Back Talk

All the ad-nauseum, repetitive, redundant sportscasters’ blather about the two touchdown favorite Patriots on the doorstep of setting an all-time record of season wins, the biggest super bowl yet, and all the speculation whether Tom Brady is the best quarterback of all time, and, if not, who was the best, Marino, Montana, Bradshaw, Fouts, Staubach, blah, blah, blah. Talking heads told us that bettors placed $1.5 million on the game and the figure could possibly be up to $3 million if one factors in the illegal gambling. E-bay auctioned off tickets for thousands of dollars, fans spent their hard earned money to fly to Arizona at twice the regular fare, hotels and restaurants cleaned up with inflated prices, and golf courses charged $300 for green fees. All this silliness and hype because of a schoolboy game – a game that a bunch of overgrown physically talented but maturity-challenged adults play for millions and millions of dollars. The salaries go through the stratosphere, the teams keep increasing the seat prices, and all the poor schlumpfs keep paying for it all. Insanity, irrationality, absurdity, folly, nuttiness. Of course, if my team, the Green Bay Packers had just won the big game, well, I might have to rethink this a little bit.