One of the best things to come out of the NFL Kickoff Thursday circus besides ramping up the pre-game buzz for Thursday night – like that was needed – is that it will likely show us what a sponsored, commercialized Mardi Gras parade looks like and remind us how badly we don’t want that. It’s really the only element of the NFL circus that puts me off. Use Jackson Square as a concert set? The NFL likes it for the same reasons we do. Dave Matthews Band and Taylor Swift? If I want ratings, I’ll go with the arena and stadium headliners over the club headliners, no matter how good. But I’m unimpressed with the idea of the NFL staging its version of one of our parades. It’s hard to imagine how it won’t come off faux.