Super Bowl Masculinity Part 1

Unless an American lived in a cave, one had to know that today was Super Bowl Sunday. I would find it hard to believe one could not know about it, live in America, speak English and still call themselves an American, but anything is possible I guess.

Super Bowl Sunday comes and goes, year by year, and has become an unofficial American holiday (for the better or worse is up to you to decide). One thing that can be gleamed from this is if one is man, one watches the Super Bowl (a generalization I know, but go with it). Football and more importantly the Super Bowl has been married to the idea of being a man. One Sunday a year, it is expected that every man in the country will be somewhere, anywhere eating food and watching the Super Bowl. Fathers train their sons in this ritual at an early age in the same way that mothers teach their daughters to watch sappy romantic comedies on Valentine’s Day.

This day out of the year is a great day to see what type of picture American society is painting about masculinity and manhood. From everything to the food we eat, to the places we watch the game, to what we wear, to what other members of the opposite sex wear, and even what team we teach our young boys to root for. More importantly though, discoveries and lessons abound even inside 30 second commercials that cost 3 million dollars to put on the air.

Now, I am not here to talk about our Western consumeristic culture (like I could), or even the Tim Tebow ad (which, by the way, I love and cannot believe they turned into a scandalous issue). What I want to talk about are three ads that paint a picture of American masculinity. It shocked me to find this many ads that wanted to talk about masculinity. It is almost as if our culture is beginning to realize that there is something not right, something broken, something that is incomplete about the men that society is creating.

One of my heart’s biggest desires, one of my strongest longings, one of my most passionate callings is to see boys become men; to see men stand up and start acting like men. I long to see a generation of men who end the cycle of abandonment and apathy. It is my dream that once again, men will fulfill their calling as leaders, lovers, servants, and fathers and in so doing change the world and let the Kingdom burst on the scene as they become the hands and feet of Jesus.

So, if you will indulge me, for the next three days I will be posting observations from all three ads. All I ask is that you sit back, read, get ready to laugh, and see what culture is attempting to teach our men. Once we do that, I’ll simply share some thoughts on how to engage with this issue.