Letter to the Editor: Super Bowl Hype

The Super Bowl is the preeminent sporting spectacle...at least in North America.  The cache comes from the fact this is a "one and done" contest and is the single biggest sports betting attraction in the U.S.  Money talks and everything else walks. 

The imponderable half-time shows and the garbled, whinny, overwrought, forgotten words rendition of the national anthem stand as large negatives, which detract from the game and gambling.  How much momentum is lost, in this year's game, by the Steelers, while we are "entertained" by a spectacle that lasts close to 30 minutes and is marginally interesting at best.   

The money flowing into the Super Bowl and the NFL comes from monied "sports fans" that could care less about the Black Eyed Peas, The Who, Bruce Springstein or whomever they trot out for our "entertainment".  The game and hoopla ran close to four hours. 

Let's lose the half-time extravaganza.  Let's get a vocalist who sings the national anthem, without interpretation, in the cadence it was meant to be sung and with all the words and let the Game be the focus, as it should be.  The rest just turns out to be an embarrassment and talk show, Twitter and Facebook fodder.  

Steve Sarich