Jeff Riger: Stop Your Whining And Just Enjoy!
Why is it that every year when the Super Bowl rolls around, people start to whine about their personal schedules? Don't pretend that you don't know what I'm talking about! You know, heck you may have even voiced your displeasure in the past…
For as long as I can remember, the Big Game has always been on a Sunday, at some obscure time in the 6 o'clock hour and it has always been moaned about. You see people always focus on what they have to do on Monday morning after the game rather than enjoying the last NFL contest of the season. Fans will ask "why not make this game on a Saturday night, so we can have Sunday to recover?" Or they will say "a big game should be played on a Saturday and not on a Sunday!" And let's not forget my favorite "let's make the Monday after the Super Bowl a national holiday so nobody has to work."
Well I have an idea…stop it!
Every other championship game or series falls on so called "school nights" and we don't complain about them. I have never heard anybody say "why not move the NCAA National Championship basketball game to a Saturday night, because I have to get up in the morning." Why should the Super Bowl be different? Get over it!
I love my weekends and I would rather have a Saturday night to go out and enjoy myself and then watch the Super Bowl on Sunday, then to miss out on the biggest night of the weekend because they moved the game.
But forget about me!
Think about the host city. The Super Bowl brings ridiculous money and publicity to the wherever it happens to be. Can you imagine how crazy Saturday night in Indy is going to be? One day away from the game, that downtown area will be crazy. I remember how alive Detroit was the Saturday night before the Big Game. People were everywhere, celebs were enjoying the area and none of it would have happened if the game was on Saturday night. Think about how much money would be lost if the game was moved up a day. I would assume being a little tired on a Monday is worth the economic pluses that a Sunday night game provides.
Of course there is also the fact that Sunday night is far more prestigious as far as ratings go than Saturday night so the NFL would never go for the move. Believe it if you like, but not everybody watches the Super Bowl and even less people will choose to watch on a Saturday night. If ratings go down, that means commercial costs go down and the network carrying the game would never go for that.
So can we please stop this annual whining about the time of the big game? Please! If it concerns you that much, try taking the day off of work. The Super Bowl happens once a year! Get over it and just enjoy the game.
