Monday, February 4, 2008

It’s Sunday morning and I am watching the undefeated ’72 Dolphins play the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl VII. The game took place in Los Angeles at the Coliseum, and although I lived in L.A. at the time an 18-year-old Steve Dahl was not there. The Southern California branch of the Dahl family did not have that kind of clout back in the day. Now, thanks to the clout I have amassed here in Chicago, Super Bowl tickets are a snap to get. You might recall that last year I enjoyed being rained on for five hours in the 400 section at Dolphins Stadium.

Ironically, that was my first Super Bowl and I had to go to Miami to see it. In all fairness to me, I could have gotten better tickets, but the face value on the tickets I did get was $600, and I wanted my sons to have a “real” Super Bowl experience. Not the luxury box or premium seating experience that they have come to take for granted, quite frankly. I think that was good parenting, but what I forgot about was ME! I don’t want to sit in the rain in the upper deck. I should have gotten three up there, and one for me in the Club Section. I am still drying out from that decision.

Super Bowl VII has been fun to watch, even though I know the outcome. The Dolphins don’t seem quite as dominant as I remember them (Griese just threw an interception in the end zone), although they are leading the Redskins 14 to nothing going into the 4th quarter. The football then basically looks like football now, but the graphics from 1972 really date the broadcast. We can all do better graphics on our home computers for our home movies these days. I recall being as comfortable with those rudimentary graphics back then as I am with the crazed computer generated cyborgs that we watch now.

Today I’ll be watching the Super Bowl in high definition on a 50-inch flat-screen with surround sound from a satellite in outer space. Back in 1973, I had to adjust the rabbit ears on my 23-inch TV that weighed 100 pounds. The cost of a 30 second commercial during Super Bowl VII back in 1973 (for the 1972 season) was $88,000. The cost of a 30 second commercial for Super Bowl XLII is $2.7 million. I guess somebody has to pay for all of that advanced graphics technology. I’d also like to add that although there have been improvements in snack technology, Lil Smokies in BBQ sauce in a Crock-Pot are still the best.