The Saints' Super Sunday

As I watch Jim Nantz interviewing the great Drew Brees and New Orleans celebrates, some quick thoughts on the Super Bowl …

Wow, what a game. … I went in rooting for Peyton Manning and the Colts. No one gave the Saints a chance except for Phil Mickelson's little let’s-see-which-golf-ball-I-can-drive-the-furthest stunt just a few minutes before the kickoff (I couldn’t help but wonder: If Tiger Woods’ image hadn’t suddenly crumbled, would he be appearing in that bit?)

But the Saints fought. And played hard. And didn’t give in after going down 10-0 … They recovered the onside kick to open the second half. The defense kept the pressure on Peyton. And when Peyton threw that interception, it was over.

I was sorry to see the Colts lose … But so happy for the Saints and the city of New Orleans, and Drew Brees and Reggie Bush. They’ve done it with a lot of class.

Some good pre-Super Bowl reads ... The story has changed now, hasn't it?

a Peyton Manning’s Case for Being the Best Ever
a Peyton’s place: At the top
a The way this is going, it’s hard to stay stuck in neutral

* * *

As for the commercials …

I was a little disappointed. Over the years, I think we’ve been so primed to expect the funniest and wildest commercials, and the Super Bowl ads just haven’t measured up the last couple years. Of course, the economy hasn’t helped advertising budgets this year, either, and it showed.
My favorites included …

Budweiser: “The Bridge is out”

Cars.com: “Timothy Richmond”

FloTV: “My Generation”

Google: “Parisian Love”

Kia Sorrento: “A Departure From the Expected”

And any of the Doritos commercials: “Dog puts collar on man,” “Tough kid,” “Man’s last dying wish” and “Gym Ninja.”

Among the worst ...

GoDaddy: As usual. Sex doesn’t sell when the concept is so dumb.

E-Trade: The new baby doesn’t hold a candle to the original little dude.

Any commercial that involved slapping. There were way too many of them this year, and there was nothing funny about them.

Fox Sports has all of the commercials here.

* * *

The halftime show, featuring The Who …

There was no aspect of the Super Bowl that I was looking forward to more. My expectations were high. The Who is one of my favorite bands.

So I was left fairly disappointed.

The Who boys -- only Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend are left, although that kid playing drums was doing a decent job of channeling Keith Moon -- weaved highlights of “Tommy” among “Baba O’Riley,” “Who Are You,” and “Won’t Get Fooled Again.”

But their age showed throughout the performance, and most of the time the light show that enveloped their stage was more exciting than the music. Only “Won’t Get Fooled Again” came close to vintage Who.

Worst of all, they didn’t play “My Generation,” which I had pegged as a sure-opener.

Some good reads about The Who ...
a When Generations Collide: The Who at the Super Bowl
a The Who, and the Super Bowl’s Evolving Halftime Show

UPDATE 2.08.2010: Post Super Bowl reads ...
a Super Bowl Dethrones ‘M*A*S*H’ as Most-Watched Show in U.S. History
a Hardly easy, but victory sure was big
a Playing Precisely, Brees Answers Critics
a How Jay Leno, David Letterman and Oprah Winfrey's stunning Super Bowl ad came about
a Everything was upside down for this year's Super Bowl commercials
a In Super Bowl Commercials, the Nostalgia Bowl
a Super Bowl halftime review
a In Halftime Show, the Who Exhibits Flashes of Age and Familiarity
a Pete Townshend: Nice to be part of spectacle

Forecasting Favre

Well, I’ll say this: My prediction came true. Brett Favre won’t be winning a Super Bowl with the Minnesota Vikings. At least, this year.

Sheesh. What a game.

When today’s games started, I was still having trouble deciding who I’d root for. All four teams had admirable storylines.

In the AFC Championship, you had the New York Jets and their improbable chase to reach the Super Bowl for the first time since Namath called his upset in '69. Or the classy Indianapolis Colts with their star Peyton Manning, arguably my favorite player in the NFL right now. Dan Shaughnessy had a great column about the matchup this morning.

Then, in the NFC Championship, you had the New Orleans Saints trying to reignite a deflated city and get to their first-ever Super Bowl. And the Minnesota Vikings, with the ageless and relentless Brett Favre, trying to reach their Minnesota's first Super Bowl since 1976.

Ok, so I was kind of rooting for a Colts-Vikings Super Bowl.

After all of my Brett bitterness, I had begun warming up to the idea of seeing the ol’ gunslinger taking a team back to the Super Bowl, especially a team that was so starved for a championship.

Then the game started. I was charmed by the Saints' heart and annoyed by the Vikings' swagger. Seeing Brett in that ugly purple uniform once more brought all of the bitterness back. As the Vikings started faltering, the emotions of the Packers-Vikings rivalry kicked in and I was slyly rooting for Brett to fail.

By the time the game moved into overtime, I was having as much fun watching my Facebook and Twitter feeds as I was watching the game. The chatter online about the game was equally amusing to watch. Here are some (clean) excerpts …

OK, Vegas: What's the over-under on stories about Archie Manning's Saints days between now and the Super Bowl?

Joe Buck wondered if Bourbon St. had ever been so deserted...uh, Katrina?

If my husband lives through this game it'll be a miracle!

Loves favre picks even more than Viking fumbles!!!

Good reads ...
a Retirement Discussion Begins Anew for Favre
a Favre is too good to retire now

Sunday reading

What a weekend for football ...

That Packers-Seahawks game!? Awesome ... Kates and I were putting our Christmas decorations away as we watched it, but with all that snow it seemed like we should have been putting them up! Ryan Grant was phenomenal. The whole season has been phenomenal ...

As Kates and I were out for lunch today we over heard an older man say "The only thing the Bears did this year was teach the Packers how to play in the snow." Got that right. If Green Bay would have done just a few things differently in their three losses, we could very well be talking about two perfect teams in the NFL this year ...

And then did anyone think the Patriots were going to lose? Right.

Then today. As we settled in for the games I mused out loud that if everything fell into place, next weekend would be a doozy: Patriots-Colts. Cowboys-Packers ... Ah, but it wasn't meant to be ...

I was rooting for the Colts, though I'm not entirely surprised the Chargers took care of them ... and then! How' bout them Giants!? I'm sure the whole neighborhood heard us hoopin' and hollerin' when R.W. McQuarters intercepted Tony Romo's final pass. Kates and I looked at each other, slapped a high five and chimed "See ya in Green Bay!"

Good stuff.

Catching up on several weeks worth of good reads. Here they are ...

Sports ...
a Which teams got their holiday wishes?
a Dawson getting robbed worse than Santo ... It doesn't matter. They both deserve to get in.
a Price high for Orioles' Roberts: But Cubs seem ready to add Marshall to get quality leadoff man ... Sounds like a good deal to me ... as long as it doesn't include Matt Murton.
a Alderman wary of Wrigley deal ... I kind of side with the alderman on this one. No one wants to see Wrigley turn into some schmaltzy, over-commercialized ballpark -- at least no more than it is already.
a Dope Springs Eternal ... Good stuff from my friend Matt.
a Favre in charge: There's just no beating St. Brett ... Fercripesakes! Have I mentioned how much fun we're having this season!? My friend Raechel sent this one ...

Media & the Internet ...
a Zero tolerance on the air: Even Woods' defense can't keep golf analyst from paying for remark
a Sun-Times wrestles with new reality
a Chicago Sun-Times newsroom layoffs only just beginning
a William Shatner and Priceline.com have both benefited from his stint as company spokesman
a People Are Doing Double-Takes, And Taking Action, As Web Snapshots Are Nabbed for Commercial Uses

Politics ...
a CLASS PRESIDENT 2008 ... a good perspective.
a Obama: Judge Him by His Laws
a Obama Tries to Prove Electability to Blacks in S.C.
a Parties Trading Places
a High-profile backers offer message and momentum
a Presidential Pet Display Finds a Place to Park ... now this is an exhibit I could really dig.
a Playing That '70s Funk Again, but Not in a Good Way ... Interesting how history repeats itself.
a Women Are Never Front-Runners

TV & Entertainment ...
a Ad-Libbing Late-Night Shows' Return ...Letterman and "A Daily Show" haven't been too bad so far ... Letterman shaving his beard during the show and having Goose Gossage deliver a Top 10 list? Not bad at all.
a Letterman, Leno, Conan and Kimmel return to late night talk shows
a Late-night hosts back on schedule: Audience may prove tough to draw back ... I could see it.
a Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert had their jokes ready. Clearly there was some writing going on
a A sequel with the same ending: As they did in the '88 writers strike, the studios are pushing themselves out of the picture
a Jamie Lynn Spears is not the first teen to have a baby
a As Scripts Run Out, Reality Kicks In
a A TV Lover's Lament ... Um. I don't miss it so much.
a 'Daisies' is lone new broadcast TV show to earn Globe nod ... Ok. I am missing 'Daisies.'
a Writers' Work Stoppage Will Soon Have Quite an Impact. Here's What's at Stake
a Katherine Heigl: outspoken
a Rainn Wilson: My Life During the Strike

Music ...
a The industry watches Radiohead's experiment as the album arrives on CD months after its online release
a Hannah Montana's double -- Report: Transformation to Miley Cyrus during concert involves stand-in ... interesting revelation. And in related (ludicrous!) news: Mom Apologizes for Hannah Montana Essay

Life & other stuff ...
a City residents can trade in Christmas trees
a Last Air Jordans? Nike unveils 23rd Air Jordan ... and I've never ever owned a pair.
a Tata Reveals World's Cheapest Car
a 15 Weirdest Work Stories of 2007
a Picturing the World, Around Us ... Saw this exhibit several weeks ago. It's good stuff.
a C'mon, Get Happy? It's Easier Said Than Done
a 50 things I've learned in 50 years, a partial list in no particular order
a Make it a new year, not just another year ... a New Year's resolution all of us should live by.

Onion reads

Peyton Manning Apologizes For Cheating One Time When He Was 5

TERRE HAUTE, IN—Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning was barely able to compose himself as he apologized to his family, friends,...

Roger Clemens Officially Earns His $20 Million

NEW YORK—After a half-season plagued by inconsistency, injury, and general disappointment, Roger Clemens finally earned the almost $20...

Barry Zito: 'My Dad Says I Shouldn't Throw Curveballs Anymore'

SAN FRANCISCO—In an interview concerning his upcoming start against the Nationals, San Francisco Giants ace Barry Zito announced that he...

The party's over

... So Peyton's finally got his Super Bowl. Good for him ... There's hardly a player in the NFL right now who's more deserving and likable.

... Kates and I have got the local news on now and we're watching all the coverage of fans in full Bears garb crying in bars. And the sports guys are analyzing the game and interviewing the Bears players ...

All the while, the station is scrolling text messages from Bears fans on the bottom of the screen. Some examples...

... Go Cubs! Sorry Rex
... Rex is the Colts MVP
... Grossman needs to fall into a hole and stay there.
... Once again we left Rex in too long
... Trade REX
... Grossman Goodbye
... Rex started. He was never good.
... They need McMahon back
... Bad Rex, Bye Rex!

Hmm. Interesting. But I hardly think Rex Grossman is the reason the Bears lost the game, although he did toss a costly Brett Favre-like interception ... It's too bad, because no matter who won, the quarterback of the losing team was going to be blamed, even though both quarterbacks have played well and carried their teams to this point.

The Colts just flat-out played better and they capitalized on on their possessions. That's it. Game over. Colts take the trophy.

* * *

The best commercial of the second half was by far the Budweiser crabs! ... A sea of crabs find a cooler on the beach and the camera zooms out to show thousands of craps surrounding and bowing to the cooler filled with Budweisers ...

Super Sunday

... I just downed two chili dogs, got a Mountain Dew in front of me, watched the Prince halftime show and I'm ready to go for the second half ...

... Actually, the Prince show wasn't too bad. I had low expectations going in, but he showed up ... Having a marching band join him on the field was pretty great, and how appropriate/cool was his performance of "Purple Rain"!?

If the second half of this game is anything like the first, we're in for a heckuva finish ...

I was bursting with glee -- as was all of Chicagoland -- watching Devin Hester run back that opening kickoff for a touchdown ... (... holy cow!, I just logged into Wikipedia for Hester's link and someone's already posted this: "He holds the distinction of being the only player to return the opening kickoff of the Super Bowl for a touchdown, beating the Indianapolis Colts defense for a 92 yard score for the Chicago Bears, just 14 seconds into Super Bowl XLI on February 4th 2007..." )

... Then the Bears got it back on an interception. There were back-to-back fumbles -- twice! The Colts got on the board with the help of Peyton's bomb to Reggie Wayne but couldn't tie it at seven because of a botched PAT. And Thomas Jones tore out for that 52-yard run which helped the Bears get back in the end zone ... and pretty soon we've got the Colts leading 16-14 at the half ...

As for the commercials, here's my faves so far ...

...First, the honorable mentions: ... any of the Coke commercials, the Sierra Mist spot featuring Jim Gaffigan and his beard comb-over, the Snickers ad where two car mechanics kissed while eating a Snickers, Garmin's map-osaurus, Budweiser's parade dogs (a white dog gets splashed with mud spots, allowing him to hop on a parade cart with a Dalmatian) and Chevy's hot guy car wash ...

...From there:
4. Bud Light's rock, paper, scissors: It was the first to air after the game started. Two men decide who gets the Bud Light with a game of rock, paper, scissors ... one of the guys picks rock and literally throws a rock at his opponent, thus knocking him out and taking the Bud Light ...

3. The Late Show with David Letterman: Letterman is sitting on a couch in a Colts jersey and stuffing his face with popcorn. He says, 'You're cheering for the Bears, I'm cheering for the Colts ...' And a woman interrupts and says, 'Honey don't eat with your mouth full... The camera pulls out and it's Oprah in a Bears jersey. Classic!

2. Bud Light's fast wedding: Two guys at a wedding are worried the ceremony will last too long, and one guy says, 'Don't worry, I got it covered.' In steps an auctioneer who rattles off the vows, etc. so fast the young couple barely has time to think and then he caps the quick ceremonial kiss with a slap of a gavel ...

1. Bud Light's congratulatory slap: A couple of businessmen walk out of a meeting and one of them reaches out with a fist to congratulate him in his presentation. The other guy says, "No dude, the fist bump is out." To which the other guy replies, "Really? So what's in now?" The other guy pauses for a second, and then slaps him hard ... the rest of the commercial is a montage of guys slapping the wits out of each other in congratulatory situations ...

Super games!

... Wow. Talk about a great weekend for sports ...

Yesterday I caught my beloved Badgers pull out a thriller against Illinois, and then watched my beloved Jayhawks (with a little help from our DVR -- because we had to break for Frank Caliendo) choke (again!) against lowly Texas Tech ... ugh.

... And then those football games today!

... During a conversation the other day about the Bears-Packers game that ended the regular season, I asked a buddy if he was a Bears or Packers fan. He told me he's a Packers fan when they're not playing the Bears ... I liked his answer. I'm a Bears fan when they're not playing the Packers.

... and so in today's game, I was cheering hard for the Bears. But when the Saints took the momentum into halftime and came out roaring to start the second, I was beginning to think the Bears were going to implode all over again ...

Then they turned it into a route ... Chicago will be going crazy the next couple weeks, and it's going to be great!

Then there was that Colts-Patriots game ...

I would've been pleased with either team in the Super Bowl. The Patriots are a class act, and it's fun to watch them play so well year after year. On the other side of the ball, the Colts are flat out good, and I've had a soft spot for Peyton -- another class act himself -- and the Colts for a few years now ... But if you asked me straight-up who I was rooting for, I would have answered the Colts ...

So I was a little disappointed when the Colts slipped so far behind early. So much so that I pretty much tuned out the game ...

... Until I looked up late in the fourth quarter and realized the Colts actually had a chance at winning the thing! ... Peyton's final drive, and then that interception to end it -- Holy cow, what a finish!

So it's Colts-Bears. A classic cross-state rivalry ... Now I've just gotta figure out who I will cheer for ...

Good reads ...
a Bears fans celebrate
a Takeaways propel Chicago to first Super Bowl since '85




* * *


01.22.07 ... adding today's front page of the Indy Star ...

Super predictions

... I didn't get to see very much of yesterday's football games because I was too busy (and more interested) in other projects and business around the house... But I had the games on in the background and managed to at least catch the most important points -- Robbie Gould kicking a winning field goal for the Bears and Tom Brady bringing the Patriots from behind against the Chargers ...

In a column this morning, Dave Goldberg makes a case of a Patriots-Saints Super Bowl ... I'd prefer a Colts-Bears matchup, but with the Tom Brady mystique and the way the Bears are playing, Goldberg's on to something ...

The long season

Packers got crushed by the Bears yesterday. First time Brett Favre has ever been shut out. It’s going to be a looooong season …

Ugh.

At least the Colts-Giants game -- aka “The Manning Bowl” -- was fun to watch. Of course the importance of the game was way overblown, but at least it was a competitive game … And how cool was it to see Eli and Peyton spend several moments together in the middle of the field at the end of the game? I had expected the two to meet in the middle, pat each other on back and go their separate ways -- just like all the quarterbacks; forget the brotherly love stuff. Instead, the two met in the middle and spent more than a few seconds together, embracing and talking amid the hoard of cameramen and reporters, even graciously posing for pictures. Very cool.

… When a sideline reporter grabbed Peyton a couple minutes later, he told all of America how strong his bond with Eli really is, talking about the meeting at the end and saying how much he loved his brother. Sweet moment. … And when the reporter pointed out Peyton had never seen Eli play live, Peyton chuckled and said how impressed he was with Eli’s game, adding “he’s going to be in this league a long time.”

… Too bad it might be the most admiration I have for the game of football all season.
I’ve always known it on some level, but this weekend I realized straight up why I’ve never liked the game of football …

People who complain about baseball being too slow and boring -- good Lord! Have you watched a football game!?! … Football is such a herky-jerky, stop-and-start game, it drives me nuts. And I absolutely cannot stand to see a running back slam into a pile of 300-pound guys when there’s often a clear path to the end zone a few feet to the right or left. And there’s the waiting between plays… ugh.

With baseball, there’s a flow, a poetry. The battle between the pitcher -- not to mention the team in the field behind him -- and the batter at the plate is never ending. They’re constantly thinking about the opposing player’s next move. Add to that the elements of a defensive shift, or a base runner trying to throw off the pitcher… the only true break in the action comes every 10 or 20 minutes when the teams switch places in the field -- and then there’s always enough time to get up and raid the fridge.

…Football. There’s a play that lasts about 5 seconds, and it moves the ball two or three yards if you’re lucky. Then there’s a 10-second pause and the sequence begins again …

… Perhaps I’d like football a little more if ESPN didn’t beat it to death either. Aren’t there any other players or coaches in the league with some interesting stories aside from T.O. and Bill Parcells. … jeeeeeeeeeeeeeezzzzzz. I refuse to watch Sportscenter on Monday mornings to avoid Sean Salisbury and all of their football blow. … As if the Monday Night Football moments they showed on Sportscenter every day since 2005 season ended weren’t pathetic enough, they kicked off their coverage for tonight’s Monday night game at noon today -- ok, maybe it was like 2 or 3, but c’mon!

What channel is the Cubs game on?