Congratulations on that Super Bowl bash you threw.  By all accounts, it was epic, and a great time was had by all.

What’s that?  You don’t remember throwing a Super Bowl party, or if you did, it was a smaller affair?  But you did!  Or, rather, your money paid for it, as TARP recipient Bank of America plunked down upwards of $10m just to be an official corporate sponsor and an undisclosed amount above and beyond that to sponsor the NFL Experience, a five-day party just outside Raymond James Stadium.  But hey, if the word “No” was in CEO Ken Lewis’ vocabulary, the bank never would have bought Countrywide or Merrill Lynch, and both of those things have worked out fabulously so who are we to judge.

BoA claims this was a legitimate business proposition, since attendees were viciously assaulted with all manner of marketing material and data harvesting, and is thus part of the company’s overall growth strategy.  These tie-ins supposedly generate significant revenue streams, although if you change to another bank because it set up an XBox outside a football stadium, one suspects you will not actually be part of that significant revenue stream.  Calling this a legitimate business proposition is like trying to explain to your parents that you need a 50″ TV in your room so you can better understand current events, which will in turn improve your standing at school and get you into a better college so that some day, when they are old and frail, you will be better-equipped financially to take care of them.

The sponsorship deal was inked last summer, back before everything began to suck, but that won’t stop the tiny-fisted outrage (like this entry) or calls for the head of Ken Lewis on a pike (like my prayers every night), or any of the strong words and no actual action that tends to follow extravagant money-wasting by companies on the federal dole (see: AIG).  The best the American public can hope for is to shame BoA into an apology, but they’re the biggest bank in the world right now and they apologize to NO ONE.  Just to show us all who’s boss, similar events are planned for the upcoming Pro Bowl*, the Daytona 500*, and Uncle Bob’s Fly Fishing Tournament and Beauty Pageant*.

*Not actually true, but totally could be.