Super Bowl Traditions

It looks like the New England Patriots coming out as a team has killed the tradition of individual pre-game introductions. This year neither team had individual introductions and I don't see any team going back to them anytime soon because individual introductions over coming out as a team sends the wrong signals (I over we, etc.).

It also seems that the tradition of a Presidential call to the lockerroom of the winner has also gone by the wayside. Not sure this could even be called a tradition because only President Reagan seemed adept at doing it. In any case - I'm not saddened by the fact that the calls are no longer made.

Two more Super Bowl traditions that I would like to see go away are the Gatorade bath and the breaking out of the championship hats and T-shirts the second the game is over.

The Gatorade bath was started by the Giants. They used it to get Bill Parcells but now it is almost a requirement. What is sad is how the Gatorade bath has trickled down to less than championship levels. Now when an interim coach on a lousy team wins his first game he gets a Gatorade bath. Enough already! You would think that former Redskins coach George Allen dying from pneumonia caught because of a Gatorade bath would have put a damper on it but no. In my eyes the act is no longer spontaneous but something that is expected. And yes I understand the appeal of a player "getting" the coach after a long season but I think the act has grown old.

Breaking out the championship T-shirts and hats is something I really hate. Don't these players know how dumb they look in the cheesey hats and T-shirts? The players must know that they are being used by the people selling the hats and shirts and yet they go along with it because it has become one of the spoils for the victors. I just think it looks pretty stupid - especially for football players who put the T-shirts over their shoulder pads.

Here endeth the rant.