this post was submitted on 11 Feb 2024
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Unpopular Opinion

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No offense or judgement meant to anyone if that's your thing (to each their own). That's just how I see pretty much all professional sports - the super bowl is just the poster child for it.

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[–] [email protected] 142 points 9 months ago (46 children)

The players on the field have more in common than us than the billionaires who own the teams. Don't confuse them for the actual rich class. Over an average NFL career most players make less money than most people will over their career, and they leave football with severely damaged bodies and minds.

They are workers just like us, many of them go on to live in poverty, just like us. The players aren't your enemy, the owners are.

[–] [email protected] 38 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Something about Dallas Cowboys owner being in a crowd protesting integration.

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[–] [email protected] 57 points 9 months ago (3 children)

Two facts:

  • I'm about to head out to a Super Bowl party.
  • I agree with you.
[–] [email protected] 14 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Nothing wrong with that. SB parties are fun, and I usually never turn them down (even if I don't know / care who's playing).

Except this one where I did turn down an invite so I could stay home, drink in peace, and binge watch Succession (just started season 2).

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[–] [email protected] 52 points 9 months ago (5 children)

I LOVE the Super Bowl. I just got my Costco run done in 45 minutes, not 2 hours!!

[–] [email protected] 11 points 9 months ago

Also best time to go snowboarding or visit a national park

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[–] [email protected] 45 points 9 months ago

Also, the NFL is a shit company.

Remember how they fucked over Kaepernick because he had the NERVE to kneel & stand up to injustice?

Also, remember how they formed a PARTNERSHIP with Musk's twitter AFTER he had shown everyone what a fascist white supremacist he is & promoted the worst people/"views"?

Fuck supporting that shit.

[–] [email protected] 40 points 9 months ago (3 children)

I quit watching the NFL a few years ago because the amount of advertising crammed into a single game is completely obscene now. I'll be mindful of your sanity and mood, and not break down how fucking over the top it is, but it's pretty much a commercials show, with some football breaks.

[–] [email protected] 29 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I'm European so I have a bias but I never understood how Americans watch a sport that stops so many times for ads. It just feels like the ads are the show and the game is the second plan.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 9 months ago (2 children)

That's actually why soccer never took off over here. The networks felt that there aren't enough breaks for commercials, so they never marketed soccer as a good sport.

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[–] [email protected] 34 points 9 months ago (7 children)

Not really an unpopular opinion is it..

[–] [email protected] 12 points 9 months ago (14 children)

Yeah, even my friends who were really into sports barely watch any anymore, the superbowl generally being the first they stopped watching. Number one complaint? It's more ads than game now.

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[–] [email protected] 30 points 9 months ago (4 children)

I'm not into sports and I have no plans to watch the Superb Owl today, but I do have a big appreciation for humans being awesome, and for that I can usually appreciate watching even if I don't care who wins.

Watching a 300lb man accelerate like a freight train or someone jump several feet into the air, twist over backwards, catch a ball and land where they meant to is definitely something I enjoy, because they do work their asses off to get that good and I can appreciate anybody's passion at that level.

That said, totally agree on the money side, it taints so many things (looking at you IOC).

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[–] [email protected] 29 points 9 months ago (12 children)

This is the most Lemmy ass thread imaginable.

A bunch of wannabe hipsters thinking that they're so enlightened. Because being against the grain is the height of personality.

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[–] [email protected] 28 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Players aren't even that rich

The superstars are, but most of the players are destroying their bodies for 2-3 year careers.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 9 months ago (2 children)

A shocking amount of them don't know how to manage that amount of money either. Most end up broke within 10 years, most are destitute by retirement. Many get caught up in the lifestyle, blow the money never thinking about once they're done, and then their careers end all of a sudden without any fanfare.

First thing I'd do if I were hired? Talk to an accountant.

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[–] [email protected] 23 points 9 months ago (3 children)

I don't even like owls that much

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[–] [email protected] 22 points 9 months ago

bad post, clearly a popular opinion

[–] [email protected] 20 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (2 children)

I'm downvoting because I agree completely.

Grown men chasing a ball bitching about how much they're paid to chase the ball.

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (12 children)

Life is nothing more than sleeping, shitting and dying.

You can attach that pessimism to anything... But in reality, the Superbowl is a celebration and something millions of people to look forward to. It brings a large group of people excitement and half of them happiness

Why take that away?

[–] [email protected] 12 points 9 months ago

Why?

How about: Taxpayers paying to build stadiums that they cannot afford to buy seats in just so an already disgustingly profitable private company can have a huge subsidy?

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 9 months ago

Bread & Circuses

[–] [email protected] 18 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Next you're gonna tell me that the Marvel movies are nothing but watching rich people pretend to be fighting each other while poorer people pay to go watch. And WWE wrestling is...well actually the same description.

They are rich because we pay (with money or ads) to watch them. We pay because they entertain us.

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I've never cared much about football and it's almost impossible to live in the US without constantly having to hear about it. I have to admit I've enjoyed the fact the Taylor Swift is now being shoe horned into football and people are mad cause they don't want to hear about her. If either fell off the face of the earth I wouldn't lose a second of sleep but oh the sweet sweet irony of listening to football fans whine about having to see and hear something they don't care about shoved in their face, Oh I'm so sorry that's happening to you, whats that like? Please tell me all about it.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 9 months ago (2 children)

And it was a great distraction for israel to start bombing Rafah while they played their superbowl genocide brainwashing advertisement.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 9 months ago

I don't remember a ball or ads but I did find out the best owl.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 9 months ago (4 children)

I catch a lot of flack for various opinions that I have but my unabashed disgust for organized sports seems to irk people a lot more than my disgust for religion or my pity/disdain for current republicans and extremists in general

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

All sports, all awards shows, all reality TV (though sometimes starting poor people (working for rich people)).

Don't forget the bullshit showings of patriotism and military recruiting.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 9 months ago

Yup, it's Bread and Circuses all over again.

also something to note: they intentionally edge the fans constantly - the game's only an hour long. but we gotta pause play for commercials every few fucking moments, over and over again. punctuate edging with violent conflict - add in the lore/fanfic/tradition/dream job aspects - oh yeah, it keeps their attention.

all to watch grown men run around in spandex playing a children's game for millions of dollars, giving each other crippling brain and body injuries that will follow them into their graves.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 9 months ago

Everything sounds weird when you break it down to the right essentials.

  • Watching sequential images arranged to trick your brain into experiencing a story while you crush mutated grains between your teeth.

  • Manually manipulating on-screen pixels at meaningful times to change later output.

  • Interpreting shapes of printed ink in an attempt to replicate another person's mental patterns with the goal of experiencing a shared hallucination.

  • Touring elaborately-staged displays of old junk and household items, sometimes with commentary.

"Everything is weird when you think on it too overly." And as a correlary, everything is frivolous when you essentialize it too uncommonly.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 9 months ago (1 children)

You are mistaken. It's pseudo-gladiator cosplay voyeurism and there's a lot of freaks that like to watch it so it's legal.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 9 months ago

...and it is not even a real ball!

[–] [email protected] 9 points 9 months ago (3 children)

I've been saying this for over 20 years now, and it's only gotten worse. The money wasted on one superb owl could fix homelessness, but please, let's keep paying exorbitant sums of money to watch men with literal brain damage move ball good.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Well, I insulated my self again this year. I wonder when I'm going to learn who won the stupid game. I don't remember who won the last one since I'm blessed with the best brain trait ever... don't remember shit if it's not important to my ADHD.

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