The Super Bowl

Just a quick note, for my records, before I begin. I removed the first sentence "You are now entering the Twilight Zone, better know as Ken's blog" from my introduction. The reason I did this is simple: a certain series of books/movies, that shall remain nameless, have ruined the word twilight for me. I know that the word twilight can have multiple meanings/usages, and the way I used it had nothing to do with the books/movies, but I decided to part ways with that sentence nonetheless. Not that it matters really, and not that any of you really care for that matter.

Anyways, on with your regularly scheduled blog post. If you live in the United States, you probably know of a certain football game that was played yesterday. And even if you're not a football fan, you probably watched it yourself. According to the ratings, 106.5 million people watched in the United States alone. It was the most watched Super Bowl ever, and even beat out the last episode of M-A-S-H (105.97 million) to become the most watched program in United States television history. I have no idea how M-A-S-H got that amount of people, in an era (1983) that didn't have nearly as many televisions, to watch the show. Maybe it was a really great show, or maybe it's the fact that there wasn't as much to watch back then as there is now. I really don't know, I never watched M-A-S-H, but I suspect that it's a little bit of both.

On to the actual game though. Before the game started, I wanted the Saints to win. I know I wasn't alone in this, I'm sure just about everyone outside of Indiana wanted the Saints to win. I didn't, however, think that the Saints were going to win. I thought that Peyton Manning had two weeks to prepare, and preparing is his strongest suit, so I figured he would carve up the Saints defense. Manning didn't play bad yesterday, but he didn't play good either. And a lot of people will blame him for the loss, because that is the nature of being a quarterback in football. You get most of the credit when you win and most of the blame when you lose. I never like to blame one player though, it's a team game after all, and it's rarely the fault of a single player.

You also have to give credit to the Saints, especially their head coach, Sean Payton. He made two ballsy calls, one at the end of the first half and one at the start of the second half. Near the end of the first half, he went for it on fourth and goal, but the Saints failed to score on the play. His defense picked him up though and got a quick three-and-out on the Colts subsequent drive. That quick stop allowed the Saints to get the ball in good field position and eventually lead to a field goal just as time expired in the first half. The first half ended with the Colts up 10-6.

That, however, wasn't his ballsy-est call of the night. In a move never before seen in the Super Bowl, the Saints started the second half with an onside kick. And to make matters worse, at least for the kicker, the coach informed him of this decision at the start of halftime. And remember, this is the Super Bowl we're talking about, halftime lasts roughly 30 minutes (compared to about 20 minutes during any other game). That kicker had to think about it for nearly 30 minutes! I can't imagine the amount of pressure he must have felt, but you couldn't tell by the way he performed. To start the second half, the kicker made like he was going to kick off like normal, but at the last moment, he pulled back and kicked the ball about ten yards. I'm not even sure if it went the requisite ten yards (it has to go at least ten yards or there's a penalty), but that didn't matter because it hit off the shoulder of a Colts player. Once the ball is touched by the receiving team (the Colts in this case), no matter how many yards it went, it is a live ball for the kicking team (the Saints in this case). And the Saints came up with the ball following the scrum that ensued after the ball hit the Colts player. That was a big momentum shift for the Saints, who went down the field and scored a touchdown on that drive. The Saints never really looked back after that, and ended up beating the Colts 31-17.

Enough about the game though. Another big attraction during the Super Bowl is the commercials. Now, I'm not a big fan of commercials usually, but I can at least tolerate them during the Super Bowl. It's not the same crap you're subjected to over and over again when you're watching television any other time, so it's not so bad.

My favorite one was the Doritos commercial, where the little boy slapped the man that came over to take his mom out on a date. The man brings the mom flowers, then she introduces the two to each other, and then she goes into another room to finish getting ready for the date. As she is walking to another room, the man looks at her in a very lustful way. The little boy sees this and drops the video game controller he was holding. The man sits down, tries to make idle conversation with the little boy about video games, and then grabs a Dorito. The little boy smacks the man, points to the Doritos bowl and says, "Put it back." Then the little boy holds up two fingers in the man's face and says, "Keep your hands off my momma," then puts down one finger, "and keep your hands off my Doritos." The little boy then gets in the man's face and gives him his death stare. Absoultely hilarious.

I didn't really have a least favorite commercial. Some of them were just dumb, like the one where the people were in their underwear for whatever reason. I don't even remember what it was for, so it didn't do a good job in advertising to me. I do remember seeing the Tim Tebow one that was supposed to be controversial though. I was dreading seeing that one because it was supposed to have a pro-life message. Now, don't get me wrong, it has nothing to do with the message. I couldn't care less if it was pro-life or pro-choice, one way or the other (I believe what I believe, and you believe what you believe, and that's that). A message like that just doesn't belong during the Super Bowl, in my opinion. The pro-life message, however, wasn't really in the commercial. You had to go to the Focus on the Family website to get that message. And since Danica Patrick and GoDaddy do the same thing basically, I can't fault the Tim Tebow commercial at all for that. The commercial was nothing to be bothered about really, I just hope it doesn't set a precedent for future controversial topics in commercials during the Super Bowl. Keep your religious/political views/agendas out of the premier sporting event of the year please.

And finally, I'd like to talk about the Super Bowl halftime show. Let me start off by stating that I'm a huge fan of classic rock (it's all I listen to for the most part). However, I didn't really enjoy this year's halftime performance by The Who. I also like Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones, Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen, but I didn't care for them during the years they played during the halftime show either. With all due respect to these great musicians, some of them legends of rock music, I just think that their time has passed. The kids of today have no idea who they are (who, who, who, who?). To them, they are all just a bunch of washed up old men, who just as likely belong to the AARP as they do the rock and roll hall of frame. The kids of today can't relate to their music in any way whatsoever. Now, I'm not saying that who plays in the halftime show should be dictated solely by the kids of today, but there has to be some sort of compromise. Do a blast from the past one year and then the next do a more current artist. And put the performance of any artist of today on a 20-30 second delay if that makes you feel better, as opposed to the 20-30 year delay in talent that we have now. When will Lady Gaga, the Black Eyed Peas, Green Day, Beyonce or the "Pants on the Ground" guy get a chance to play in a Super Bowl? In another 20-30 years, when they are all washed up themselves? I know that Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake pretty much ruined it for everybody, but come on. To quote The Who, "God, there's got to be another way."

Well, that's my take on all that was Super Bowl XLIV. I hope you enjoyed my post as much as you enjoyed the game. That will probably only hold true for those of you who didn't enjoy the game, but your mileage may vary. Until next time, you stay classy, San Diego.