22 ~ Friday, February 12, 1993 ~ North Shore News

opese .

LAST WEEKEND'S Super Bowl
football game was more hype than
sport, according to some people.
Do you watch professional sports
on television? Hf not, why not? If
you do, what sports do you
watch? Do you think sports events
are hyped too much?

Caught up in the

Jason is 17 years old, and a
Grade 12 student at Carson
Graham secondary school, .He is
interested in theatre and humor.

MAAAMAABBAS

NO MATTER which. way
you look at it, Super Bowl
XXVIII. (27) was as. com-
mercialized as things come
nowadays.

Like many people, 1 don’t
know too much about football.
I've played the game (and loved
it) and tried desperately to watch
it on television. Somewhere,
somehow, something is lost be-
tween the TV and the viewer.

With Super Bowl XXVH, I felt
it was the perfect chance to get
acquainted with the game. How
could] lose? After all, this was
the biggest game of the season.
What I actually watched seemed
to be a-rock concert, dropped
right into the middle of a terribly

- predictable football game.
For those 749 million others like
myself who tuned in, the glitz and
_ glamor. that Super _Bow!l has
become really took away from
what it really. is — a football
game, that’s all! Believe it or not,
somewhere in the myriad of pre-
game comments, commercials and
a half-time spectacular, there was
a notable football game going on.

For the third time in a row, the
Buffalo Bills made it to the Super
‘Bowl, and their opponents were
the determined Dallas Cowboys.
_ The two teams’ met in Pasadena, :
California. After the thunder fad-
ed, the Cowboys: had destroyed
the Bills with a score of 52-17.
Ouch! Anyways, that was it. That -

' was the game.

Unfortunately, not the end of
‘the Super Bow!. Post-show com-
ments continued into the night.
Analysts analysed and statisticians
statisized. {¢ turns out that the
Bills broke one record, the most
turnovers in a Super Bowl
nine.

That perhaps was the cause of
their loss. But’ one more factor
made the game predictable. The
Bills had lost the‘ two previous
Super Bowls: Keeping this in mind
I found it hard to keep an unbi-'
ased view on the game.

What really lost me was the
multi-million-dollar haif-time
presentation by Michael Jackson.
Listening to the critics, there ap-
pear to be more stats on_ this
show than on the game itself,

The stage alone cost $1 million
and it took a small army of stage’
hands 3% minutes to move this
stage’ into. position. The stage
came in 20 pieces that had to be

ch

high-calibre hype

aligned perfectly for the
pyrotechnics display.

Now did we really need this?

According to many people, the
hype surrounding the Super Bowl
is as necessary as the football. For
the die-hard football fan, the
hype creates an intoxicating anxie-
ty. Getting caught up in the hype
of this high-calibre game is all
part of the fun.

When asked about the hype,
many people felt that it was ‘nec-
essary. There were some who
thought ‘the pre-game promotions
and advertising were getting a lit-
tle out of hand. Despite all the
hype, one thing has remained a
constant factor for drawing the
crowds back — the uncertainty of
the game. .

This
thought:
J.M., 17: ‘‘That’s the reason |
watch the game, you don’t know
who’s going to win for sure. That
will always keep people
watching.”

People like J.M. feel that it
would be better to be at the game.
However, it’s almost the same for
the television viewer. Audiences in
the stadium, and those watching
the game on TV, don’t know what
the outcome will be. There seems
to be a pride and camaraderie

is what other teens

-associated with the game.

S.M., 18: “.,.if you’re a man, you
have to watch the game.”’

This opinion draws more au-
diences too. The excitement of
cheering. on your team seems to
appeal to football fans and non-
fans alike.

This year, the Super Bow! in-
cluded something that appealed to
the non-football audience. In
speaking with non-fans, I found
out that a large number of people
watched the game just to see
Michael Jackson’s performance,
which had been advertised for
eons before.

There still is the crowd that
feels the. Super Bow! is nothing
but a commercial. There are also
those who do not watch football
atall. The idea of being a passive
audience and not being at the
game deters many. This is a
long-standing problem the Super
Bowl has had to overcome. «

How does the Super Bowl affect
the real world? There is no doubt
that without the Super Bowl, the
world would be subtly different.
One shocking statistic is that the
most assaults against women oc-
cur during the Super Bowl.

But the game also has interna-
tional and social merits. People in
Japan got up at 3 or 4 a.m. this
year to watch the live game. This
also occurred in 26 other countries
where the game was aired. At
home, the Super Bow! gives peo-
ple, especially teenagers who have
no place to go, something to talk
about.

S.M.,. 17; “It’s a good feeling
when ‘someone you’ve never met
comes into your. work and starts
talking about the game. There’s
not a lot of social interaction go-
ing on nowadays. It can make

_people, no matter who they are,

set aside their
evening.” ;

I think that if a football game
can do that, we’re one step closer
to making the world a better:
place.

prejudices for one

Writers’ block
WITH THIS issue a new group of seven students will start contributing to the ZAP! pages under 1 "
the Youth Views flag as well as with other stories and opinion pieces. The Carson Graham and

Sutherland students are writing co-operatively as part of the Media” Technology career.
preparation course they are taking. Clockwise, from the left, they are: Sean Braaten, Bram

Janssens, Allison Genevre Poirier
Jason Lyle, and Sydney McDonald.

(continues with the class), Jason Malone, Dave Graham, :

Triumph of the human spirit

Few flaws in excellent adventure film made in BC.

<4
<4

>
>

By Jason Malone
ZAP! Contributor

ALIVE: Touchstone and Para-
mount pictures present a Ken-
nedy/Marshall production. Direc-

ior Fred Marshall’s film is based

on a true story that happened in
1972,
THIS TRUE story, which: was
filmed in the mountains of British
Columbia, has been repeatedly
quoted as ‘‘an excellent film!"’ ”
Ethan Hawke, Vincent Spano
and Josh Hamilton portrayed

some of the survivors of a plane |

crash in the Andes Mountains of
South America, while en route to
a rugby game in Chile. :

They were stranded at 11,500
feet on the snow-covered
Tinguiririca volcano for over 70
days, with insufficient supplies.

Several of the passengers and
most of the crew died instantly,
but the majority survived with
bleeding wounds and broken
bones. ‘ .

All they had to eat were very
small. pieces of chocolate and cap-
fuls of wine, which only lasted for
two weeks. When those supplies
ran out, they had no other alter-
hative except to. resort to can-
nibalism. a {

Although the thought of eating
human flesh sounds gross, it was
not what people expected, as
shown by these comments:

D.G., 17: “I heard that if you
were going to see the movie, you
shouldn’t have anything to eat
first!”’

B.J., 16: ‘“‘My mom said that in

the book, they crack the skulls.

and eat the brains.’’
A.P., 17: “I thought it was going
to be all blood and guts!”’.

It wasn’t really graphic at all. I,

_ unrealistic crash

Photo Doug Curran’.

JOSH HAMILTON (left) and Ethan Hawke star as two of the sur- >
vivers of a plane crash that forced ther: to live in the Andes’ :

for 10 weeks.

along with others I talked to, was ©

surprised that there were no really
disgusting scenes as conjured up
by the word cannibalism. I didn’t
see anyone leaving the theatre for
a bathroom break.

The movie had many good
qualities. However, there were a
few problems, ‘including the
scene at the
beginning of the movie.

Other. comments
follows:

were as

- B.Y., 14: “With the amounts of

food they ate, along with being
stranded for such a period of
time, you would expect them to
appear more unhealthy. You
would also think they would be
more shaggy looking than they
were,”

D.G.,.17: ‘You have to consider
that they were a rugby team and
they’d be in much better. physical
condition than some couch potato

put in the same position.’’. . ’

I thought the intense emotions ©
portrayed | overpowered the few.’
flaws. I would consider this movie
to be one of the best that I’ve. -
seen, Apparently, I wasn’t the on-::
ly person who thought this: :
T.P., adult: ‘I thought it was’
very. good and true to the book. I.”
always like the books better than,:
the movies, but they did an in-
credible job. capturing what, the:
buok had to say. I liked the movie...
alot.” : oe
L.F., P.D., adults: ‘‘It was an ex- ,
cellent movie. It: was very enter--
taining and thought- provoking.” ..

On a five-star scale, I would
give this film % * & 4. Excellent!

A Grade I1 student at Carson
Graham secondary school, Jason:
Malone, 17, is interested in sports
and hopes to make a career in the
film industry. us