It's Super Bowl Sunday: Enjoy the game

It's Super Bowl Sunday 2009, and the big game is underway, with Pittsburgh holding a ten to seven lead over Arizona as I write this.

The Associated Press has a great article today about what the Super Bowl used to be like, before it turned into a big extravaganza:

In all ways, the Super Bowl has morphed from a curiosity to a behemoth.

A ticket cost $6 when Bart Starr, Vince Lombardi and the Green Bay Packers beat Kansas City 35-10 in that first game. The top ticket for this weekend's matchup between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Arizona Cardinals goes for $1,000.

Now, the game is by far the biggest sporting event in America, a semi-national holiday. But back then, before the original National Football League and upstart American Football League merged, many fans weren't sure how to view it. Or watch it, really, since CBS and NBC both televised the first one.

In fact, it was officially the AFL-NFL World Championship Game in the 1960s. Commissioner Pete Rozelle preferred "The Big One" but that got nixed. The late Lamar Hunt, among the AFL's founders, suggested "Super Bowl" as a temporary fix. He got the name idea after seeing his daughter bounce a SuperBall.

From the halftime show to the commercials to the obsessive advance coverage, pretty much every aspect of the Super Bowl seems overglorified these days.

It's supposed to be a football game. But somehow, it's evolved into a televised concert and a religious service for Madison Avenue.

Maybe one of these years, the NFL can at least go back to using college bands for the halftime show. For now, for those who want to take a break during halftime from all the hoopla, there's the Mute button.