Athletics: Though it may not rank as high in viewership as World Cup Soccer (Football to the rest of the world), the 53rd Super Bowl® is tonight and historically sports (heh!) the largest viewership in the US of any other television broadcast. The game is being held at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia and features the 2-point favorite American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots vying with the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Los Angeles Rams to be crowned the champions of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2018 season.
The game is scheduled to start at 6:30pm EST (2330 UTC) and is being broadcast in the USA on CBS and, apparently, is also available for streaming on-line.
Advertisements: Over the years, it has grown to be a spectacle where the game play is occasionally overshadowed by the advertisements. An advertisement during this year's game sets a new record of over $5 Million for a 30-second spot. Some of the most memorable ads of all time premiered during the Super Bowl®. Who can forget the Macintosh 1984 ad or Michael Jordan and Larry Bird's game of "horse" where "nothing but net" became a meme?
An Experiment: In light of this opportunity, we are going to try something new for SoylentNews. We have set up a channel on our IRC (Internet Relay Chat) server especially for this game. The Patriots are favored to win over the Rams by two points, so the game may prove to be close... discussion about the game IS welcome. We are also offering a venue for people to discuss the ads that are broadcast, in real time. See an ad you thought was lame, say so! Laughed your butt off? Say that, too! The intent is to provide a shared space for the community to watch the game together.
Ground Rules: This is intended to be an enjoyable experience. In the sole discretion of the channel operators, ad hominem attacks, uncivil behavior, trolling, spamming, and politics are all grounds for getting kicked off the channel. Repeated violations will result in a ban from the channel and whatever other steps are deemed necessary to make it an enjoyable place for people to hang out and discuss the game and ads. In short, we are inviting you to our "living room" — have fun, but don't crap on our carpet. Let's put our differences aside and gather together for a shared community experience!
Sorry, no catering is provided, so you'll have to BYOB (bring your own... bacon =).
Details: Use your favorite IRC client or use the convenient link in the left-hand slashbox titled "SoylentNews". If you are new to IRC, these commands may be helpful:
# Pick a name for use on IRC:
/NICK mynickname# Join the channel (be careful with the spelling!)
/JOIN #SuperBowlLIII
If you have any questions about getting connected, I'd advise joining an hour or so before the game; I'm sure folks will be ready and willing to help.
Lastly, have fun, enjoy the game, and may the best team win!
Related Stories
The "other" game of football has its championship today. On the docket are:
Athletics: Super Bowl LIV - Wikipedia:
Super Bowl LIV, the 54th Super Bowl and the 50th modern-era National Football League (NFL) championship game, will decide the champion for the NFL's 2019 and 100th season. The National Football Conference (NFC) champion San Francisco 49ers will play against the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Kansas City Chiefs. The game is scheduled to be played on February 2, 2020, at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. This will be the 11th Super Bowl hosted by the South Florida region and the sixth Super Bowl hosted in Miami Gardens, which hosted Super Bowl XLIV ten years earlier.
The game will be broadcast in the United States by Fox, and the halftime show will be co-headlined by Jennifer Lopez and Shakira.
According to NBC Sports:
Here's how to watch Super Bowl LIV between the 49ers and Chiefs, both online and on TV.
When: Sunday, Feb. 2 at 3:30 p.m. PT [6:30 p.m. ET]
TV: FOX
Online: fuboTV -- Get a free trial
The Chiefs are favored to win by just one point, so it has all the hallmarks of a close game.
Advertisements: Over the years, it has grown to be a spectacle where the game play is occasionally overshadowed by the advertisements. An advertisement during this year's game sets a new record of "$5.6 Million for a 30-second spot. Some of the most memorable ads of all time premiered during the Super Bowl®. Who can forget the Apple Macintosh 1984 advertisement or Michael Jordan and Larry Bird's game of "horse" where "nothing but net" became a meme?
Chat: Like we tried last year, we have set up a chat channel on our IRC (Internet Relay Chat) server. Also, as before, discussion about the game, teams, players and plays is invited. Also, of course, so is discussion about advertisements! Feel free to praise or pan them, in real time with your fellow Soylentils!
No catering is provided, so you'll have to BYOB (bring your own... bacon =).
Details: Use your favorite IRC client or use the convenient link copied here from the the left-hand slashbox titled "SoylentNews". If you are new to IRC, these commands may be helpful:
# Pick a name for use on IRC:
/NICK mynickname# Join the channel (be careful with the spelling!)
/JOIN #Superbowl-LIV
(Score: 2) by takyon on Sunday February 03 2019, @09:04PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYW5rmQgGXE [youtube.com]
/JOIN #SuperBowlLIII
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 03 2019, @09:24PM (2 children)
Sounds like you won't have many people on the channel left aside from those who love to talk about cat pictures. Sounds like a rewarding experience.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 03 2019, @09:26PM (1 child)
Get enriched.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 04 2019, @03:57AM
I won't be traveling to Mexico, thank you.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 03 2019, @09:40PM
Take your CoC bullshit and shove it up your ass!!!!!!
Ok, just joking, but since I wouldn't go into the IRC channel to make such a troll joke I hope you can appreciate my trollish attempt at irony in here.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 03 2019, @10:06PM (13 children)
Stupid game.
Have fun without me!
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 03 2019, @10:42PM (12 children)
Agreed. It's about as entertaining as watching a bunch of drunk idiots that only know how to turn left... AKA: NASCAR. Those sports(?) only exist to sell more beer. The Olympics are sports.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Sunday February 03 2019, @10:48PM
https://www.bbc.com/sport/olympics/43893891 [bbc.com]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Sunday February 03 2019, @10:55PM (3 children)
Apart from those events where no-one knows who won until the judges tell us.
Those are not sports.
(Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Monday February 04 2019, @12:27AM
Sometimes they'll have the Judges, but you don't have to wait for the Judges. You know. When Nadia from Romania did her thing, they gave her a Perfect "10." They didn't give it to her, she gave it to them. When she knocked everyone's socks off. 14 years old, so incredible!!
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 04 2019, @06:17AM (1 child)
Reminds me of when I watched diving during the last olympics and the expert gave a big positive reaction to the divers and said something to the effect of, "that was near perfect. Expect to see lots of high nines and maybe a ten." Seconds afterwards, the score pops up and it is a healthy mix of eights in there, and she says, "or that. Not sure we saw the same thing with that score."
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday February 05 2019, @01:01AM
Which makes diving a passtime, not a sport, just like gymnastics etc. They should have their own thing, and leave the Olympics alone.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by SomeGuy on Monday February 04 2019, @12:03AM
Football, baseball, basketball... it's all a bunch of guys playing with their balls. Not watching that.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 04 2019, @12:38AM (5 children)
Yes, oppressive governments driving people of their land to build stadiums, that are used perhaps once. That's the sport of olympics.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 04 2019, @02:11AM (4 children)
Yes, I agree they spend too much $ building a new venue every 2 years. But it was originally held in Olympia, Greece, from the 8th century BC to the 4th century AD... It should go back to using only a couple locations (Winter, Summer) instead of making it a cash grab like it is now. Politics got in the middle of it.
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Monday February 04 2019, @02:42AM (3 children)
FTFY
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 04 2019, @04:22AM (2 children)
Isn't it the same?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 04 2019, @06:20AM (1 child)
No. Politics are something you buy with money. What you said is akin to saying money and pizza are the same thing.
(Score: 1) by shrewdsheep on Monday February 04 2019, @10:24AM
But pizza actually may serve another purpose other than being completely useless for anything else than getting yet another thing (which is what money is).
(Score: 2) by Apparition on Sunday February 03 2019, @10:11PM
The best part about this year's Super Bowl is that the WWE is bringing back Halftime Heat [wwe.com].
It's going to be better than some danged foosball, and far better than Maroon 5 that's for sure. Johnny Gargano is widely considered one of the best male wrestlers today, and Aleister Black and Ricochet are a treat to watch.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by fakefuck39 on Sunday February 03 2019, @10:22PM (5 children)
anyone else here who has been very fit all their life, but does not understand how anyone could find watching or playing sports retarded and boring? I love to run w/ headphones on, bench while reading this site on a laptop, or wear electrodes to the office. throwing a ball? why?
didn't even know there was superball today. did skins or shirts win the bowling tournament?
(Score: 2) by takyon on Sunday February 03 2019, @10:24PM (1 child)
https://soylentnews.org/~takyon/journal/3955 [soylentnews.org]
Give some feedback.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by fakefuck39 on Sunday February 03 2019, @11:43PM
wow, I got some replies to write apparently. thanks for letting me know.
(Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Monday February 04 2019, @12:19AM
The Greatest Sport Ever Invented By Man [goodreads.com].
It isn't true, but it does include stuff that requires skill and athleticism [wikipedia.org]. Case in point: All Star Thursdays [youtube.com].
And the goal is to challenge yourself to excel. There's no advertisers, no scoring, no officials. Just you competing against yourself.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 2) by Bot on Tuesday February 05 2019, @01:10PM (1 child)
But getting fit has a purpose too. It is just like a dog who needs to walk every day, to avoid illnesses? Is it being in love with the shape of your fit body? Attract the other sex? Repel the attacks of the other sex?
A game involving some balls is not necessarily worse.
Spending time on the couch watching sports has nothing to do with physical activity, so, entirely another planet.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 0) by fakefuck39 on Tuesday February 05 2019, @04:58PM
a game life football, with mostly standing and rare short sprints, is necessarily worse than working out. Compared to an hour of lifting weights or an hour of running, an hour of playing football is not a comparison. Soccer is of course a good workout - but not football (or baseball, or anything else like that). Football players are not fit or big from playing the sport, nor do they play to stay fit. They work out like everyone else, in order to play.
My comment was addressing the interest of getting the ball into a hole, or watching getting the ball into a hole. Whether you play the sport or watch it - it is the same planet. Also a ball, a really big one. I do like it when my balls are played with, I just don't like to play with other balls or watch someone playing with theirs. Faggot.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Sunday February 03 2019, @10:32PM (6 children)
I didn't realize they were holding the football championship game today until the pastor mentioned it in his sermon this morning.
They should make it more interesting by having the winners eat the losers or something. Maybe ninja challenge additions to the field?
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Sunday February 03 2019, @10:38PM (1 child)
It's your duty to God to get ready for some fooootbaaaaalllll!
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Monday February 04 2019, @11:46AM
I'll watch rugby or sumo gladly, but football to me is less entertaining than watching paint dry. Hope you enjoyed the game, though.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 04 2019, @12:08AM (3 children)
Was that before or after they raped your children in the name of an imaginary sky fairy?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 04 2019, @12:21AM (1 child)
I'm not religious but damn, why you gotta be a dick? Got some past life trauma to work out?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 04 2019, @07:19AM
No, this life, when I was much younger. And it did involve a dick, just not mine, so much. Abstinence Makes the Church Grow Fondlers!
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Monday February 04 2019, @11:48AM
Oh, we're not Catholic.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 03 2019, @11:41PM (4 children)
What gives you the right to use it here?
(Score: 2) by martyb on Monday February 04 2019, @12:11AM (3 children)
Wit is intellect, dancing.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Monday February 04 2019, @11:49AM (2 children)
Use "Stupor Bowl" instead?
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by martyb on Monday February 04 2019, @04:56PM
Given the lack of scoring, that would be apropos.
OTOH, I was tempted to use... "Superb Owl" =)
Wit is intellect, dancing.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Tuesday February 05 2019, @01:12PM
Superb owl is a nice alternative.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Monday February 04 2019, @12:13AM (5 children)
Ahh, football. Where a bunch of roided-out freaks in tight pants and tops that make their chests look bigger bump and tumble and grind and grab all over one another to get hold of a huge ball. The most heterosexual, manly sport *ever* after professional wrestling!
Eh, at least it's better than gladiatorial combat, even if it basically replaced that.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 04 2019, @12:31AM (2 children)
I have never once understood the homoerotic aspects of some team sports. Ass slaps? WTF? Guess that's what you get when you have a culture built on sexual repression.
(Score: 3, Funny) by takyon on Monday February 04 2019, @01:40AM
Trending towards sexual liberation? Ass slaps for everyone!
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 4, Insightful) by martyb on Monday February 04 2019, @01:57AM
Wit is intellect, dancing.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 04 2019, @07:22AM
As someone once pointed out, War is the sport of homosexual rape, inserting objects into other men's bodies, without their permission. Football is just practice. Macho, macho man! I wanna be, a Macho man! Village People, correct?
(Score: 3, Funny) by Phoenix666 on Monday February 04 2019, @11:51AM
You could always watch it for the deep thoughts of the sports announcers or the wit of the player interviews.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by ElizabethGreene on Monday February 04 2019, @03:08AM (2 children)
The iFunny collective is up in arms over the lack of Spongebob. :(
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday February 04 2019, @06:27AM
Wasn't there like infinity percent more spongebob than usual?
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 04 2019, @12:14PM
I Taut I Taw A Puddy-Tat.. er i mean sponge Bob right there in the beginning. Or was that just my mind tricking me, because other characters were there?