Comments on: About the (w)hoopla: A few pedagogical thoughts about the Super Bowl ritual. http://blog.commarts.wisc.edu/2010/02/08/about-the-whoopla-a-few-pedagogical-thoughts-about-the-super-bowl-ritual/ Responses to Media and Culture Fri, 12 Feb 2016 19:35:04 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.7.5 By: Lindsay H. Garrison http://blog.commarts.wisc.edu/2010/02/08/about-the-whoopla-a-few-pedagogical-thoughts-about-the-super-bowl-ritual/comment-page-1/#comment-482 Tue, 09 Feb 2010 23:52:34 +0000 http://blog.commarts.wisc.edu/?p=1728#comment-482 Also, not having the crowd on the field at this particular stadium was a practical decision – that field is one of the few natural grass fields. Having the stage and all of its set up happen on that field during half-time is hard enough on the grass and soil, but the massive amounts of running, jumping fans would be too much wear on the field, and would/could severely damage the playing surface for the second half of the game. The fans-on-the-field gig is much easier and less of a hassle in stadiums with a synthetic field turf.

]]> By: Tim Anderson http://blog.commarts.wisc.edu/2010/02/08/about-the-whoopla-a-few-pedagogical-thoughts-about-the-super-bowl-ritual/comment-page-1/#comment-479 Tue, 09 Feb 2010 18:21:32 +0000 http://blog.commarts.wisc.edu/?p=1728#comment-479 FYI – here’s Ad Age’s online repository all of the SB XLIV ads. My fave? Barkely hocking gorditas of course.

]]> By: Tim Anderson http://blog.commarts.wisc.edu/2010/02/08/about-the-whoopla-a-few-pedagogical-thoughts-about-the-super-bowl-ritual/comment-page-1/#comment-478 Tue, 09 Feb 2010 17:48:06 +0000 http://blog.commarts.wisc.edu/?p=1728#comment-478 The only talk radio I get to listen to these days is an ESPN syndicated show, Mike and Mike in the Morning. This morning they were talking about the fact that according to Nielsen close to two hundred million people did NOT watch the Super Bowl and they wondered aloud, “what are they doing, then?”. Among the discussions was how inappropriate it would be to schedule a wedding on Super Bowl Sunday, which brought me back to Central Ohio and how every Autumnal wedding had to bow to the Buckeye football schedule. In a small way, this is what I am getting at because it underscores the importance of these community events: They are dictatorial in a way that enfolds and isolates. This kind of programming is dealt with like force of social nature that is unavoidable and must be considered.

]]> By: Erin Copple Smith http://blog.commarts.wisc.edu/2010/02/08/about-the-whoopla-a-few-pedagogical-thoughts-about-the-super-bowl-ritual/comment-page-1/#comment-477 Tue, 09 Feb 2010 17:37:02 +0000 http://blog.commarts.wisc.edu/?p=1728#comment-477 Hm. That’s interesting, Tim–I haven’t noticed any cultural counterprogramming, but then I wasn’t really looking for it, either. 🙂

]]> By: Tim Anderson http://blog.commarts.wisc.edu/2010/02/08/about-the-whoopla-a-few-pedagogical-thoughts-about-the-super-bowl-ritual/comment-page-1/#comment-476 Tue, 09 Feb 2010 17:25:15 +0000 http://blog.commarts.wisc.edu/?p=1728#comment-476 1) It is obvious but not to our undergrads. I guarantee you some have never ever even thought of it. 2) The issue of counterprogramming, I would think , other media and cultural spaces. Take a look around and see how your community responds beyond television. For example, it isn’t just boys and girls, it’s communities who vie for their audience by programming counter to the Super Bowl. When I was in Chicago I remember a lot of discussion about anti-Super Bowl parties by a number of my socialist friends who felt that the Super Bowl was the ultimate expression of capitalism. (I, for one, believe it is ultimate expression of America at its best/worst: ritualized violence and litigation. I mean, come on, do you really need six refs and replay?) At a microlevel this is counterprogramming. Does this exist on local radio, rock clubs, alternative theatre? I guess that’s where I would look.

]]> By: Tim Anderson http://blog.commarts.wisc.edu/2010/02/08/about-the-whoopla-a-few-pedagogical-thoughts-about-the-super-bowl-ritual/comment-page-1/#comment-475 Tue, 09 Feb 2010 17:14:55 +0000 http://blog.commarts.wisc.edu/?p=1728#comment-475 I actually think the choice of eliminating the crowd was a solid one. It allowed you to simply focus on the band. I hate the tendency to put a crowd on the field for these bands. We all know it has nothing to do with the “live audience”. I really liked the stage and the lighting. The performance was lesser, to be sure. With the exception of Prince I can’t think of one memorable SB performance that wasn’t scandalous or terrible at some level.

]]> By: Erin Copple Smith http://blog.commarts.wisc.edu/2010/02/08/about-the-whoopla-a-few-pedagogical-thoughts-about-the-super-bowl-ritual/comment-page-1/#comment-474 Tue, 09 Feb 2010 17:10:39 +0000 http://blog.commarts.wisc.edu/?p=1728#comment-474 Since Jason already brought up the awesome synergistic choice of The Who (and although your points about The Who’s catalog and American culture is dead-on, Tim, I do think it was no coincidence that the three CSI: themes were chosen from their catalog)…I’ll build on the discussion of counter-programming the Super Bowl.

The fact that cable competitors seem to program primarily for women during the Super Bowl seems a logical choice. At the party I attended, we kept flipping back to Animal Planet’s Puppy Bowl (the sixth annual, mind you) and Kitty Halftime Show. Indeed, the puppy and kitty antics got us cheering more than the football being played on CBS. (GO YUMS!) And there was a “Man-athon” of Law & Order airing on USA all day Sunday. (From what my husband and I could tell, it seemed that the “Man-athon” consisted of episodes in which the male stars of the show remove their shirts? Or are featured prominently? Or something? It wasn’t very clear.) And Oxygen was airing a marathon of I Love Lucy all day Sunday.

But doesn’t counterprogramming the “masculine” Super Bowl with “feminine” programming seem…outdated? Isn’t that just the obvious choice? The ones our freshest students would suggest first, before thinking of more clever options? Frankly, most of the coverage I saw of the SB this year focused on how many women (SURPRISE!) like football and are NFL fans (40% of the national fan base, according to the reports I saw). Can anyone else point to some counterprogramming that didn’t follow the “boys watch football and girls don’t” line of thought?

]]> By: Erin Copple Smith http://blog.commarts.wisc.edu/2010/02/08/about-the-whoopla-a-few-pedagogical-thoughts-about-the-super-bowl-ritual/comment-page-1/#comment-473 Tue, 09 Feb 2010 16:40:29 +0000 http://blog.commarts.wisc.edu/?p=1728#comment-473 At the party I attended (full of media scholars), someone commented, “I’m surprised they’re playing ‘Who Are You?’ What an odd choice.” And then there was a chorus of, “CSI: theme!” In the original commenter’s defense, though…I don’t think he’s a big fan of broadcast net procedurals.

]]> By: Annie Petersen http://blog.commarts.wisc.edu/2010/02/08/about-the-whoopla-a-few-pedagogical-thoughts-about-the-super-bowl-ritual/comment-page-1/#comment-472 Tue, 09 Feb 2010 15:48:08 +0000 http://blog.commarts.wisc.edu/?p=1728#comment-472 I think part of it is diligence. They study hard, and when I attended this particular school, I think I only watched The Super Bowl two out of four years. But these are also kids in a television class, so I thought the percentage would be higher. For me, brings home the fact that so many of them either don’t watch TV at all….or watch it exclusively using their computers.

]]> By: Nick Marx http://blog.commarts.wisc.edu/2010/02/08/about-the-whoopla-a-few-pedagogical-thoughts-about-the-super-bowl-ritual/comment-page-1/#comment-471 Tue, 09 Feb 2010 15:47:34 +0000 http://blog.commarts.wisc.edu/?p=1728#comment-471 Right on, Jason. It was tough not to read some CSI demo-pandering in other aspects of the performance as well, like in the stage itself. Its bursts of light outward to the audience seemed only to reinforce the fact that there weren’t any screaming whippersnappers at the feet of the performers, as is often the case at Super Bowl halftime shows. Then again, perhaps The Who’s management not-so-subtly informed CBS that it’s not such a good idea to have screaming teenagers so close to Pete Townshend anymore.

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