Tppppppth!

To quote Bart Simpson, “I didn’t think it was possible, but this both sucks and blows.” Not only did Pittsburgh win a thoroughly non-entertaining Super Bowl, but the commercials pretty much stunk as well. All in all, I would say that there were about three good commercials. My rating would go as follows:

1) Fed Ex: Caveman – This one started out slow but the caveman getting chewed out by his boss for not using a service that hasn’t been invented yet and then getting squashed really amused me. Some good ultimate bad day humor.
2) Bud Light: Magic Fridge – Again, a slow start but an amusing pay off at the end. Skater guys bowing down to the magic fridge is always good.
3) Dove: Pretty Girls – Not funny, but something that needs to be recognized as to just how bad the problem has gotten with young women and their image of themselves, especially when there is nothing wrong with them. In some cases the opposite is true. But it was a good message and subtly played.

Some honorable mentions would go to the Budweiser Colt, the Kermit Hybrid, and the “I’m going to Disneyworld” commercials. Not the best, but at least mildly entertaining. In this group you could also add the Benny Hill Moto and the Monkey/Jackass commercials, but I thought both those premises were a bit tired.

The Diet Pepsi “brown and bubbly” was just bad but I rather dislike inanimate objects acting like people commercials. The first Hybrid commercial made no sense to me and I can’t recall any of the other commercials off the top of my head. Obviously they failed to garner my attention for memory. So I don’t believe we’ll be adding any of the commercials to the best list, which is still way too tilted towards that overly sappy “Mean Joe Greene” commercial.

As far as the game goes, I thought it was pretty bad. Pittsburgh had a grand total of three good plays that allowed them to score their 21 points. Seattle was in position for several good plays but the refs or the Seahawks themselves ended up screwing things up. As far as the pass interference call in the first quarter that negated a touchdown, I thought it was technically right, but the fact that the back judge didn’t call it until the Pittsburgh player complained made it something of a ticky-tack call. The holding call in the third quarter was a little more correct as I did see the arm bar. But I still thought the refs made themselves too obvious in this game, which is exactly what the NFL wanted to avoid. Any time you can look back on a game, and can say that a game changing moment was one that involved the refereeing of the game, its just not an entertaining or satisfying game. People want to talk about how either one team totally crushed the other or about how there was this one play that changed things (such as a last second field goal or a tackle at the 1 that saved a touchdown). Talking about officiating leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

Now, Pittsburgh might have still won the game. They could have gone into the locker room down 14-7 and rallied to win 21-17. They certainly looked like they were getting things going a little better in the second half, even though they still didn’t do a whole lot.

Overall, I would say that this Super Bowl should be relegated to the scrap heap of history. People in Pittsburgh can enjoy it, but I can’t imagine anyone else wanting to watch highlights of this game in the future.