Stay Tuned
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Monday, February 04, 2008

Game Good, Commercials…Not So Much

You can’t really talk about the Super Bowl without talking about the commercials.

It’s just too bad that all of the talk this year is about how boring the commercials were.

Personally, there were several of them that I wouldn’t have spent $5 to air them, let alone $2.7 million…

Like the CareerBuilder.com commercial where the woman’s heart popped out of her chest and walked down the hall. Ewww…

And the Bud Light “gives you the ability to” commercials? Not funny…

And what was up with that car commercial with the guy waking up to find the front end of a car in bed with him? Yes, I know that was a take-off on “The Godfather,” but how many people actually got that? And even if you did, did it make any sense to you?

For the record, my favorite commercial was the Planters Cashews one with the woman rubbing the cashews all over her to attract men. I also liked the Coke commercial with the fighting balloons. And the T-Mobile Charles Barkley-Dwayne Wade ad was pretty cute.

And I did enjoy seeing Joe Buck doing the "What Is Love?" head bob in the Pepsi Max commercial...

But my actual favorites were two FOX promos: The “American Idol” promo with Ben Roethlisberger singing “The Pina Colada Song” and “The Moment of Truth” promo with Chad Johnson as a contestant. They were the two funniest spots of the night, but since they’re promos, they don’t actually count as Super Bowl commercials.

In case you’re curious, the viewers’ favorite ad, according to the annual “USA Today” ad meter, was the Budweiser ad with the Dalmatian training the Clydesdale. I had that one called as soon as it aired…

As for the halftime show, I have to say it was one of the most culturally irrelevant I’ve ever seen. That’s not to say I don’t like Tom Petty, or that I think he was bad, I just can’t come up with a good reason for the NFL to choose him other than he was a nice safe choice in the post-Janet Jackson era. I dare say that 75% of those people on the field listening to him had no idea who he was. Someone like Bon Jovi would have spanned the generations much better.

But personally, I would prefer they just analyze the game and then get back to it. That way there wouldn’t be any worry about wardrobe malfunctions—unless Terry Bradshaw decided to do something crazy…

As for the game itself, I have to say that though I’m happy that Ahmad Bradshaw has a ring, I’m pretty disappointed. For whatever deluded reason, I want Randy Moss to have a ring too. And I wanted to see history…

But I do get a small satisfaction out of knowing the frustration that must be in the mind of the smug Tiki Barber this morning. When he played for the Giants last year, he insulted Coach Coughlin, he questioned Eli Manning’s toughness and the team fell apart behind the scenes. This year, they win the Super Bowl and Eli Manning is named the game’s MVP without Tiki. Coincidence? I think not…

On second thought, that gives me a lot of satisfaction…

So, what are your thoughts as we put another Super Bowl extravaganza in the books?

UPDATE: Here is the Ben Roethlisberger and Chad Johnson promos.