Sbnation.com
The ratings for Super Bowl LIII have come in and they aren't what CBS and the NFL were hoping for. Even though nearly 100 million viewers tuned in for the big game, there was a roughly 5% drop from last year. The full ratings breakdown isn't available yet but even a small dip in the first set of numbers is something the NFL should take seriously.
As for me, I watched the game. Sort of. I had every intention of sitting down and enjoying every snap and every commercial break, including halftime. But when it came down to it, life got in the way. I wasn't invited to, or even aware of any Super Bowl parties amongst my friends. Even if there were, I'm not sure I would have felt compelled to rush through everything I needed to do this weekend just so I could go celebrate the biggest game of the season.
When I look at my social media and the local coverage leading up to the game, I get the sense I'm not the only one who was going to watch the game at home with family while I continued to go about my day. It's a far cry from when I was younger when it felt like the hype surrounding the game was bigger than the game itself. I'm sure bars were packed and there were still plenty of people hosting parties, but I got the sense it isn't like it used to be.
Right now, the NFL has some huge problems that affect how people view the game of football. So much so that there's probably some fatigue with it all. Concussions, protests, bad officiating, and even the Patriots; all these contribute to a lack of excitement that previously didn't exist on Super Bowl Sunday.
How many people decided not to tune in because once again it was Tom Brady and Bill Belichick? I would say that might have been the biggest factor. No matter who represented the NFC, I knew they would face a coach and quarterback combo that would out think them. Belichick knows how to plan for his opponents and in the Super Bowl it takes a great individual effort or a surprise play call that shifts the momentum away from his game plan. As cool as it is to be in the era of Tom Brady, we all know that the Patriots don't care about exciting football; only winning. I have too much to do to dedicate my time to a slow-moving chess match. I was right, there weren't any plays that will go down as all time highlights in the annals of the NFL.
How many people decided not to watch the Super Bowl because they were still upset that the New Orleans Saints got screwed out of an appearance by horrible officiating that changed the most likely outcome of the NFC Championship? The Rams chance to play for a title will always seem tainted by what happened at the end of that game and a conscious or subconscious lack of interest in the Rams probably permeated the mood a lot of fans had about the Super Bowl.
I know it did for me. I was less interested because I felt like someone not playing the game made such an egregious mistake that the outcome was not what it should have been. In my mind I have no doubt that the Saints were the team that belonged in the Super Bowl. As good as the Rams were all season, there is an asterisk next to them and I cared more about taking care of my home life than watching a team that shouldn't have been there in the first place.
Let's talk about commercials. Have they gotten so expensive that it is no longer worth it? Sure, there were still some great commercials that fit the idea of what a Super Bowl ad should be. Is it me, or have they become more political than years past? Are there fewer themed campaigns by companies that involve multiple different commercials that made you want to go watch all the variations later?
I saw that Bud Light kept it alive but overall, the humor and creativity seem to be in decline. That's something I noticed in previous years. I can't remember the last time I watched a Super Bowl and felt I had to stay glued to my seat because any one of the commercials was going to make me crack up laughing or be some cinematic experience condensed into 30 seconds.
Finally, what was up with that halftime show? I get it that the NFL wants to cater to a wide audience, but the performance of Maroon 5 was very bland and because of the need to fit in multiple pre-announced guest artists, the songs were a little rushed. Travis Scott's performance felt out of place and the pageantry of Big Boi should have been its own full show. I appreciate other artists contributing but it should be a surprise duet on a song of the headlining artist or something made to fit more smoothly into the performance. That entire halftime show could have been better and when the non-football fans are disappointed in one of the big reasons they watch, the second half numbers probably dropped off. That might even cause a ripple into next year's game.
When it's the biggest game of the season and the only one on, people are going to watch. But with everything happening in the NFL and in real life, sometimes people don't feel like Super Bowl Sunday is a de facto holiday anymore. If the Patriots fail to make it back next year and we see two new teams untainted by serious controversy, interest might return. If the halftime performance is one major artist with no special guests announced prior to the game, non-football fans might get more excited. But the way I see it, Roger Goodell and the rest of the braintrust in the NFL front offices have a lot to address when it comes to making fans want to fully dedicate themselves to the Super Bowl like they used to.
Most Popular
SportsMap Emails
Are Awesome
Listen Live
Through 20 games, the Houston Astros have managed just six wins and are in last place in the AL West.
Their pitching staff trails only Colorado with a 5.24 ERA and big-money new closer Josh Hader has given up the same number of earned runs in 10 games as he did in 61 last year.
Despite this, these veteran Astros, who have reached the AL Championship Series seven consecutive times, have no doubt they’ll turn things around.
“If there’s a team that can do it, it’s this team,” shortstop Jeremy Peña said.
First-year manager Joe Espada, who was hired in January to replace the retired Dusty Baker, discussed his team’s early struggles.
“It’s not ideal,” he said. “It’s not what we expected, to come out of the shoot playing this type of baseball. But you know what, this is where we’re at and we’ve got to pick it up and play better. That’s just the bottom line.”
Many of Houston’s problems have stemmed from a poor performance by a rotation that has been decimated by injuries. Ace Justin Verlander and fellow starter José Urquidy haven’t pitched this season because of injuries and lefty Framber Valdez made just two starts before landing on the injured list with a sore elbow.
Ronel Blanco, who threw a no-hitter in his season debut April 1, has pitched well and is 2-0 with a 0.86 ERA in three starts this season. Cristian Javier is also off to a good start, going 2-0 with a 1.54 ERA in four starts, but the team has won just two games not started by those two pitchers.
However, Espada wouldn’t blame the rotation for Houston’s current position.
“It’s been a little bit of a roller coaster how we've played overall,” he said. “One day we get good starting pitching, some days we don’t. The middle relief has been better and sometimes it hasn’t been. So, we’ve just got to put it all together and then play more as a team. And once we start doing that, we’ll be in good shape.”
The good news for the Astros is that Verlander will make his season debut Friday night when they open a series at Washington and Valdez should return soon after him.
“Framber and Justin have been a great part of our success in the last few years,” second baseman Jose Altuve said. “So, it’s always good to have those two guys back helping the team. We trust them and I think it’s going to be good.”
Hader signed a five-year, $95 million contract this offseason to give the Astros a shutdown 7-8-9 combination at the back end of their bullpen with Bryan Abreu and Ryan Pressly. But the five-time All-Star is off to a bumpy start.
He allowed four runs in the ninth inning of a 6-1 loss to the Braves on Monday night and has yielded eight earned runs this season after giving up the same number in 56 1/3 innings for San Diego last year.
He was much better Wednesday when he struck out the side in the ninth before the Astros fell to Atlanta in 10 innings for their third straight loss.
Houston’s offense, led by Altuve, Yordan Alvarez and Kyle Tucker, ranks third in the majors with a .268 batting average and is tied for third with 24 homers this season. But the Astros have struggled with runners in scoring position and often failed to get a big hit in close games.
While many of Houston’s hitters have thrived this season, one notable exception is first baseman José Abreu. The 37-year-old, who is in the second year of a three-year, $58.5 million contract, is hitting 0.78 with just one extra-base hit in 16 games, raising questions about why he remains in the lineup every day.
To make matters worse, his error on a routine ground ball in the eighth inning Wednesday helped the Braves tie the game before they won in extra innings.
Espada brushed off criticism of Abreu and said he knows the 2020 AL MVP can break out of his early slump.
“Because (of) history,” Espada said. “The back of his baseball card. He can do it.”
Though things haven’t gone well for the Astros so far, everyone insists there’s no panic in this team which won its second World Series in 2022.
Altuve added that he doesn’t have to say anything to his teammates during this tough time.
“I think they’ve played enough baseball to know how to control themselves and how to come back to the plan we have, which is winning games,” he said.
The clubhouse was quiet and somber Wednesday after the Astros suffered their third series sweep of the season and second at home. While not panicking about the slow start, this team, which has won at least 90 games in each of the last three seasons, is certainly not happy with its record.
“We need to do everything better,” third baseman Alex Bregman said. “I feel like we’re in a lot of games, but we just haven’t found a way to win them. And good teams find a way to win games. So we need to find a way to win games.”