I’m happy that the Super Bowl is bringing national attention and patronage to Fort Worth and its businesses (including the one that employs me). But in the relentless flood of hype, some local TV coverage has been a teeny bit weird.
One local station has been interrupting its daily news broadcasts with pointless fetish-y live-cam shots of Cowboys Stadium. Each time, the anchor informs us: “There it is, Cowboys Stadium…” Sometimes the stadium is glowing majestically in the morning light. Later on, the purple fingers of evening are caressing it. But each time they check back, it’s still there. Are they afraid someone’s going to steal it if the surveillance camera is turned off?
During an interview with Roger Staubach, another area station ran a “Super Bowl Countdown” on the upper right hand corner of the TV screen – it ticked off the days, hours, and minutes until Sunday’s game. I didn’t think Jerry Jones had the power to transform time, but U.S. Central Standard is on hold this week. If you want to meet friends for a drink after work, you’ll need to be more specific than “6:15.” Operating on NFL-adjusted time, your appointment will now be scheduled at “5 Days, 13 Hours, 45 minutes. Ish.”
I’ll be glad when Monday February 7 comes and the city rolls over, pulls the sheet up to its throat in a touching display of modesty, takes a long drag off its cigarette, and hoarsely sighs, “Damn, that was good.” Then we can all return to our glorious, pre-Super Bowl ruts.
