The golden age

by BRIAN LOCKHART

The phrase ‘the golden age' refers to a period where something, originally mankind itself, was in a flourishing and outstanding period of history.

As a phrase, the golden age has come to refer to a period of a particular activity of sorts where something reached new heights, was innovative, or achieved success that wasn't matched in later years.

I guess there could come a time where a golden age is surpassed by an even better era where innovation takes things to a whole new level.

There's a golden age of Hollywood, usually considered the 30's and 40's, where actresses were mysterious and rarely seen or photographed outside of their movie star persona.

There is the golden age of television, usually considered the 50's, where the medium was new, with fewer stars because there weren't that many TV stations or shows and they were still trying new things.

The golden age of boxing was the 70's, when heavyweight champions and contenders were all household names and a major bout was on prime-time television and brought in millions of viewers.

Rock n' Roll's golden age looks back to the late 50's when the music genre was just breaking out and legendary DJ Alan Freed coined the phrase and spun the records that could make or break a career.

There's the golden age of Western movies in the 40's and 50's. They are the ones with Gary Cooper and John Wayne, and everyone wore a vest, a kerchief tied around their neck and carried two six-shooters and lot of guys got shot, but you never actually saw any blood. 

There's something called the golden age of piracy for some reason. Somehow the times of swinging on a rope from a yardarm, and saying things like ‘avast ye matey' and having a parrot on your shoulder achieved a status above the modern version of attacking an oil tanker from a skiff with your AK-47 rifle.

There is a golden age of porn, apparently the 70's, which I will decline to discuss.

The golden age of radio was the 30's and 40's where, prior to television, people would listen to radio shows and plays broadcast from a transmitter. The family would gather around the radio and listen to The Bickersons or Baby Snooks for a good laugh. 

When it comes to sports, many commentators and experts predict that we are currently living in the golden age of football – at least the American version.

Some say the sport has reached its zenith and there is nowhere to go but down from here.

There's a lot of truth in that. Football as a sport has been declining over the past several years. That's mostly due to many parents not willing to enroll their kids in an activity that has a high level of concussions – which is a brain injury – as well as other possible injuries. 

Others like the sport, and there a certainly a lot of kids willing to get out there and get hammered on the gridiron as well as give it to the other guy when they get the chance.

The culmination of the professional season is of course the much hyped SUPER BOWL!

However this highly anticipated sports championship has morphed into a Broadway show, some outstanding commercials, and somewhere in between, there's a football game.

Most Superbowl parties aren't about football, they're about quaffing suds and eating suicide style chicken wings. One news report said around 80 million chickens were sacrificed just to produce enough wings for parties in Canada. Although I will agree – any excuse for a party is a good excuse.

As for the game itself, try asking someone three days after the game what the score was, or who won, for that matter, and most likely they'll have to think about it.Ask the same person who performed the halftime show, and they will all remember The Weekend.

They will also remember the ‘raining lemons' commercial, Will Farrell ending up in Sweden instead of Norway in his electric car, George Costanza's changing face on a dirty hoodie, and the return of headbangers, Wayne and Garth. 

I'm not sure if this is really the golden age of football, but I certainly think it is the golden age of advertising and brand sponsorship.