From 2015, Amin and the Vassals review George R. R. Martin’s "The Last Super Bowl" in a spoiler filled discussion that was recorded before the Super Bowl, which thus explain their pro-Seahawks hopes.
Sports are universally beloved. Geographically, athletic competitions take on various forms; the NFL, NBA, MLB are strong in America; NHL in Canada; Premier League in Europe; and Cricket in India.
But the now legendary George R. R. Martin wrote about the downfall of them all in “The Last Super Bowl,” a fantastically written short story in February 1975’s issue of Gallery Magazine, a men’s magazine.
The story is actually two tales, as he covers the last Super Bowl which takes place in January 2016 and interjects the depiction of that Super Bowl, between the Green Bay Packers and the Hoboken Jets, and the downfall of real sports. Real sports, in the 2016 of Martin’s fictional world, have been overtaken in popularity by simulated sports.
Simulated sports are controlled by a computer that can put any team, from any era, against any other for the enjoyment of the spectators. The technology he describes in the computers that control the simulated sports may have been a thing of science fiction in 1974, when I assume he wrote the piece, but here in 2022, our computers are powerful enough to create those simulations. Just look at video games like Electronic Arts’ Madden and FIFA series.
The implications that computer simulated games would overtake the real thing isn’t so far fetched now, but back in 1975, Martin was looking to a future where the complexities of computers and their power seemed infinitely abundant.
The last Super Bowl – just think about it. No more National Football League, no more National Basketball Association, no more Major League Baseball, the players all replaced by pixels and simulations. The piece is entitled “The Last Super Bowl” because the NFL was the last sport to fall to the computerized simulations. Martin explains that the NBA and NHL disbanded in 2010, while the MLB lasted just until 2014, with the NFL holding on just long enough to have one last Super Bowl in 2016.
Why have the real leagues folded to simulations? Money, of course, which is the underlying scariest thing about this piece. The power of the media, which still exists to a certain degree, functions in Martin’s simulation to make decisions not in the interest of art or tangible implications for the cultures we live in but for profit and a healthier bottom line. These are things that aren’t science fiction, as they are now an overt fact of our society.
You can read it here at Sportsmaster Simulations...
From the 55 Yardline, Spring Football Review
From the 55 Yardline, The UFL- Reality vs. Perception
From The 55 Yardline, Pete Rose Says Put It All On The Dodgers
From the 55 Yardline, Sweet Home Chicago
From the 55 Yardline, Catching Up With Our Man Fran
From the 55 Yardline, An All CFL Show, with Howie Mooney
From the 55 Yardline, More Crazy Days and Wild Nights With Howie Mooney
From the 55 Yardline- Why Do Old White Guys Hate Taylor?
From the 55 Yardline, A Conversation With Mark Speck, World Football League Historian
From the 55 Yardline, a Conversation With Zach Keilman
From the 55 Yardline, The Wide World of Sports
From the 55 Yardline, WLAF Memories and Mourning the End of Sports Illustrated
From the 55 Yardline- Present at the Creation, with Upton Bell
Gridiron Japan: Rice Bowl Wrap Up, With Fujitsu Frontiers' Al-Rilwan Adeyemi
From the 55 Yardline, Sports Journalist Fran Stuchbury of OurSports Central
From the 55 Yard Line, Real Men of Genius Drink Bud Light
Gridiron Japan: Rice Bowl Preview/NFL Films Spotlight on Al-Rilwan Adeyemi
From the 55 Yard Line, Madden Surfs For Porn
From the 55 Yard Line, Can America Ever Love Spring Football?
The Magic of Howard Cosell
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
AU Wishbone: Auburn Sports
Michigan Insider
The Herd with Colin Cowherd
The Pat McAfee Show
Nightcap