Super Bowl or Super Garbage?
By: Obie Usategui
2/9/2025

So…yes, once again yesterday’s Super Bowl LX [60th game], must go down in the books as one of the worst ever. Then again, this has been true for most Super Bowls, which gives rise to the title of my narrative today, Super Bowl or Super Garbage.

In the 60 years since the big game was started, fans have been treated to some of the worst games ever seen in the sport. For me personally, I have forever contented that anything that becomes a forceful expectation in life is likely to flop at some time. Take for instance “New Years Eve,” the fact that is the New Year, makes it almost mandatory, obligatory, required that you have fun, regardless. Think about it friends, it could be that you are having the worst day of your life, yet, social mores make it, again, mandatory to have fun.

For me personally, I have made it a habit to have fun all year round regardless. Historically for me, I could list you many days throughout a year’s time where I had much more fun than that forced New Year’s Party. Bottom line, I am a firm believer that anything in life that becomes an obligation eventually will be resented or outright unwanted, unwelcome, undesirable – just human nature. Vis-à-vis, I tend to get the best of many other times when the expectations were not present.

In the case of Super Bowls, no different. The game is expected to be the best of the year. It is meant to be played by the two best teams in football, yet, for some unknown reason, I can cite you many games throughout any football year where I watched some nailbiters, games that were much more competitive and enjoyable than the Super Bowl, which, makes me wonder if there is not something wrong with the system itself. Are the two best teams really the ones that come to play on this incredibly special day?

Super Bowls have grown into becoming iconic events over the years. After all, the viewership continues to grow. This year, 2026 more than 125 million people were expected to watch Super Bowl LX 60 throughout the world, which makes it [the] most important day for Madison Avenue marketing and advertising commanding an outrageous cost for a Super Bowl commercial an average of $16 million dollars per minute or $8 million for a 30-second spot, with premium slots reaching as high a $20 million per minute or $10 million per 30-seconds.

Matter of fact, there was a time when people were looking forward to the big game, just to get a taste of some of the new ads that were showcased as the absolute best that Madison Avenue had to offer. Some folks were more into the ads than they were into the game itself. Understanding how poor some of the games have been, it is easy to understand all the pomp and circumstance that have gone into the game, making it what it has been throughout the years, closest you can come to making it a national holiday without it being really one.

As we all know, Super Bowls nowadays have paved the way for families to get together much like they do on traditional holidays such as Thanksgiving, Xmas, and the like. And that is fine, thank God you would expect that at most of these parties there will be a little alcohol and other spirits served which no doubt makes the painful experience of watching a boring game a little more palatable.

And finally, as part of the complimentary pomp and circumstance, there have been the half-time shows, featuring all kinds of artistic productions meant to be a part of the moment, a part of the greatness. Shows featuring renowned artists, with great productions, all meant to compliment the “greatness” of the Super Bowl experience.

Not this year though, this year, the NFL commission really screwed up featuring Bad Bunny, the Puerto Rican music star supposed to have led a celebratory performance of the Latino heritage, which would have been true and fine, if this Puerto Rican asshole, born Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio, would be a non-political activist. This is the same communist guy who only a few days back while accepting the Album of the Year award at the 68th Annual Grammy Awards began his speech saying: “Before I say thanks to God, I’m going to say: ICE out!”

As a matter of record, conservative circles opposed Bad Bunny’s choice for half-time entertainment, offering a counter-programing show, which I thoroughly enjoyed with Kid Rock and other artists friendly with the Trump administration. Trump wasted no time in denouncing Bad Bunny’s halftime performance as “a slap in the face.” Trump went on to say that “nobody understood a word” the Puerto Rican rapper was saying. “The Super Bowl halftime show, said Trump, was terrible -one of the worst EVER!

So, when you put it all together, one of the worst Super Bowl games ever, together with the absolute worst ever halftime show, you might also consider changing the name to Super Garbage instead of Super Bowl. I can almost assure you, come February 2027 next year, I will not be one of 125+ million watching last night’s garbage. Frankly, I can think of many other things on how to spend a great Sunday afternoon in South Florida, other than watching two boring teams play each other while having to stomach the likes of Bad Bunny at halftime. What say you?