Ducks @ Oregon - University of Oregon

Philosophical Super Bowl Musings

Peter E.

February 7, 2010 - 10:47 PM

Who dat? How can one not enjoy a Saints Super Bowl win?! The Super Bowl is a quintessentially American holiday, and I celebrate it accordingly. This is a post about the Man Cave.

Our house has something we fondly refer to as "The Man Cave" (e.g. the basement). Somewhat ironically, our one female roommate, Margo, lives in the Man Cave; nonetheless, the label has endured. One may call it the Margo Cavern in the Man Cave, but I won't get too much into semantics. The bottom line is that there is a chicken and egg type relationship with the Super Bowl and the Man Cave: do they have the Super Bowl because there's the Man Cave, or do they have the Man Cave because there's the Super Bowl? I would definitely put this philosophical quandary up there with the likes of Descartes and Aristotle.

Anyway, the Man Cave is made for the Super Bowl . We packed friends and roommates in the Cave, gorged ourselves on snacks, and watched the Saints beat the Colts. It was a fun affair, but we did note the deep seeded misogyny that exists in our culture, especially in the commercials this year. A Dove commercial had to convince men that it's not too feminine and it's okay to be hygienic, GoDaddy.com succeeded as always to perpetuate objectification of women with Danica Patrick, Bud Light commercials hail masculinity and drunken stereotypes of men, and Dodge Charger basically said, "screw women, I'm going to drive whatever car I want." Maybe it was my bias, but I thought the commercials were pretty weak this year (and not for just the misogyny factor).

Nonetheless, we drank beer, ate some charred mammal flesh, and watched grown men hit each other for three and a half hours. It was a great game, but why do we do this? It's more than just a game; it's a cultural emblem. Millions of Americans, men and women, follow the NFL and sports, and it's surely more than a game. I know I'll wake up tomorrow morning a little depressed that I have to wait nine months before football begins again. But what do I do? I look forward to the NCAA Basketball Tournament. Maybe it's obsession, but sports provides drama, happiness, depression, joy, and myriad other emotions year round. The Saints winning the Super Bowl for the city of New Orleans illustrates those emotions because it transcends the playing field to represent the emotional and cultural revival of a city destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. Personally, some of my fondest memories are at games with my mom and dad or with my friends at Ducks games.

As for the misogyny, I don't know what we do about that other than stop perpetuating it as a culture, corporations, and individuals. Perhaps we can start by renaming the Man Cave.

XX BONUS QUESTIONS XX

Were you rooting for the Colts or Saints?

Should we rename the Man Cave?

What was your favorite Super Bowl commercial?

What's your best Ducks sports memory?

Is the Super Bowl just representative of mass media perpetuating misogyny and consumerism as American ideals?

Does The Who still have it? Or did their awesome set just cover up for the fact that Pete Townshend and Roger Daltry have kinda 'lost it'?