Esoteric Bowl

I watched the Rose Bowl the other night on tv. The football game between USC and the University of Texas was to determine the national championship. Without any money bet on the game, and with no direct connection to either university, I didn’t have a rooting interest in one team over the other; or so I thought.

As the game unfolded, I found myself wanting USC to win. I wanted USC to win not because of anything that was happening on the field of play, but quite simply because of politics. The political war between the red-states and blue-states had risen in my subconscious, and I didn’t want the red state of Texas to enjoy a victory, even if it was only a football game.

I find that because of politics, my perception of certain states has changed through the years. There was a time when my initial thoughts of Florida were of oranges, but those thoughts have long since been replaced by the memory of hanging chads. And I suppose I’ll never again be able to think of Mardi Gras or anything related to Louisiana without recalling the faces of those left behind following hurricane Katrina. And when the state of Texas is mentioned, how can I not think of the Bush clan.

Politics has managed to find its way into my entertainment thoughts as well. I’ll never again be able to watch the movie Ben Hur without seeing Charlton Heston holding a rifle over his head and speaking before the NRA. I can’t watch a Mel Gibson movie without thinking about some of his questionable statements. I can’t name a song from the Dixie Chicks, but after they bravely spoke out against Bush and the Iraq war, I thought to myself that they must be okay after all. In my eyes, Dennis Miller went from being funny to being mean-spirited as he became a political opportunist overnight, and Bruce Willis lost all his cool when he became gung ho for war.

The University of Texas won the game and the red state got their victory, but not without some pointing to a few questionable calls by the referees that may very well have determined the final score. Controversy in the outcome; go figure.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 6th, 2006 at 9:13 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.