It’s been the most hotly contested debate for weeks: who will
come out on top at the conclusion of Super Bowl XLV? I don’t know
about you, but my money is riding on the commercials.
It’s been the most hotly contested debate for weeks: who will come out on top at the conclusion of Super Bowl XLV? I don’t know about you, but my money is riding on the commercials.
OK, I hear you screaming in protest: “The commercials? Commercials? REALLY?? Any dipstick knows the heartbeat of Super Bowl Sunday is Super Bowl FOOD.”
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Super Bowl Sunday isn’t just about edgy new commercials and the yummiest snacks this side of Mom’s kitchen. Super Bowl Sunday involves some playing of actual football. And yes, this season’s football match-ups were some of the most viewed in history. Thanks to HDTV, many more fans are experiencing new realism in playing field action.
But if being on the field with Favre in HD wasn’t enough, this quarterback is just one player that generated lots of “color” last year. Being privy to the pains and pleasures of one of the oldest players on the gridiron, 41-year-old Brett Favre’s injuries and scandal-filled season kept “infotainment” folks blathering for months.
I have to admit, I liked football better before we knew quite so much about the various antics of some of the players. I think Joe Namath might be to blame for all this “TMI.” When “Broadway Joe” showed up in pantyhose commercials a few years after his Jets took Super Bowl III to the record books in a magnificent upset of the Colts, the handwriting was on the wall.
Fast forward a couple of decades when a beloved football player became the most reviled man in the country. Who can forget that June evening in 1994, when law enforcement officers, not to mention news helicopters, chased O.J. Simpson’s white Bronco down the 710 freeway in Southern California? The gruesome trial that followed Simpson’s subsequent arrest summarily pulled the Astroturf out from under O.J., and a man with a great football past and budding career in movies went down in flames. And no, he wasn’t that great an actor. But still.
Football is a tough game with more than its share of horrific injuries, so I suppose it goes with the territory that many players will never be mistaken for Goody-Two-Shoes. Hefty fines for playing rough are netted out for the more serious infractions. This season, Pittsburgh linebacker James Harrison was fined four times and a total $125,000 for cracking helmets with other players. With the Steelers in the Super Bowl, I wonder if Harrison will be any calmer on the field.
The craziest turn of events this season was the comeback of Michael Vick, the Philadelphia Eagles quarterback. After spending 19 months in prison, Vick came back to lead his team to the playoffs. I would call that some pretty remarkable rehab. I’m glad we live in a country where second chances do exist although, sadly, success stories like Vick’s happen all too infrequently.
Regardless of Sunday’s final outcome, my greatest Super Bowl quandary will be how to keep those snacks coming without missing either the winning touchdown OR the year’s best commercial. I mean, how would you like to be the poor sap last year putting the final dollop of sour cream on the “Fireball Nachos Nirvana” when that hysterical commercial aired featuring Leno, Letterman and Oprah schmoozing on the couch at the height of the Leno/Conan O’Brien debacle? Yeah, the poor sap missing that ad last year was me, and I had to catch the 47,000 reruns of the commercial on other programs to see this genius spot for myself.
Sometimes the game boils down to what kind of TV to watch it on and – hey! These days you don’t even have to watch TV on a TV. With smart phones, laptops and the like, you certainly needn’t be nailed down in the couch potato position come Super Bowl Sunday. For all I know, Super Bowl fans can tune in live coverage via the fillings in their teeth.
But if you prefer a more traditional approach to your viewing, there’s no shortage of choices to be found when it comes to selecting a TV for the big game. If your motto is “Go big or go home,” why not pick up a 65-inch, 3-D plasma selling for a cool $4,500, give or take. Sooooo many choices: LCD? Plasma? LED-LCD? Whew!
The most memorable Super Bowl I ever saw was the aforementioned Super Bowl III. Although the game was played in Florida, it was snowing like crazy. Or possibly that was just the bad reception on the itty-bitty screen of the old black and white, rabbit-eared TV at a college dorm in Colorado. We could just barely make out the players as we downed cold, cardboard-flavored pizza leftover from the night before. Yep. Now THAT was a Super Bowl!
