevell chose a circuitous route to arrive at a destination that simple sound judgment would have told them could be best reached by a straight line. Experts in any field should remember that play whenever there is a risk that their career paradigms might addle their perspective.
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5. Sports can still be thrilling.
There was more that broke out in Super Bowl XLIX than the infamous fourth quarter brawl. As Al Michaels observed during the broadcast, “As the old coach John Madden always said, ‘You know, a game breaks out.’ It broke out tonight.”
Yes it did. In fact, I can’t recall the last Super Bowl that kept me as engrossed from beginning to end as this one. Even when the Patriots were trailing the Seahawks by ten points (a margin that had never been overcome in a Super Bowl until that very game), I never once sensed that either time had things locked up. So many players put on their A game that memorable feats often occurred within minutes of each other—just see how Jermaine Kearse of the Seattle Seahawks all-but-guaranteed his team’s victory with an objectively awesome catch, only to have that followed by Malcolm Butler’s historic end zone interception a few plays later.
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Championship games like that one are more than simple entertainment or spectacle; they are practically works of art, allowing viewers to briefly escape into a powerful, inspiring world.
It’s appropriate to end on this note because, in the end, moments like those that closed Super Bowl XLIX explain why football remains so popular despite having such a controversial year. Championship games like that one are more than simple entertainment or spectacle; they are practically works of art, allowing viewers to briefly escape into a powerful, inspiring world. Football has more than its fair share of problems, but it deserves to be defended.
The question is whether it can be saved from itself.