Hype is the point, writes Hampton Stevens:
The Super Bowl is our National Day of Capitalism—a feast and party that's mercifully without the least bit of spiritual underpinning. It's a celebration of commercialism and consumerism, and consumption for consumptions' sake. Today we slurp and cho down as much food and drink as humanly possible. We pay more attention to the TV commercials than the game. We gamble, which is almost capitalism in the purest form—an attempt to make money off nothing but one's capital, brains, and someone else's work.
Oh, okay.
Add: Joel Achenbach puts it in perspective:
The Super Bowl is our day of national vulgarity. Everything about the event is over-the-top, most of all the halftime show. I kept thinking that Beyonce didn’t need to try so hard. She had me at hello. At several points it turned into a workout video.
