The camera focused on the light beer container which landed in the endzone. Some fan threw a Hail-Mary pass from the stands and there it lay for millions to see. The playoff game was interrupted for a moment.

            My first thought was product placement.

If you’ve ever seen The Truman Show, the poignant story of filming a person secretly from his birth to death, you’ll see where I’m heading. Spoiler alert. Truman figured out the rouse and left the pseudo job, the pseudo wife, and pseudo life. It was funded by advertising name brand schtuff all through the movie within the movie. Brilliant.

            One of the tip offs was the product placements wherever he went. His curiosity kicked in when his “wife” told him how great the dish soap was while holding it and averting her eyes toward some nebulous corner of the room.

            I can’t get around the fact that everyone is trying to sell me something. There are goods and not-so-good goods, but by golly I need them. I need them now. I’m not an anti-materialist. I’m no Gandi who died with only the clothes on his back and a book by his side. I like the coffee pot and the coffee I’m slurping from a mug with a bear on it.

            But back to the game. There was a way to bet on all sorts of stats of the playoff. Even the college players can make money through their name, image, and likeness (NIL). Some sell themselves to the highest bidding college. Somehow this gins up more dinero for the university, too.

            Advertising is ubiquitous. I am no expert. Perhaps the words I plunk down is a way of selling my NIL. Ha!

I’m looking forward to the national championship. I’ll consume a beer.