Who won Superbowl 45?

Who won Superbowl 45?

CSU Cauldron

Date: 2/11/2011, Super Bowl Losers

Pittsburgh Steelers: Super bowl 45 Champions!! Oh wait, sorry, that isn’t the case. Where the game was actually decided amidst injuries and interceptions and (potentially to some) injustice, in the United States, there was a much different decision, as well as victor. Congratulations Green Bay, you’ve beaten the most hated (at least in these parts) team in the league to become the best in the NFL this year. In some, less fortunate countries, however, this is not the case. People in countries such as Zambia, Armenia, Romania, and Nicaragua will be proudly wearing apparel sporting the Steelers as the Super bowl champs for months to come, thanks to World Vision.

For those not in the know, which is more or less, everyone, World Vision has been collecting all of the apparel for the losing team that has been made on the off chance they win for the past 15 years and donating them to less fortunate countries, like the ones listed above. While some may view this donation as altruistic, or a way to help those who may need clothing, some agencies view this practice as harmful or even immoral.

Even though these clothes would be destroyed if they were not donated, Good Intentions Are Not Enough call for the stop to this despicable practice. Saundra Schimmelpfennig, of the campaign, claimed that poor people don’t need clothing, they have clothing.  What they need is economic assistance, better education, food, and medicine, but not clothes. The only ones benefitting from this is the scheming organization themselves.

::Stunned silent pause::

World Vision may benefit from this, but they are certainly not the only ones, and this is certainly not the only type of donations they promote or carry out. World Vision’s Amy Parodi (yea….the joke is too easy, get over it) responded to this criticism and more by mentioning that the clothing donation is not a standalone initiative, and is done within a broader context of all the many different aid initiatives done by World Vision worldwide.

I don’t really see any problem with donating all the losing team shirts, it isn’t like they would otherwise be turned into a cure for cancer, or the better food or medicine Ms Schimmelpfennig claims the poor need, instead of the clothing they obviously don’t need. They would be destroyed, not benefitting anyone at all. This way, the apparel can at least clothe those who may need it, despite what Saundra may think. This doesn’t come across as some nefarious scheme to keep the poor in the gutter by withholding the education or financial assistance they do need, but simply a way to help out those who need it in a simple way. When I read about this, I didn’t get the image of ‘the man’ sitting in a dark room stroking his goatee deviously, I got an image of people bringing clothing to those who may need to, and appreciate irony.

As much as I, personally, would like to find myself a Steelers championship t-shirt and wear it proudly (and ironically of course), there are those who need so many things, clothes included. I’ll happily give that specific dream up so that they can be clothed.