OC HIGH: STUDENT NEWS AND VIEWS : Not Quite Bowled Over by Super Event

Though the San Francisco 49ers drummed the San Diego Chargers in Super Bowl XXIX, I think the advertisers won and the faithful fans of football lost.

This is a big day for advertisers, who peddle their goods to 750 million people watching worldwide. That makes it worthwhile to them, and makes the roughly $1-million price tag for 30 seconds of air time a small price to pay.

The game is the most hyped of any sporting event during the year and is watched by the most people. That tends to baffle me, as this particular game could easily have been renamed the Forgone Conclusion Bowl. Beyond the heroics of Steve Young and Jerry Rice, there was little super about it.

Aren’t all Super Bowls this way, some would say, with the actual game being less important than the Super Bowl party? Maybe, but after enduring the 16-game season and the playoffs, loyal fans should get something more from the NFL pros, such as a game where the result is not a virtual lock until after the first quarter.

And the commercials weren’t masterpieces either. One notable one was the three frogs sitting outside a bar ribbiting, and when they ribbit in order, it sounds like they’re saying Budweiser. Or how about where Iggy, the beer drinker stranded on an island, jumps through the island’s TV, which of course is made out of sand, and into the closing seconds of the long-anticipated Bud Bowl 7.

These, though banal and pointless (and I won’t even mention the halftime show), somehow beat out the Big Game itself, which after halftime consisted mainly of having Dan Dierdorf explain how the Chargers had no chance, Frank Gifford discussing how this 49er team was among the best of all time, and Al Michaels doing everything short of submitting the names of the 49ers offensive unit for sainthood.

I talked to some of my friends, and they agree that the bowl was a snore. Except, of course, for the 49ers fans who suggested that it was quite possibly the greatest television event of all time.

To many, however, Super Bowl XXIX was not all that it was made out to be. After reflecting on the whole Super Sunday situation, the conclusion I have come to is that, ultimately, the Super Bowl is not about who wins or loses, or if the ads are dumb or not. The true purpose of this last Super Sunday was to secure a place by the chips-and-dip table, because the chips were disappearing faster than the Chargers’ chance of winning.