Pittsburgh Wins Record Sixth Super Bowl

NY Times photo of Big Ben and his coach Mike Tomlin during the game. Congratulations to the Pittsburgh Steelers, one of sports best run franchises, on their record sixth Super Bowl Championship. If you are like the majority of people in this country, you at least watched part of the game yesterday. Either at home, at a bar, or maybe, like me, at your church with a group of friends. And you probably ate too many chips, too much dip, a few too many cookies, and drank too much soda or beer. Super Bowl Sunday has become "The American Holiday." Think about it for a few moments. All of our holidays celebrate something and yesterday was no different. All across America, families and friends were reunited by the common bonds of sports, food, and friendship for a four hour love fest that would have made even the god Bacchanal blush. While certainly tempered by our current economic struggles, based on the lines I saw in stores here in Las Vegas, currently ground zero in the housing crisis, you can bet few corners were cut as we worshiped at the twin altars of Costco and Walmart in preparation for the big day. We even cheered the commercials Sunday, those stinking interruptions that any other day would be cursed as nothing more than a distraction. And we do all of this because Super Bowl Sunday is about consumption. It is our last gasp at gluttony before we go into hibernation to await spring. Or perhaps this year, until sometime later in 2010. It is our day to celebrate stuff. Think about it for a few moments. Everything about the day is designed for us to spend money we don't have, buy stuff we don't need, and eat more food than can possibly be good for us. The American Lifestyle. It is, for many, as if the game is secondary. When did that happen?