My Post Game Analysis

I watched the big game yesterday. I enjoy football. It reminds me of Sunday afternoons with my dad. I'm not as dedicated as I used to be, but if there's a game on, I enjoy reconnecting with those memories.

Of Course my memories also include dozens of advertising vignettes, that creatively tried to sell me cheap beer and domain names. Everything about Superbowl coverage is product placement. Every award, replay, player of the game, is sponsored by something. And of course we anticipate the commercials. In my experience, the beer commercials are usually the most creative. I still have vivid images of the Budweiser frogs of my youth. This year was a bit lackluster, mostly they tried to make it look like sophisticated people rather than rednecks drank Budweiser.

A not so funny series of commercials were by G&E. They had one where cancer survivors met the people who made cat scan machines. It was rather sentimental. There was a gentle crescendo of violins when they arrived at the factory and met the employees. Several of this year's Superbowl ads carried a seemingly heartfelt concern for the real issues in the world. Seemingly.

But this isn't really about football or commercials.

I heard something last year around this time that I forgot about until driving home after the game. This "something" didn't make headlines, or get an envied spot as a Superbowl commercial. It is something I'd honestly rather not think about, especially on a day that should be filled with laughter and good food. But if the past fifteen years of the Superbowl are any indicator, yesterday, Indianapolis was the best place in the country to pay money to have sex with a child.

The Superbowl is the largest event of the year for the sex slave trade. Two years ago in Miami it was estimated that while the Indianapolis Colts were being raped, so were 10,000 victims of the sex slave trade, most of those 18 and under.

If you watched the game, I hope you enjoyed it, but don't let Ferris Bueller commercials, the bulging breasts of several dozen women, the notion that G&E might care more about people than money, or even your severe love or hatred for a few dozen men you know very little about distract you from the realities of what this game meant to a possible 10,000 people this year.

I'm not sure what to do with this info right now, and I'm not sure what you can either, but I think we should be people willing to live within the tensions of joy and pain. I want to be awake, I want to make a difference, I think that starts by recognizing there is a problem.

If you'd like some info from the experts about what you can do, here are some experts.
www.traffick911.com