Tear down these (excessive) paywalls
I attempted to watch Super Bowl LX on television this past Sunday. As I pay for several subscription services, I assumed that one of them would be able to show me the game, which was broadcast on a national network that one would be able to watch for free if you had a traditional or cable television.
As a Jets fan, I have absolutely no reason to watch postseason football, but I wanted to watch the Super Bowl to see the halftime show, which generated pointless and contrived garbage controversy, and to see if the game or commercials might be entertaining.
Last year, I was able to stream the Super Bowl so my daughters could catch a glimpse of Taylor Swift in the stands. I didn’t have to subscribe to anything new or pay a fee to see the game, and it worked out well. My girls got to see Taylor Swift and the game was interesting to watch by Super Bowl standards.
But it was not to be. I tried every service I could find that offered live streaming of the super bowl, but all I was able to access without a subscription were live feeds of people watching the game at a bar or in some kind of lounge area, or video-game approximations of the action on the field. Neither was the game.
To get the Super Bowl score during the game on The New York Times website, I’m blocked and told I need to upgrade my subscription to include The Athletic, a premium service because apparently the bespoke genius of The New York Times has found a way to give us the score of a football game that is premium and better than the masses of hoi polloi who long ago figured out how to do this.
This was especially sad to see The New York Times sink to these depths. The Times is one of the first websites I ever had a subscription to. Back when it was free, I signed up online and got a cool username and password for the Times website that still works to this day. It was a rite of passage in entering the digital age, and I was proud to begin my journey of consuming news online with the newspaper of record.
I gladly stained my hands and arms reading vociferously since my father introduced me to the Gray Lady when I was in middle school. Now I’m just another mark that the Times thinks it can squeeze for an extra subscription to get the score of a football game. ESPN’s web site had the score of the game without going through a paywall, but I would have just as soon given that web traffic to the Times.
I had to enjoy the Super Bowl vicariously through the news and social media posts of friends and family. As a large, national event, it goes against the populist American ethos for the Super Bowl to be shuttered behind multiple pay walls. I felt betrayed by the providers I already pay handsomely for access to the digital world, even if I was probably the better for it.
Super Bowl Hype Has Run Aground
I had every intention of watching the Super Bowl this past Sunday but life got in the way.
Being a New York Jets fan, I have no real reason to watch the N.F.L., but believe it is a major current event that bears witnessing to be properly informed, not that one needs much of an excuse to sit and eat and watch TV. Also, in keeping with a tradition I had with my mother (RIP), my brother and I have decided to make a bet on the Super Bowl every year. My brother is a die-hard Patriots fan, so the bet was easy to make. I bet on the Philadelphia Eagles to win; the loser buys the other lunch.
As a New Yorker, I should despise both teams. The Patriots are cheating panty waists. They even cheated against my Jets, which is like cheating against people from the Special Olympics. Nonetheless, like the arrogant Dallas Cowboys of decades past, they have become the dominating franchise with numerous Super Bowl victories. The Philadelphia Eagles have been the hated rivals of New York football fans for decades. There’s something about Philadelphia fans absolute violent savagery and dedication that is endearing. They went into the game as underdogs.
Until I went to college, I could not see the use or interest in football. It is a slow game with rules that are not easy to comprehend (wait, they have to kick it again already, what happened?). Sports in general failed to arouse my interest as a kid. Why invest so much into a game when you could be out shooting bad guys or doing karate on people. I prowled around with toy guns, back when you were allowed to have realistic-looking toy guns, and pretended to hunt Russians or terrorists. I would rather practice being a bounty hunter or future warlord than try to remember a bunch of rules that made no sense. Sports seemed a poor substitute for real adventure in the world.
In college, sports made more sense. The athletes represented our school in the most primal, tribal way, and supporting the team was something that could bring even the most politically fractured college campus together.
So this Sunday came and I figured I would turn on the Super Bowl and it would be in the background while I had a regular Sunday with the family. The game was supposed to start at 6:30 p.m. Eastern time, and we knew that Pink was going to be singing the national anthem.
At the appointed time, we told our children that “Pirate Pink” would be singing on television soon. Our children know the singer as “Pirate Pink” from her appearance as a pirate on “Sponge Bob Square Pants.” But something went wrong. We turned in to the Super Bowl when it was supposed to start and they were actually starting to play football? What happened to the 45 minutes of bullshit before the actual game? The coin toss, the national anthem, the endless displays of hype and patriotism? We only have one TV in our home and I was banking on Pink’s appearance to make the transition from “Doc McStuffins” to football; no easy task.
As the actual Super Bowl got under way, my older children began to cry over missing “Pirate Pink” sing on television. I was the worst Dad ever. I made my chicken dip and enjoyed dinner with the family while watching “The Simpsons,” which is the only TV show we allow to run during meal times regularly.
I was glad to miss the game because I tend to jinx many teams that I watch on television. When the New York Yankees were in the World Series against the Atlanta Braves in 1996, I watched the first two games and the Yankees were crushed. I quit watching entirely and the Yankees won the next four games and reclaimed the crown as world champions once again.
Since then my not watching sports has helped my preferred teams. This year was a year I missed more Georgia Bulldogs games on TV than in recent memory, and they had their best year since 1980, making it all the way to the national championship game. Go Dawgs!
It was social media that informed me that my not-watching mojo had helped the Eagles win their first Super Bowl.
Congratulations Philadelphia. Please don’t burn your city to the ground.
Matthew Sheahan 
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