As I sit here watching an endless string of commercials posing a the Super Bowl, I realize that the Super Bowl does beat the World Series as a championship event. As a lifelong baseball fan, former high school baseball coach, and a fairly ambivalent football fan, I am loathe to admit this, but I think it's true.
As much as I loved the 2011 World Series because my St. Louis Cardinals were playing, I didn't watch at all the previous year when the Texas Rangers played the San Francisco Giants. I watch the Super Bowl every year, regardless of what teams are playing.
Here are a few reasons the Super Bowl trumps the World Series:
One Day, Champion Guaranteed - The World Series, of course, could end after Game 4, Game 5, Game 6, or Game 7. Unless fans are treated to the relatively rare excitement of a Game 7, as they were last October, it's hard to tell what night the champion will be crowned. In the NFL, we will have a champion if they have to play all night.
Super Bowl Parties - Come on, who has World Series parties? Only the very partisan maybe, if his teams are playing, but that's about it. Everybody has Super Bowl parties, and often the game itself is not even the main event. Haven't we all been at a party and heard, "OK, quiet everyone! It's a commercial break!"
Kids Can Watch - TV ratings rule in this era, and baseball will not go back to day games anytime soon. Last season saw the 40th anniversary of the first night World Series game, and it only seems like it's been that long since the Fall Classic featured a day game. The Super Bowl starts at 6:17 p.m. ET, and ends in about four hours.
Yes, there is school the next day (I am not one of the true believers calling for the Monday after the Super Bowl to become a national holiday), but kids can plan their weekend, get their schoolwork done early, and enjoy the game. In the Central Time Zone and in the West, it ends at very reasonable times. Sadly, World Series games don't start until 8:17 p.m. or so and can go well beyond midnight in the East, and many games take place on weeknights.
A St. Louis native, Brad Boeker has rooted for the Cardinals for over forty years.