Super rant - on money and heroes

So apparently the Super Bowl is over. From what I can figure out just from looking at my facebook newsfeed, the Ravens won and there was some kind of a power outage during the game. The commercials, while awesome, apparently left a bit to be desired for some.

I know that there were commercials for Oreos, Dodge vehicles, Taco Bell, Tide, Budweiser, Go Daddy and for the farmers of America.

What I have yet to see, however, is a score.

Or a mention of a player. Or of a great play in the game. Nothing about the crowd, nothing about statistics or positions or bad calls or even good calls.

Nothing about the game.

Isn't that what this is supposed to be about? Isn't the Super Bowl supposed to be about football?

But, I suppose when companies are paying $4,000,000 for a 30 second ad, it's ok to forget about the game. It's alright to forget that the reason that the commercials cost as much as they do is because they are to air during "The Big Game".

Maybe I'm a little more callous about it this year because I didn't really have an opinion on either team. I don't like or dislike either one, so I wasn't really interested in watching the game at all anyway. So being disinterested in the game to start with made me notice that no one was really talking about the game. It was all about the commercials.....which wouldn't happen without the game.

I don't know what the average salary is for an NFL player, but I can only assume that it's considerable. I'm betting that they get nice little bonuses for playing in the Super Bowl as well, not to mention side gigs as official spokesmen for products or whatever.

It's all about the money. The game got lost among the dollar signs. But these men are our heroes. They are looked up to by people young and old. They are admired and loved because they play the game in front of millions of people and get millions of dollars to do it.

I'm not saying that they shouldn't be admired for what they do.

My opinion? 

I think that the millions upon millions of dollars in advertising could be spent better elsewhere, but that's just me. Sponsors could focus on the game, put out a simple ad for their product, and donate the excess millions to the homeless or the hungry or animal shelters or education or mental health programs or veteran's services or something more important to real life than hocking their products during the game.

But besides that....

In the sports world, I have very few heroes. There are very few people who I admire simply because they participate in a sport that I enjoy.

But I will tell you this - my heroes? My personal sports heroes? The young men of the 2012 Penn State football team.

Those young men signed up to play for a legendary program, and then the rug was yanked out from underneath them. Everything fell apart. They were given the opportunity to walk away from the team and play elsewhere with no penalties whatsoever. They could walk away, play somewhere else, and go all the way.

They were told that if they stayed, there would be no post-season. No bowl games. No championships. No glory. Nothing. A regular season, and that was it.

And all but a handful stayed. Some left, yes. But almost all of them stayed. Why?

Because they love the game. They wanted to play the game at Penn State. They stayed and stood up for what they believed in, knowing that they wouldn't play as much as they had hoped, and knowing that they had no possibility of ever getting a championship.

Those young men - are my sports heroes.

Just in case you're new here - I'm a proud PSU alum.
Class of 1994
(Picture taken this past summer on TMOART:12)