You Know America is in Trouble When …

If my memory serves me correctly, the Super Bowl is a game played to decide the championship of the National Football League (NFL). Not only that, it is a game contested between opposing teams of 12 professional athletes over the course of four 15-minute quarters. If it sounds pretty darn simple, that's because it is. Twenty-four guys get out there and beat each other up for an hour and walk away with pride and glory.

How was it then, that Sunday's Super Bowl seemed almost incidental to the over-the-top patriotism that persisted not only throughout the course of the game; but for a good four hours prior to the game as well? It was as if everyone even remotely involved with the Super Bowl conspired to make it the most hyperbolic display of Americanism ever witnessed on television.

Although, now that I think about it, maybe there was some conspiring. After all, Karl Rove, President George W. Bush's top advisor, didn't pay a special visit to Hollywood back in November just get an off-season suntan and catch a live taping of the Tonight Show. No, he was there to convince the kings and queens of media to step in line behind the government's cheerleading campaign by producing entertainment that not only entertains, but also casts America in a positive light. From the looks of things on Sunday, Rove did a darn fine job. Give that man a raise.

Unfortunately though, the hours of in-your-face patriotic entertainment really went beyond the limits of couth. At some point it became a lot like watching a current Michael Jackson video, where you could really care less about his song or his amazing dance moves because you're so distracted by the sheer horror that has become Jackson's surgically altered face. To put it bluntly, Jackson did way too much and turned himself into a caricature of his former self. In some way, on Sunday, America became a something of a caricature of what good, solid patriotism used to be.

There used to be time when patriotism meant that farmers would put down their pitchforks and pick up a rifle to fight for a great and noble cause. There used to be time when showing the flag was done simply because that's what American's do. There used to be time when a football game was a football game and the patriotic implications of that all-American institution didn't have to be rammed down spectators/viewers throats.

All that went out the window on Sunday.

Instead of their usual commercial shtick, many advertisers opted for tributes to America. RadioShack had its pitch-people - including celebrities Ving Rhames, Vanessa Williams, Howie Long and Daisy Fuentes - make inspirational monologues. Budweiser had its famous Clydesdale horses march to a promontory overlooking New York City and the Statue of Liberty where they bowed their massive heads in reverence. And Monster.com scored the coup of the day by having former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani give a few words of his own as inspiration for the country. Although his saying, "On September 11, we were attacked because of our beliefs…" really only served to once again mislead Americans into thinking that the rest of the world actually hates us, when that is clearly not the case.

Then it was on to the musical tributes. Barry Manilow, who hasn't been popular since the 1970s, sang "Let Freedom Ring" with the help of gospel superstar Yolanda Adams, R&B stars James Ingram and Patti LaBelle, and country music diva Wynonna. Pop icons Mary J. Blige and Marc Antony belted out "America the Beautiful". Former Beatle Paul McCartney sang his tribute to America, "Freedom". Mariah Carey, fresh off a personal breakdown that led to the loss of her multimillion dollar contract with Virgin Records, held it together long enough to hit all the highs and lows of the "Star Spangled Banner". And U2, a perfectly good, socially conscious rock group, was somehow roped into doing the half-time show. It seemed as if there was more music than football on Sunday.

And of course there were the special, canned segments that just oozed America. Former U.S. presidents Ford, Carter, Bush and Clinton, along with Nancy Reagan, who spoke on behalf of her Alzheimer's stricken husband - former President Ronal Reagan, joined together for a special tribute to the Declaration of Independence. And periodically throughout the game, Fox would cut to Kandahar, Afghanistan where U.S. troops watched the football game via satellite uplink.

All in all, it was just one big America-fest. The game's announcers even called the Super Bowl an unofficial American holiday. And to top it all off, a team named the New England PATRIOTS won the game. How fitting.

But through it all, you just couldn't help but feel that Fox, the announcers, the advertisers and possibly the government were trying far too hard to convince Americans that the United States is still that pristine ideal of human freedom and dignity (as if it ever was). And this excessive effort should make good, God-fearing American nervous. Because when someone feels compelled to work so hard to convince you to love your country, you should intuitively know your country is in trouble.

Could it be the case that the powers that be know that Americans aren't going to buy this whole "war on terror" unless there is a bunch of cosmetic dressing spackled on it to cover the blemishes of innocent Afghan lives lost and civil rights trampled into the dirt?

That may indeed be the case. But there used to be a time when you could just give Americans the straight truth and they would do the right thing. I guess those days are gone.