Super Bowl LV Pt.1

Sunday, February 2nd (7/2/21) saw America hold the Fifty Fifth Super Bowl.

Played between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Kansas City Chiefs: The Champions of the American Football Conference (AFC) they went into the game as reigning Super Bowl Champions. Having won in 2020.

The Chiefs are, of course, not from the Kansas City in the State of Kansas. They are from the Kansas City in the neighbouring, southern, State of Missouri.

This confusion over the Chiefs location is likely to be most severe amongst America's liberal elite. Making up the real America both Kansas and Missouri are amongst those 46 anonymous States somewhere in the middle. 

They are though often dismissed by the elites as; "The Fly-Over States." The ones they annoyingly have to fly over to get between the coastal paradises of New York and California. 

Kansas State is home to former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Alongside the likes of Dick & Liz Cheney, John F. Bolton, John McCain and others Pompeo makes up the Republican Establishment. Forged under President Reagan and his rantings about Iran and Trickle Down Economics.

Making them almost indistinguishable from the Democrat Party.

The Chiefs were playing in a uniform of red and white. Red helmets. Red jerseys, jackets or coats. White britches.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers: The National Football Conference (NFC) Champions.

They are from the State of Florida. Now the home State of former(ish) President Trump.

The Buccaneers star player is Super Bowl legend Tom Brady. Who was playing in his tenth Super Bowl. Which is nearly 6% of all the Super Bowls there have ever been.

Although for nine of those Super Bowls Tom Brady was playing for the New England Patriots.

So now Tom Brady has brought the Buccaneers to the Super Bowl. You could almost describe them as; "The New Patriots."

The Buccaneers are also really the most ethnically diverse and inclusive team in the National Football League (NFL).

All three of their head coaches are Black men. While their squadrons of assistant coaches feature two women. Including Maral Javadifar who is of Iranian heritage.

The Buccaneers played in a uniform of White. Although not exclusively White. Their White jerseys were complimented by Black helmets and Black britches.

In a Super Bowl first the Buccaneers were playing at their home ground. The Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida.

Apparently this wasn't the result of some pre-ordained plan. It was just the luck of the draw.

In The Game the Chiefs took an early three point lead. After doing whatever you need to do in American Football to score three points.

Shortly afterwards the Buccaneers scored a Touch Down. Giving them seven points and the lead. The rest of the game was really just the Buccaneers building on that lead.

Now I really don't understand American Football. Which, at this point, is something that's starting to resemble a learning disability.

However it never looked to me as though the Chiefs were ever going to catch, let alone beat the Buccaneers. Despite the Chiefs spectacular comeback in the 2020 Super Bowl.

And so it was. With the Buccaneers beating the Chiefs 31-9.

Making the Buccaneers 2021 Super Bowl Champions. And Tom Brady a seven time Super Bowl Champion.

Something which, looking at it in the wider context, never seemed like a surprise

The Super Bowl is, of course, so much more than an American Football game. It is a vast spectacle which, along with the Oscars, is part of America's loosely political, social conversation.

Similar to the role the Eurovision Song Contest performs within Europe. Or the Olympics perform globally.

So alongside the Game you have a Pre-Game Show and a Half-Time Show. All interspersed with a multitude of specially produced, one-off, commercials.

Frustratingly the UK broadcaster, the BBC, doesn't broadcast the Pre-Game Show.

Mainly this is because it normally begins at 11pm UK time. Which is when the BBC 1 channel is showing its soccer highlights show.

Cutting into coverage of Britain's national sport to show some American thing we don't understand. That's not something that's going to go down well.

This year the BBC decided to be particularly infuriating. Starting their Super Bowl coverage at 11pm on the BBC 2 channel.

Yet still refused to broadcast any of the Pre-Game Show. Instead sticking to studio based pundits.

I have since been able to piece together what I think are the main performances of the Pre-Game Show. Although I suppose I'm just going to have to guess at the running order.

Chorus of the Captains: A short poem by America's Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman.

Officially this was dedicated to three appointed; "Captains." Essential workers who have helped their communities and the nation during the pandemic;

Nurse and military veteran James Martin. Educator Trimaine Davis. Nurse Manager Suzie Dorner.

That's not really why Amanda Gorman was there though. 

She was really there to revisit her performance at the alleged Presidential Inauguration.

I hate to break it to you. "The Hill We Climb" wasn't actually that good. Even for a youth poet.

The flippant comment would be that it didn't rhyme. However the real problem was that it lacked a rhythmic structure.

I don't mean that it lacked the traditional rhythmic structure of long dead White poets like John Keats.

It lacked a rhythmic structure of its own. 

Constantly slipping, sliding and stuttering all over the place. Sadly not an intentional metaphor for the difficulties of climbing a hill.

Also it really didn't have much to say in terms of offering an incisive commentary. Instead just offering vapid platitudes that make people feel good about themselves.

That last point is hardly surprising. With Amanda Gorman citing Maya Angelou as a major influence.

Maya Angelou was another poet who really has very little to offer. Beyond vapid platitudes. Her success is really the result of her being included on school and college syllabuses.

Part of a concerted effort by Liberals to re-write America's racial history for political gain.

Although I should make clear that I'm referring to the specific political doctrine of; "Liberalism." 

Not the term; "liberal" as it is commonly used. The two very rarely coincide.

The history of racial politics in America has always been the Republican Party trying to give rights to ethnic minorities, particularly Black people. 

In the face of, sometimes extremely violent, resistance from the Democrat Party.

If we assume that the current era is still to be written. Then the most recent chapter in America's racial politics was the Civil Rights Era.

This was really born in the Second World War. 

Where the military draft and battlefield conditions forced Americans of different races together. Leading to the US military to be formally desegregated in 1948.

Then in 1954 the Brown v Board of Education forced the desegregation of schools.

However in the face of Democrat opposition it took until 1957 for that ruling to actually be enforced. 

With Federal Military forces having to be sent to Little Rock, Arkansas. To put down an armed Democrat insurrection.

The real history of the Civil Rights Era is actually a battle within the Democrat Party. The Liberal faction won out at the 1968 convention.

They then set about re-writing that history to erase the Democrats negative role. Including by things like adding Maya Angelou to school and college syllabuses.

I think that if you ask Americans about the Civil Rights Era the answer you'll get is this almost childlike bedtime story. 

About Rosa Parks sitting on a bus. Then Martin Luther King Jr single handedly ending racism.

Obviously I'm not saying that Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr had no role in the Civil Rights Era. Martin Luther King Jr was certainly the one who got the thing over the line.

However it's important to remember that the Civil Rights Era didn't start with Martin Luther King Jr. As it's important to remember that he also had a lot of White Republicans standing behind him, pushing him forwards.

Despite Liberals attempts to erase that from history.

Likewise many Americans will tell you the Three Fifths Compromise was the Republicans saying that a Black man is worth only 3/5ths of a White man. It really wasn't.

It was the Democrats insisting they could own Black men as property. Then cast votes on behalf of the human property they owned. Until the Republicans forced them to cast votes on behalf of only 3/5ths of the Black men they owned.

Amanda Gorman's appearence at the alleged Inauguration was intended to highlight this historical revisionism.

From that I'm sure you can draw a talking point. About America's teaching unions and pandemic school closures.

Particularly in her yellow coat Amanda Gorman was also intended to highlight the Opening Ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics. Held in PyeongChang, South Korea.

I think the 2018 Winter Olympics largely passed America by. They were distracted from it by the Parkland School Shooting.

That was perhaps fortunate for some in America. 

The 2018 Winter Olympics was just the World rounding on America. For its false claims of Russian Interference in the 2016 Election.

The consensus being that was an attempt by the Democrats at rigging the 2016 Election. Following almost the exact tactics used in the rigging of the 2012 South Korean election.

The 2018 Winter Olympic Opening Ceremony particularly introduced the World to the Animist concept of the Wu Xing. 

The five essential elements the universe is made up of. Which must be kept in balance.

This is similar to the Tree of Life concept within Judaism. That God is the universe and the universe is God. So everything in the universe is also God.

It is also similar to the Logos concept with the philosophy of Stoicism. God's movement of the elements of the universe.

These are ideas that modern, conventional Physics has begun to try and explain. Through Quantum Field Theory.

Whatever you call it. It appears that all the political pressures of late 2019 went up into the universe. Then came back to us in the form of COVID-19.

These are the sort of thing that gets discussed at the Olympics.

In its 2012 Ceremonies Britain's touched on the concept of Quantum Field Theory. 

In their 2018 Ceremonies South Korea really drilled down into specific concepts of Quantum Physics. Such as Time Dilation.

Another area of fringe science that is popular at things like the Olympics is Slime Mold.

Slime Mold is made up for very simple single cells. Somewhat like COVID-19 virus cells. However Slime Mold cells can join together and act with a sort of collective consciousness.

This phenomenon has particularly interested people involved in Artificial Intelligence. 

The theory being that the human mind is just the collective consciousness of a series of simple, single brain cells. So if we could replicate it we could build computers as complicated as the human brain.

Most of the work on Slime Mold has been done by Hokkaido University in Japan. 

Including experiments showing how Slime Mold's collective intelligence is actually greater than the human mind. In terms of designing Tokyo's Metro system.

The 2020 Summer Olympics were supposed to be held in Tokyo, Japan. 

With much of the focus being on using it's Metro system for the travel between venues. As part of the commitment to combat Climate Change.

Unfortunately we weren't able to have a 2020 Summer Olympics. Due entirely to COVID-19.

Further contributing to the uncomfortable sensation. That maybe COVID-19 is actively plotting against us.

Within the Wu Xing the five essential elements are each represented by an individual colour. 

The section of the Opening Ceremony which dealt with the yellow element was very similar to Amanda Gorman's performance at the alleged Inauguration. In her yellow coat.

It featured four South Korean music stars, from different eras. Uniting to sing a version of John Lennon's vapid platitude filled musical poem; "Imagine."

Accompanied by videos sent in by musicians across the globe and dancers forming symbols of peace and unity. Such as the Peace Sign and Doves.

It was very much intended to mock the Liberal revisionism and the bedtime stories of the likes of Maya Angelou.

In delivering her new poem in a pre-recorded video Amanda Gorman was wearing another statement coat. A formal business suit like jacket. In blue and embossed with rhinestones.

America The Beautiful: This year the traditional performance of the song was made by H.E.R.

In true Super Bowl fashion this allows me to force something I want to talk about into the conversation. Even if it's probably better suited to the agenda of the Eurovision Song Contest.

I want to talk about the way that Internet Streaming has impacted on Music TV.

As recently as a couple of years ago I had about a dozen Music TV channels on my satellite TV package. As Internet Streaming has taken off that has dropped to just one.

The reason is obvious.

Why should channel operators go the expense of operating a Music TV channel?   

In terms of getting licensed and included on satellite packages along with performance rights for the content. Then try to meet those costs by selling advertising space.

When they can instead eliminate most of those costs by setting up a Streaming App. Then rake in money both from selling advertising space and selling the personal information of the App's users.

As a consumer I have to say this has made it now pretty much impossible to just casually watch Music TV. Rather than simply flipping the channel whilst bored you need to actively choose to load an App.

I really noticed this just before the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest. 

When I suddenly realised that if any of the entries referenced a music video released in the past year. I wouldn't notice, let alone understand.

It was only on the Thursday (4/2/21) before the Super Bowl I finally opened the "VEVO" App included in my Streaming package. Promptly "Liking" about a dozen videos before figuring out how the controls worked.

This no longer being able to absent mindedly watch music videos may be part of the reason. That I really don't know much about H.E.R.

Prior to the Super Bowl my knowledge is limited entirely to her; "Saturday Night Live (SNL)" appearence. Which is a little disappointing.

This current culture of people being able to make up ever more elaborate gender pronouns for themselves. Suggests there might be something worth keeping an eye on. In a female artist who chooses the stagename; "H.E.R."

One of the first things that most sighted people would notice about H.E.R is that she is Black. Something which has become increasingly unusual amongst Super Bowl performers.

American Football has been hit particularly hard. By the racial divisions that have been cleaving through American society since, just before, the 2014 Mid-Term Elections.

Due to Colin Kaepernick's kneeling during the national anthem. An absurd practice that seemed to spread like a pandemic in 2020.

As a result many Black performers have boycotted the Super Bowl in support for Kaepernick. 

Despite the Super Bowl's artistic director continuing to be Jay Z. A Black man who seems perfectly happy to play both sides. For a price.

A return of Black performers to the Super Bowl could indicate a fall in support. For Kaepernick and Black Lives Matter. Particularly amongst Black women.

I would also say that H.E.R bears something of a physical resemblance to Rihanna. 

Which, being the Super Bowl, could trigger a discussion about whether to White people think all Black people look the same.

I though maintain. There are more physical similarities between H.E.R and Rihanna than skin colour and breasts. Five heads, perhaps. Based on her SNL performance H.E.R herself is not above making a play on those similarities.

In fact H.E.R's costume for this performance involved 1970's style flares and platform boots.

Possibly a reference to the; "Kendra" character in the TV Show; "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." Who initially appears dressed in a similar 1970's style. 

Seemingly a deliberate nod to the; "Blaxploitation" movies of the era. A genre which is critical to any discussion about the battle to get Black people portrayed in US movies and TV shows.

That Kendra reference could have been an attempt by H.E.R. To provoke Rihanna's Existential Crisis. 

That she's not really a popstar. Just the first person who looked enough like the Kendra character that could be grabbed and made famous.

Although if H.E.R and Rihanna are about to get into it. That's a Fighting 69 that not even I want to get involved in.

H.E.R's flares were faded blue denim and embossed with rhinestones. As was her jacket. Combined with the guitar she was played this invoked a cowboy, Country Music style.

The whole package particularly reminded me of the William Cook song; "You Can Have Her." 

In which the male singer uses the full force of a Gospel choir to mock an ex-girlfriend on an almost operatic scale. Perhaps undercutting his argument in the process.

It's been recorded many artists over the years. 

The version I'm most familiar with is by White Country singer Waylon Jennings. However another widely known version is by Roy Hamilton who is Black.

From that you can probably get into a discussion about the musical; "Hamilton." Particularly in its role in revising the history of racial politics in America.

I think there's now a whole generation of Americans who genuinely believe Alexander Hamilton was Black. Or Hispanic, I couldn't get tickets.

While, in reality;

"Yo, yo. Alexander Hamilton was White!”

As the TV Show; "Family Guy" once put it. A line possibly delivered by Buffy the Vampire Slayer alum Seth Green.

The viral moment of H.E.R's performance though was not provided be her.

Instead it was provided by a man standing behind her in the crowd. Very prominently displaying the logo of the can of; "Cutwater Moscow Mule" he was drinking.

Perhaps an intentional reference to the; "SodaDream." 

That Iceland's 2019 Eurovision entry insisted on having with them at every press conference. In clear violation of Eurovision's rules on product placement and corporate sponsorship.

Something which was an intentional reference to Scarlett Johansson's controversial 2014 Super Bowl commercial for SodaStream.

To which the Super Bowl's main sponsor Pepsi might have overreacted to slightly.

Buying SodaStream. In order to shutdown its Lehavim plant in the Israeli Occupied, Palestinian West Bank.

 

Continued in Part 2; https://watchitdie.blogspot.com/2021/02/super-bowl-lv-pt2_26.html

20:07 on 26/2/21 (UK date).