Another Super Bowl Sleeper

My wife would tell you that my favorite weekend during the NFL season happened two weeks ago with the divisional championships. The Super Bowl is over-hyped and frequently boring. This is what happened on Sunday, February 9, 2025.

I won’t offer you an analysis, other than to say the obvious: the Chiefs offensive line players and coach must be fired.

Okay, let’s look at a few facts about the NFL.

The NFL is the most profitable corporation in America. It has never experienced a decline in revenue over the last 40 years.

NFL officials are the worst in all professional sports. They all too frequently decide the outcome of games, including the Super Bowl.

The hype leading up to the Super Bowl is laughable, and annoying to anyone who has been a fan for nearly 70 years. I watched the NFL when many players were required to play both offense and defense. Most importantly, I remember when quarterbacks were football players.

I’m not suggesting that many of the changes in the game were unnecessary. Serious injuries had to be addressed. However, logic disappeared for the sake of safety, and players who were taught techniques from Pop Warner to the pros were forced to relearn the game after becoming professionals.

However, these facts have nothing to do with the results of Super Bown LIX. It was another example of how money is more important than the game itself.

Let me offer one example.

Several years ago, while writing for a Las Vegas based news agency, I was in contact with the wife of an NFL player. Names and teams are not necessary to this story because the situation is all too common.

She and I talked frequently about the problem of domestic violence within NFL families. As an NFL fan, I was shocked. I allow you to contemplate the reasons for the situation, considering not only the pressure placed on players, but the resulting pressures placed on the wives and children of those who played the game.

I’m assuming you already know that I turned tonight’s game off early. After several minutes into the third quarter, it was obvious that the Chiefs would leave the field embarrassed by their lack of a competitive performance.

However, this story is about the entire NFL and its marketing.

Football is a game, not a religion, and not a legitimate career. All sports began as games played by children. I will tell you that as a young man who competed in multiple sports, I loved every moment of my life engaged in athletic competition.

The truth is, yesterday’s travesty was just another game. The only real winners and losers were those who wagered vast amounts of money on a child’s game.

America is a business, not a country. Money is more important than values, morals, integrity, or the golden rule of doing the right thing.

After I wrote this article, I realized that it is about much more than a football game. It is about how corporations, controlled by billionaires/oligarchs, control our nation in the 21st century.

Today’s Super Bowl game should have been nothing more than a sporting event. Over the last 60 years it has become our nation’s second most important Holiday: only Christmas has a greater influence than Super Bowl Sunday.

This has its own story to tell about the values of our nation’s people.

I am as guilty as anyone, not about the money, but about my obsession with the NFL. However, over the last few years, my passion has diminished.

Although Super Bowl 59 was an absolute abomination, corporations experienced enormous profits. This is the only thing of importance to our nation and its government.

Will I watch the NFL next season? I’m not sure. I ended my love for professional baseball and basketball years ago for similar reasons.

Op-ed by James Turnage

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