Super Bowl Nitpicking

Without question I need to discuss the Super Bowl from last night. I won’t bore those of you who will be bored by “Xs and Os” but rather I want to touch on three items from last night.

1) Bill Belichick is a “Cheating Creep”

“That Cheating Creep” is how author and commentator Jeffery Toobin referred to Patriots coach Bill Belichick this morning on the Imus in the Morning program on ABC radio this morning. How correct you are Mr. Toobin.

In fact Coach Belichick is the personification of the “me first” society we are currently wrapped up in. Last night as the game was wrapping up, the coaches came to midfield to shake hands and navigate the end of game media circus that is ubiquitous at these games. The problem was that the game clock still had one second remaining and the officials had to clear the field to run the last play of the game. Instead of being the “adult” and model of leadership even in hard times and returning to the sidelines, Belichick retreated to the locker rooms along with some of his players. Now if that’s not cowardly and a sign of “crybaby-ship” then I don’t know what is! Here’s the video of the matter (courtesy of somebody’s home video, posted on AOL sports):

And check out Yahoo.com sports write up on the matter. As they say “That's unsportsmanlike at best, disrespectful at least, and at worst, it makes him a big sissy.” How true.

2) Did Blogger Call This Outcome?

Ms. Blogger made her famous gridiron cake to bring with us to watch the game this year. We were in the kitchen yesterday afternoon decorating and she asked me what to write in the end zones using M&Ms. I stated to say “Giants” and “Pats” but quickly changed my mind on the latter and told her to write “18-1” instead of “Pats”. I have the photographic evidence too (coming later tonight once I upload the pics.) Looks like I should have issued my “triple layered lead pipe lock of the week” given free to the first 100 callers.

3) Best Super Bowl Ads

The Super Bowl is a unique event where we don’t actually get up during the commercial breaks for fear of missing something really creative. This was the first year that I wrote down all the commercials that aired so that I could remember which ones I really liked and which ones were so far off the mark that they should have aired at 3am in-between infomercials and reruns of Three’s Company. For a complete listing go to Spike.com’s 2008 Commercial Bowl

This year, my top three where:

-Coca Cola: Parade Balloons

Parade Balloons - Coca-Cola

Stewie, Underdog and a bottle of Coke. It was charming, well thought out, and made a great point with the perennial looser, Charlie Brown winning in the end. Kind of like the Giants pulling this game out in the end. The ad was not “offensive” or in your face edgy. It was the kind of spot that could air at anytime during any kind of show. I like those the best.

-Audi: Godfather

Godfather - Audi

Ok first things first: This car looks really cool. However the starting price is over $100k so it’s not quite in the wheelhouse of most viewers. With that said, if you understood the commercial from the opening seconds then you’ve both seen “The Godfather” and you have the intelligence to earn that kind of money. (Note: Your Wife may Divorce you if you come home in one of them however) This ad was also well through out and didn’t have to use some “star of the moment” to push a crappy product.

-Tide: My Talking Stain

My Talking Stain - Procter & Gamble

Again, well thought out and really funny approach to selling detergent. This is a product that doesn’t have built in sex appeal like a car and used actors who couldn’t even get into an American Idol tryout. Another nice aspect to it was that it made you think. For the first few seconds you just really don’t know what’s going on and then you can figure it out. Thanks for making me do a bit of thinking on a day when thinking really isn’t mandatory.

Finally I have one company who should just stop advertising: SalesGenie.com. Their two spots offended me and that’s hard to do. In one ad they used a stereotypical Indian (Asian) voice and in the other a Chinese voice. Both were poorly done and weren’t well planed, nor is the product any good to begin with either.