For weeks leading up to the “big event,” people lived and breathed football.

Radio stations referred to the game as if it was going to be a religious experience. Otherwise perfectly normal human beings couldn’t wait to watch a bunch of overgrown babies roll around in the dirt and grass.

People enjoy watching big men act like children, chasing around a ball, knocking each other down, jumping on one another, hurting each other and engaging in other anti-social behavior.

This is something many of us do not understand. If these players were your children playing this way with their friends, you would punish them for their behavior.

Instead, we pay the players millions of dollars and turn them into heroes. I don’t get it.

This year, the underdog won. Do you know what one of the side effects of this was? An incredible amount of spousal abuse. Men found a way to let go of the raw, irrepressible anger they felt. Battered women’s centers have known for many years that Super Bowl Sunday is a very risky day for some women. It’s worse when the underdog team wins.

Here is some history regarding the stadium, relevant because without it, the game would have been impossible. The Chargers and the NFL made a very savvy deal with the city to get their stadium upgraded to Super Bowl standards. The Chargers had a clause written into the lease with the city of San Diego that they would not have to pay rent if fewer than 60,000 seats were sold per game. This happened a myriad of times. All together, the city lost $1.3 million in lost rent and tickets that it purchased. What does this have to do with the Stupid Bowl? Read on.

Now the Padres are going to get their own stadium.

“If the Chargers get one, we want one too; no fair,” they whine.

So plans for a baseball-only stadium east of the Convention Center are underway, at a cost of between $2 and $5 million.

The vote will come to Jane and Joe Citizen in November, and it will pass. Why am I sure it will pass? Because the mentality of the average person in this city is to support athletics. First and foremost is sports before education, the arts or anything cultural.

Just look at our own university. Our school logo is the football team’s logo. I refuse to purchase anything with that stupid head on it anyway. Is that an Aztec Native American? Did they play football? Where are the activist Native Americans when you need them? Have you noticed the color of his face? A bit derogatory, I’d say. Ah, but I digress.

Let’s compare the public’s interest in bettering athletics to that, say, of the ballet. Well, no, can’t compare that. The San Diego Ballet Company had to close down more than 10 years ago. Lack of public interest and funds were the problems. They couldn’t sell enough tickets and were losing money. Not a soul or a Qualcomm came to bail them out.

OK, here’s another good one: the new Downtown Public Library in the Embarcadero area. It’s replacing the tiny main library on “C” Street, downtown, built in the 1930s. The city has already purchased the land. It will cost $62 million. What? Plans were scrapped? Not currently going to be built? Too expensive? Mayor Susan Golding is behaving wishy-washy and has shelved the idea? No way! Aren’t books our most precious resource? Why not just plan for something less fancy?

All right, let’s look at an issue we all know about. The San Diego Symphony Orchestra and their unusual building, Symphony Hall. It is one of the most beautiful buildings in town. It is a landmark institution in San Diego. Unless you’ve been living in another dimension, you have probably heard of the terrible financial woes of this wonderful symphony. They have had to shut down countless times, play for less than salary and literally beg for money. Its future is uncertain.

All this makes me sick. We are institutionally sanctioning violence by supporting these bloody sports. Granted, baseball isn’t as bad as football, but what about the fierce competition in baseball? What of the screaming crowds and the angry fans? The testosterone is surely running rampant in both men and women alike. Fights, arguments, beer consumption, public drunkenness, yelling and uncouth behavior abound. Yelling bad or vulgar things at the other team and their most hated members is expected and allowed. Good sportspersonship? I think not. We take our children to be immersed in this, as American as apple pie. And then wonder why they act out physically.

Now let’s take our kids to the symphony. We’ll dress up nicely, be on our best behavior and go to the beautiful theater. The people are quietly and politely sitting down. No beer, no smoking and no screaming.

Then to darkened lights and an uncanny silence, a melody wafts out, encompassing all listeners. It builds into a crescendo, louder and more powerful. We can feel our bodies reverberating to the power of the music. The audience is one. No one makes a sound. The only thing that exists for us is the music. We hear the same music but are moved in different ways. Tears come to our eyes. Beauty, culture, history, talent and melody blend together into one. We are at peace.

But peace may not be an option for our children in the future. We will pay to have them watch man brutalize man, woman brutalize woman.

They won’t have the books, music or arts that made us culturally rich. It will be lost and gone forever. And we will continue to wonder what happened to our youth. Isn’t it obvious? We are in the process of destroying their culture!

Hobi Reader is a psychology senior and writes a weekly column for The Daily Aztec. Her e-mail address is hobir@aol.com.