Impressions of Superbowl XXX VIII

/ rant

I saw just over half of the Pats vs. Cats game at my friend Jim’s place yesterday before my kids needed to go home, bathe, and go to bed. I had it on during their bath and the second half seemed like the first, all the action was in the latter part. Some quick thoughts…

  • The game was surprisingly well-matched and had late-game drama like the Rams-Titans Superbowl. All of us were rooting for Carolina after seeing Jake Delhomme get pumped up when they got their first TD.
  • All those one-two-three-punt possessions must have made the sponsors smile, but I don’t remember that many of the commercials. (You can view them here). Monster.com’s 1999 “When I grow up…” is a classic and a hard act to follow, but I was hoping for more from the two they had.
    My top three:

    • Randy the Supply Supervisor (Staples) — Randy ran IT in my previous company. “I want broadband access to my email from home, here’s two hundred eclairs.”
    • Tomorrow (NFL) — almost as funny as the a few years ago where Bill Parcells sang “Kumbaya”
    • Shards Of Glass Freeze Pops (American Legacy Foundation) — funny concept.

    The worst was Levitra, because I could only think about all the new spam I’m going to be getting, once the MyDoom virus winds down. What are the odds that the pharma companies are the spammers? They clearly have the most to gain…

    We suspect Gilette is using Qwest’s agency because no one at the party has ever enjoyed shaving that much. And four blades? Why not just skip to eleven, and have Christopher Guest do the reference to This Is Spinal Tap?

    Finally, there were too many movie trailers (I counted at least six). I couldn’t keep them straight, except it’s obvious Hollywood is hoping to ride the coat tails of Lord of the Rings.

  • With all the security, I wasn’t expecting someone to try running out on the field, but a large guy in a thong with a casino (who shall remain nameless) web site written on his back streaked out. The cameras panned way, way, back because they didn’t want to call attention to it and encourage the others. As the announcers were babbling away, I could see a lot of little dots (security) streaming out from the field boundaries and converge on the erratically-moving dot (the streaker). Note to copycats: Make Your Advertisement Bigger.
  • What an awful halftime show! The shows have always felt like they were trying too hard. I must be getting old because unlike previous years, I had no clue who any of the performers were. However during the hour long show wondered how Joe Bob Briggs’ would review it:

    Gratuitous lip synching. Synchronized hip-gyrating. Kid Rock fu. One breast. Zombie corral. A 71 on the Vomit Meter.

    For next year, I’d suggest they try something less weird, like Cirque du Soleil.