Given the divisive, depressing, ubiquitous and hyper-partisan politicization of literally everything in the country right now, it was nice to just be able to watch a good old American football game on Sunday, right? Well, not so much.
In Episode 17 of OnMilwaukee's podcast, The Postgame Tailgate, sports editor Jimmy Carlton and pop culture editor Matt Mueller talk all things Super Bowl, from the game to the ads to the halftime performance to the political undercurrent pervading the whole thing.
There were teams and players that felt like good vs. bad; ads that seemed to be making issue-based commentaries but maybe weren't, as well as ads that didn't really try to do anything; a halftime show by a famously outspoken superstar that some thought was incredible and others thought was a missed opportunity. Oh, and also it was probably the most exciting actual football game ever played, regardless of the result.
The guys also discuss the Wisconsin connection in the Super Bowl and how (if?) the Green Bay Packers can get to the big game. Then Matt rambles about the Oakland Raiders for some reason at the end.
Listen to the episode below or download it on our SoundCloud station, and subscribe to The Postgame Tailgate feed on iTunes and/or through the Podcasts app on your mobile device, so you never miss an episode. You can follow The Postgame Tailgate on Twitter, as well as Jimmy, Matt and OnMilwaukee.
Tell us what you think, leave a rating/review and enjoy!
Born in Milwaukee but a product of Shorewood High School (go ‘Hounds!) and Northwestern University (go ‘Cats!), Jimmy never knew the schoolboy bliss of cheering for a winning football, basketball or baseball team. So he ditched being a fan in order to cover sports professionally - occasionally objectively, always passionately. He's lived in Chicago, New York and Dallas, but now resides again in his beloved Brew City and is an ardent attacker of the notorious Milwaukee Inferiority Complex.
After interning at print publications like Birds and Blooms (official motto: "America's #1 backyard birding and gardening magazine!"), Sports Illustrated (unofficial motto: "Subscribe and save up to 90% off the cover price!") and The Dallas Morning News (a newspaper!), Jimmy worked for web outlets like CBSSports.com, where he was a Packers beat reporter, and FOX Sports Wisconsin, where he managed digital content. He's a proponent and frequent user of em dashes, parenthetical asides, descriptive appositives and, really, anything that makes his sentences longer and more needlessly complex.
Jimmy appreciates references to late '90s Brewers and Bucks players and is the curator of the unofficial John Jaha Hall of Fame. He also enjoys running, biking and soccer, but isn't too annoying about them. He writes about sports - both mainstream and unconventional - and non-sports, including history, music, food, art and even golf (just kidding!), and welcomes reader suggestions for off-the-beaten-path story ideas.
