Breaking Windows

Dan might not watch the Super Bowl for the commercials, but I do. The game this year was one of the best Super Bowl that I can remember though. The half time show was more memorable then others too (for the wrong reasons)! I just saw on Sports Center that CBS has apologized for ending the half time show early because of Justin Timberlake/Janet Jackson's breast-baring stunt. Needless to say, it was a big Super Bowl half time show this year. But what can you expect from MTV, who produced the half time show. Other then "the wardrobe malfunction," it did not come close to when Aerosmith took the stage. The opening of the night with the tribute to the Columbia mission was great, as was the National Anthem by Beyonce. Do you wonder how the game would have gone if the second half did not take 35 or so minutes to start? The game went from being very slow to being very fun at the very end of the first quarter. Then after the half time show it was back to being sluggish for a while before the game picked up again. John Fox really made some bad decisions when he went for two points. The first one he tried was not needed, the second he really needed and could not convert. The Panthers would have been up by 2 points which at the time could have changed the pace of the game. It was great to see the game go down to the end of the 4th quarter though. And for the record, I was rooting for the Pats and Brady for MVP. Now on to the commercials. That Gillette "Angel by Your Side" commercial won the award for dumbest this year, IMO. I have a problem with the Apple/Pepsi commercial. Yes, it was good. But it had no Apple logo. Just the URL iTunes.com. There is something to be said about brand recognition, and as you are well aware, Apple's brand is one of the most recognizable in the world. It is pretty clear that Apple had little or nothing to do with this commercial. At least it had an iMac, that is recognizable. Pepsi's other commercials were great, I think their best was the Jimi Hendrix commercial. The "Shards 'O Glass" bit was the best of the 'Activism" spots this year, and tied for my favorite this year. My other favorite was the IBM spot with Ali, partially because I really like the Linux 'Open' campaign. But when you add Muhammad Ali, wow, what a great ad for IBM. This year was sure the year of the funny super bowl commercials. Even the serious commercials had a sense of humor this year, such as the Willie Nelson doll from H&R Block. The blatent nod to Alien (FedEx) was a great laugh but I laughed the most at the Jimi Hendrix Pepsi commercial.