The Boon of the Bowl

I am no die-hard football fan, but I always catch the Super Bowl. "The Game" is a unique microcosm of American culture, consistently bringing a mammoth slice of the population to the television. A plethora of testosterone-charged males use the Super Bowl as a means to machismo.

No matter where one happens to be, omnipresent signs show it is a special day. For instance, I spent my intercession skiing. At 11:30 a.m., I entered a mid-mountain lodge for hot chocolate. Two portly men shared a pitcher of beer next to me. Alcohol, altitude and Alta Mountain do not mix very well. On Super Bowl Sunday, however, the tenets of safe skiing take a holiday and male pride prevails.

As I watched the New York Giants run around like Lilliputians in the hands of Ray Lewis and the Baltimore Ravens, I was forced to hear my neighbor ravenously slurp salsa off his fingertips. For some, the day becomes a covert Budweiser-consumption competition. For others, any sign of physical weakness in the football players elicits a joyous chorus of "sissy" and "wimp." When the quarterback of the Ravens hustled off the field to get an x-ray of his left hand, a resident Hercules yelled, "Put on a bandage and suck it up. This is the damn Super Bowl."

The highly anticipated commercials probably draw as many people to the television as the game itself. The ads are a competition in frivolity, such as a yuppie rendition of the famous Budweiser "wassup?" campaign and a Bob Dole parody of his Viagra ad for Pepsi. A commercial from Cingular wireless, however, stood out from the status quo.

In the third quarter, Cingular ran a 60-second spot featuring Dan Keplinger, a disabled artist. Although one does not know if the commercial intends to make light of a severe disability, the ad quickly strikes a serious chord as Keplinger says, "Yes, there is an intelligent person inside this body."

Choral music begins and the ad then shows Keplinger at work with a paintbrush strapped to his head. His words border the bottom of the shots of his work, reading, "I speak to the world in color and light" and "Art gives me a way to express myself." The ad concludes with Keplinger struggling to say, "I'm unbelievably lucky." If you missed it, I encourage you to go to www.usatoday.com/money/advertising/sb01/index.htm to see it.

Although most of the audience probably did not know the artist, the effect was profound. Silence draped the room of the stupefied crowd. For a moment, the alpha males in the room abandoned their Godfather cloaks. It was invigorating to see a commercial and response of that nature, and I applaud Cingular for its novel step in Super Bowl advertising. In the midst of tube-sock donning Britney Spears, buckets of beer, 200 lbs. muscle machines and salsa, it is vital to have 60 seconds where one can be reminded of what truly matters in life.

--Robert J. Saranchak