Recently I
read a blog in which the author commented on the place of sports and
entertainment generally in our society and the Super Bowl in particular. The
day of rest is dominated by watching others sweat it out on sports fields and
in arenas. Most sports seasons extend across multiple calendar seasons. When
you have the baseball world series in Toronto, you run the risk of having snow
interrupt the games! So much for the boys of summer.
Participants
in professional sports and entertainment receive some of the highest salaries
in society. Combined with what they make through commercial endorsements, few if
any in the business world come close to their annual incomes. They produce
entertainment.
We pay well
for entertainment. The previously mentioned blog noted that a thirty-second
commercial slot during this year’s Super Bowl will cost the advertiser four and
one half million dollars. They are counting on you watching the Super Bowl and
being persuaded to buy their product. They are counting on you wanting to be
entertained.
We pay well
for entertainment. Why? Why do advertisers find the Super Bowl so lucrative as
to lead them to spend four and one half million dollars on thirty seconds of
viewing time? Does the Super Bowl represent the epitome of our willingness to
exist on vicarious experiences and an escape from our daily routine?
The gridiron
represents combat in which there will be clear winners and losers. Nobody likes
a game that goes into overtime and then ends in a tie. We want winners and we
want losers. We want to know someone is more talented, better trained, and more
determined to win than someone else. Upsets may be exciting, but if they happen
too often, we wonder who set the standard of rating.
It’s hard to
believe we see the Super Bowl as just a game. Seats sell for thousands, even
tens of thousands of dollars. The viewing audience is numbered in the tens of
millions on every continent of the globe. Special steps are taken to allow as
many of our military personnel around the world as possible to have a chance to
view the event.
The writer
of the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes faced the situation in his own life
of trying to find something worthwhile that would give life meaning. Pleasures
beyond mere life maintenance and entertainment were two of the areas he
explored. The result was disappointing.
Ecc 2:1 I said in my heart, "Come now, I will
test you with pleasure; enjoy yourself." But behold, this also was vanity.
Ecc
2:2 I said of laughter, "It is
mad," and of pleasure, "What use is it?"
For that Old
Testament writer, pleasure without production had no appeal. He saw no use in
it. In that same chapter he describes how many ways he tried to discovery
meaning in please, and failed every time. In looking for something of lasting
value, he came up empty when he turned to pleasure without purpose.
He finds
more hope in another area. He writes of his discovery…
Ecc
3:12 I perceived that there is nothing
better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live;
Ecc
3:13 also that everyone should eat and
drink and take pleasure in all his toil--this is God's gift to man.
The writer
of Ecclesiastes never condemns pleasure. It is a gift of God. It is in how we seek
the pleasure that meaninglessness sinks into our lives. Rather his focus is
upon work that benefits others in a productive way. Enjoy the basic necessities
of life and find pleasure in the work of your hands. These are to be the
priorities.
Do some of
us benefit from that vicarious excitement on the big screen? I’m sure some of
us think we do. Should your life be dominated by entertainment in which you can
never join? Probably not. The Super Bowl is only super to those who have not
yet discovered how entertaining their own lives can be if fully explored in a
productive way.
