Twice in a row they’ve lost, the Green Bay Packers, and social media is ablaze.

Fire this one! Change that! People who’ve barely or never played the game become sages and definers of excellence. Indeed.

For a bread and circus to work the crowd needs to be placated or the intent will soon lose its power. If my team wins, I win. If the object of my fandom is successful then I am as well and no matter the status of my actual life what happens in the surreal world of the NFL will, perhaps, make up for whatever is lacking.

The lines have blurred. This was deliberate so money could be extracted from the masses by placating them with an illusion of something larger than their humdrum lives. It all depends, however, on winning, on providing that dopamine hit because without it people might go somewhere else, do something else, and not invest in their carefully managed entertainment. Worse yet, they may step outside into the sunshine and fresh air on a Sunday afternoon and discover that life, analog and beautiful, is there to be had with no charge or paywall.

Enjoy the games. I have no problem with that because a little diversion can be a good thing. Understand, though, that it’s not real life but rather a carefully concocted fantasy and that nothing larger than a moment is really at stake and certainly not your emotions. Or your soul. The Super Bowl trophy is gossamer and, in the end, is completely without substance or meaning other than what we give it. A century from now hardly anyone will, or should, care so don’t let it get in the way of having a real life with real people in real time and in the real world.

Or you could just take a ride with your kids on Sunday which, when all is said and done, may do more to better the world than yelling at a screen where no one was ever really listening.