Monday, February 8, 2010

SUPER BOWL XLIV/44

Reviewed by Lee Houston, Junior

Once again, the National Football League concluded its season with a championship game, including all the pomp and circumstances that one has come to expect from such a spectacle.
So let's see what happened.

THE GAME ITSELF
While fans have complained in the past of the outcome being a foregone conclusion before half-time, the last few competitions have been bucking this trend.
Although the Indianapolis Colts scored first and led for quite a well, the New Orleans Saints in their first Super Bowl appearance WON their first Super Bowl. Final score: Saints 31, Colts 17.

THE ENTERTAINMENT
Queen Latifiah sang the National Anthem before the coin toss, an event in itself. Then during half-time, The Who's Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend performed a brief set of their hits.
Starting out with the opening verses to Tommy, the duo segued into Baba O'Riley, Who Are You?, See Me/Feel Me, and Won't Get Fooled Again.
If some of those songs seem familiar, remember that the game aired on the CBS network. Baba is used as the theme to CSI: Miami, Who Are You? is the opening song to CSI: Crime Scene Investigations, and Won't is in the title sequence to CSI: New York.

THE COMMERCIALS
Whether or not you watch just for the half-time show or the game itself, there is no denying that advertisers pull out all the stops for a Super Bowl ad. A brief thirty second spot was alleged to go for an average of $2.3 MILLION dollars, several times higher than the average price for a commercial at any other time during a broadcast week.
Considering its importance, the United States government even bought commercial time to promote the 2010 Census. But I hope CBS gave the government a break on the price since this was basically a public service announcement.

In any event, a common theme amongst several of the advertisers seemed to be "How to be a man", with ads for Snickers, Dove for Men, Flo TV, and the Dodger Charger automobile amongst them.
The other common trend seems to be celebrity guest stars within the commercials. During the game, one could see:
*Pauley Perrette walking down the streets of LA and encountering Chris O'Donnell and LL Cool J as Abby met Callen and Sam in a brief NCIS/NCIS: Los Angeles commercial.
*The Simpsons doing what is becoming an annual ad for Coke-Cola.
*Betty White and Abe Vigoda appearing in the aforementioned Snickers ad.

But now, my PERSONAL COMMENTS.
*Most surprising guest star(s): David Letterman, Oprah Winfrey, and Jay Leno sitting together on a couch watching the Super Bowl, although I'm not sure who or what they were supposed to be promoting.
*The most straight forward (tie): The "Fiddling Beaver" for Monster.com and the "Sad Robot" for Intel.
*Best inspired commercial: Whoever the Monty Python fan is behind the "Docker's Free Pants" promotion. And...
*Worst commercial: The Budwiser "Human Bridge".

At least, that's how I see them. Most of the entire collection is available for viewing (and voting) at www.youtube.com

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