February holds little to recommend itself.
It’s cold like January and December, but it’s not cool enough to include Christmas and not fresh enough to claim the “first month of a new year” title. It’s not March, so there’s no promise of warmer weather or spring.
Showers don’t bring flowers, but they often include freezing rain, sleet or snow that doesn’t stick long enough to be of any use. Groundhog Day provides some amusement. There’s the obligatory groundhog/muskrat Facebook shout outs, photos and memes, and Bill Murray always provides a laugh in Punxsutawney, Penn., driving on train tracks and smashing alarm clocks.
And then there’s Valentine’s Day.
Not to be incredibly cynical, but to be incredibly cynical, Feb. 14 is a major letdown.
On average, about one percent of the population actually enjoys the holiday and most of those people are children who don’t fully grasp the concept of a day of love.
They just see candy and grin. The other 99 percent can’t figure out why they’re still single. But then there’s the Super Bowl. It’s the I Ching of February. Hot wings are sold everywhere, oversized jerseys are a must (in fact, Urban Dictionary even has a definition for “Super Bowl” clothes) and football is the theme of the night.
Football-shaped brownies (one of my co-workers made some), team-inspired cupcakes, and balloons are all part of the Super Bowl Sunday tradition. Families get together with co-workers and their families, college students throw raging parties and the entire country sits down to a night of football and commercials. Yes, even the commercials have become a highlight of this non-traditional holiday.
With over 108 million viewers tuning in (about 90 million more viewers than for President Obama’s inauguration), advertising is a hot commodity. A 30-second commercial during the game has been valued at an average of $4 million, which means the advertisements are generally pretty ballin’. Some nameless viewers watch the Super Bowl solely for the commercials.
It’s an American tradition that has almost become an American holiday. This sunday night’s Super Bowl was no exception. Nearly 115 million viewers tuned in on Sunday to watch the Baltimore Ravens take on the San Francisco 49ers. That would be a record for the most watched program in American television history. The program aired on CBS but was available online. Probably so more people could hear the melodious sound of Jim Nance’s voice.
Beyonce made an appearance, covering the halftime show with black Illuminati signs and a million new fans. Haters are gonna hate, but no one was hating on her performance. The singer hit a home run. The Ravens’ wide receiver Jacoby Jones managed to tie an NFL league record (he almost set the record, but it was revoked upon further review) and set a Super Bowl record for longest kickoff return, 108 yards, in a Super Bowl to open the second half.
And then something strange happened. The lights went out. You could no longer hear Jim Nance speak and the players left the field. It was a Super Bowl crisis. It wasn’t even a spoof for the next Batman movie. Some said terrorism, some said Beyonce “stole the show” and her “performance was so electric, the power failed,” and others just turned the channel. It wasn’t really a good game anyway.
The lights went out and after a 34-minute delay, what had previously seemed like a normal night and an easy win for the Ravens ended with a down-to-the-second nail-biter between the Ravens and the 49ers. And that is why February is a great month. It’s everyone coming together for one night of the unexpected.
— Lauren Kittrell is a senior in journalism and electronic media. She can be reached at [email protected].
