Lou Pickney's Online Commentary
Super Bowl Thoughts
Monday
February 2, 2004
I took a few notes during the Super Bowl yesterday. This doesn't include the halftime show craziness, which I entirely missed out on (though, if nothing else, that's given FCC Commissioner Michael Powell something else to grandstand about besides Bubba).
Apparently there was a funny commercial with NFL players of non-Super Bowl teams singing "The sun will come out tomorrow", though I also missed out on that. So, what did I see?
Commercials
-Budweiser won the commercial battle yet again, with some great ones. The farting horse was unnecessary (but I hear it won a "funniest commercial" vote -- who's picking on these things?!?), but that aside there were some great ones. My favorite of all was the referee (side judge) who was getting berated by a coach, with the announcers wondering how he could take that verbal tongue-lashing. It then cut to the ref at home, watching TV, with his wife shouting at him in a non-stop barrage of bitching. Quite possibly the best of the "Budweiser: True" ad campaign. Other great Bud ads included the guy who drove to Los Angeles to return lipstick to a hot chick he had given a ride to the airport (only to find out it wasn't her lipstick) and the "Donkey joins the Clydesdales" ad.
-The Nextel commercial where Dale Earnhardt Jr. came into a football game, with his race car, and drove for a touchdown was hilarious. My explanation doesn't do it justice, but visually it was hilarious. Right up there with the ambulance coming out on the field in Madden '92 on the Sega Genesis. Plus Budweiser got even more of a promotional push, since they are the primary sponsor for Dale Junior's car.
-Mike Ditka on the Levitra ad was great in the unintentional comedy sense. His comparison of football and baseball made me laugh out loud, and the ad ended with the infamous shot of a ball being thrown through a tire. Gotta love those prescription drug ads.
-The MasterCard commercial featuring The Simpsons was great. Homer saying "Stupid voiceover guy!" was a great touch.
-On the downside, those AOL Top Speed ads were extremely annoying. As if I needed another reason to dislike AOL...
The Game
-Great defensive football early. Might not be exciting for the casual fan, but people who knew both teams going in couldn't be too terribly surprised by how it started.
-The worst call of the game came in the first half, where the Panthers stopped Antowain Smith (aka Antowain Stiff) on 4th and inches... only for the refs to give him the first down (and uphold it on a Carolina challenge).
|  | | Troy Brown checked for blood after taking an accidental shot to the nose in the Super Bowl. |
-What's the deal with the high number of owner cutaway shots? I could only imagine what would've happened if the Redskins had been in there (with Daniel Snyder, the king of the cutaway).
-Troy Brown's bloody nose was a disgusting-yet-funny moment in the game, especially with the tissue stuffed up in his nose to stop the bleeding.
-I wrote down "Tom Brady has joined the elite" when the Patriots took a 21-10 lead in the 4th quarter, which ended up nearly jinxing them. Brady was deserving of the MVP award that he earned, but the Pats damn near lost it there at the end. Jake Delhomme's second half performance was nothing short of amazing. I like Bill Simmons' take that Brady is the modern day Joe Montana. Two Super Bowl wins in three years? Good grief!
-I disagree with Phil Simms' rant against the Panthers' choice to go for two when they were down 21-16 (after DeShaun Foster's TD run). With less than nine minutes to go, I say that the time is right to try for it (especially with how tough the Pats defense had been playing up to that place).
-Adam Vinatieri hit the game winning field goal with seconds to go. Wow. It's nice to have someone like that on my Fantasy Football team, where you have to figure that the job security is pretty good (with two Super Bowl game-winning kicks in three years).
-Overall, the game itself was one of the best, with a thrilling final quarter of action...
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