Wellsir, I must say I enjoyed the commercial marathon last Sunday evening. It would have been much better, in my opinion, if “they” hadn’t interrupted so many times with all those huge men dressed in costumes who kept running around in a park of some kind. After all, according to our standards of today the commercial is the important thing. Yes, I know there are some cable channels devoted solely to selling some products that nobody needs but get convinced they desperately want. That, I have become to believe, is the heart of America.
Forget the “waving fields of grain” and the “mountains’ majesty” and concentrate on 24 easy payments with your interest payment so low you won’t go bankrupt until the seller drains everything from you and then abandons you while repossessing whatever you allegedly bought. But I am not bitter. Nosir! I am not. There were times Sunday when a team got to run three or four plays before another commercial. Yessir, and the American public was cheering them on.
Before I get tarred and feathered i should add that many people watch the Yearly Excess Game to see the clever commercials. And, right you are, some of them are clever and catch one’s attention. But why not put forth the effort to make a clever commercial for an everyday type TV show? But wait, he says excitedly, that’s not all.
There was a long break in the middle that I almost recognized. If indeed, that was a football game, right there in the middle should have been a band marching - or maybe two. I am not sure why there was a skimpily dressed female running around shouting at the limit of her vocal range but past her volume range and doing exercises when the band should be marching. What has our country come to when a girl can scream that long and no one comes to her aid?
But then most programs have given up stories for commercials. It seems that writers must run out of ideas and bosses are not getting paid enough. We must have more commercials so the biggies can make more money at your expense. The last time I checked, Blue Bloods had a 4 minute commercial, then another 4 minutes, then 5 minutes , then 4 minutes and fooled me with a 3 minute one. Lemme see, why that is just really close to one-third of an hour. When Jon Stewart was doing “The Daily Show” he often mentioned doing 22 minutes. That leaves (if I have figured correctly) eight minutes for commercial. I am not too good at cyphering but it seems as though that is about one-fourth of all the time. So, don’t let anyone tell you that TV is free.
But getting back to the big ball game. Since an eternity has passed since the game happened most people have already forgotten who participated and what, if any, the score was. I personally, was watching it and another program which worked quite well as the commercials seldom ever happened at the same time. I was reading a magazine when conflicting commercials happened. Having done that successfully I may start watching football again.
One thing I did notice which set me off. The Atlanta players seldom gave the ball to the officials after a play. The ones I saw just tossed the ball anywhere instead of, what is now the current thing, handing or tossing the ball to an official or sideline ball person. There seemed to be an arrogance involved with the way they did that. Early on I started barracking for the Patriots as I do not like arrogance. Later it paid off as I was able to pull the Patriots from a score that was very far behind to a winning touchdown. For you Patriot fans: you’re welcome. Now just let me know which basketball team you would like to see win the championship and I shall see what I can do. One caveat however, do not pick Oklahoma City. Not even I am that good.