Dwain Northey (Gen X)

America’s Championship Priorities

Today is Super Bowl Sunday—our most sacred national observance, positioned neatly between Groundhog Day mysticism and Valentine’s Day consumer panic. It is the day we gather in solemn reflection to honor courage, sacrifice, and the heroic endurance required to finish a seven-layer dip before halftime.

This year’s ceremonial clash features the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots, battling in Santa Clara for a trophy that will dramatically reshape…absolutely nothing about the daily lives of the 330 million people watching. 

Meanwhile, in the quieter corners of reality, the 2026 Winter Olympics just opened in Italy—an event involving thousands of athletes who trained their entire lives for something that will receive roughly the same national attention as a weather report about Nebraska. 

And somewhere in Washington, the federal government recently slipped into yet another partial shutdown, the political equivalent of putting the country on airplane mode and hoping no one notices until Monday. 

But priorities are priorities.

Why concern ourselves with international competition or functioning governance when we can debate quarterback stats with the intensity normally reserved for constitutional amendments? Why follow policy negotiations when we can instead track the emotional arc of a halftime show and argue about commercials involving talking animals selling insurance?

The beauty of Super Bowl Sunday is its reassuring simplicity. No messy geopolitics. No budget negotiations. Just a perfectly contained universe where the most urgent national question is whether Seattle’s defense or New England’s legacy will prevail for three and a half glorious hours. 

And when the final whistle blows, America will return to normal—remembering, perhaps briefly, that the Olympics are happening, the government still needs funding, and reality remains stubbornly unsponsored by beer companies.

But until then, pass the wings. Democracy can wait until after the commercials.