Super Bowl thoughts

Congratulations, New Orleans! One heck of a game. Glad to see a championship come to the city after such a long draught. It kinda sucks to see Manning lose, as he certainly deserves more rings than he has, but I’ve never been a Colts fan – even when Tony “The Coolest Cat Alive” Dungy was coaching there. I was really surprised at the Saints’ lackadaisical first quarter performance, but it seemed like they were just stressed and that once they got their head wrapped around the idea that it was just another football game, they picked it back up.

I must also add that Sean Payton has enormous balls of steel, going for it on 4th down and then calling for an onside kick on the halftime kickoff. I love it. That’s the kind of gutsy football you can’t help but root for. Plus, in addition to the daring play calls and great performances from both sides, the game avoided most of the little irritations that are so typical in big games – there were no controversial calls, and only 8 penalties in the whole game. Just good, enjoyable football.

Now, on the other side, we have the ads, which is the reason we all really watch – right? And was it just me or were these ads particularly awful? Especially the Michael C. Hall Dodge Charger ad:

This isn’t even a funny commercial. This is a serious, kind of disturbing and really quite dark commercial. He lists a series of complaints about his life, specifically complaints against his employer and wife. His solution to his miserable life? He buys a Dodge Charger – which is itself a name that has only recently been grabbed again by Dodge in an effort to salvage their own miserable company image. There are multiple disturbing things about this ad, even if we ignore the materialistic and patently ridiculous idea that such a miserable man could find happiness in a new Dodge Charger.

He lists 18 things that he “will do,” apparently because he is being forced to. Two of them are specifically related to work, the other 16 are specifically related to a nagging wife, who, in addition to the usual stereotypes of asking him to leave the seat down and clean out the sink after he shaves, apparently makes him listen to her friends’ opinions of his friends, brings her mother in between them, and makes him sit through vampire TV shows. She’s a pretty poor wife, from what we can tell. But his response is that he will do all these things because she demands it and because he must, but because he plays the part of submissive husband so well, he will “drive the car that I want to drive.” He then declares: “Charger: Man’s last stand.” Against women, presumably.

Now the commercial is just kind of dark and sad until you realize who’s voicing the ad: Michael C Hall, most famous for his role as Dexter – the serial killer. The “serial killer we identify with,” more specifically. This injects an even darker and more dangerous tone into the commercial for those who identify the voice – which, I think it’s fair to assume, is a large part of the target audience. Now there’s an implication of his wife’s behavior putting him on the edge to the point where if he doesn’t get this car he will start to murder people.

Wow, that’s cheerful. So we have the misogyny of women being the enemy and men needing to make a last stand against him mixed in with an overall theme of emasculation and frustration. I dunno about you, but I totally want to go buy a car now. What was odd, though, is that those two themes came up again and again – moreso than in previous years, at least that stood out to me. FloTV, Bud Light, and Bridgestone were also offenders, among others. 

But there were a couple bright spots. My favorites this year? Hyundai and Snickers.  “You’re playing like Betty White out there!”

Super Bowl post

I waited a day to cool down before writing this, because as anyone who knows me can attest to, I was a bit hotheaded after the game last night – watching my team lose and then having someone smash my windshield in.

Let me start off by saying that was one of the best, if not the best, games I’ve ever seen – and sure I’m probably biased because it was my Cardinals in the Super Bowl – so sue me. A record-breaking comeback and then a heartbreaker of a perfect catch made this a game I won’t forget.

Continue reading Super Bowl post

Super Bowl thoughts

That was the best game I have seen in years.

As much as I dislike Eli Manning, I can’t say a bad thing about him after tonight. That was amazing execution, especially for such a young guy playing in the Super Bowl for the first time. And the Giants’ defensive line – Michael Strahan, anyone? – was just phenomenal. To shut down one of the best offenses that football has ever seen and hold them to 14 points, hurting Brady every time he stepped back, that was really something impressive. Hats off to them, they really earned it.

Brady I think just did not handle the pressure well. We’ve seen him throw right through the pressure but tonight he just couldn’t do it.  Their defensive line was doing well but just couldn’t do to Manning what the Giants did to Brady. The game was run entirely by the defense on both sides right up until the 4th and … well, like I said, best game I have seen in years. Very good stuff.

So, grats Giants, sorry Pats, maybe next year.

Also, how bad does Connor Manning have to be feeling right now? “You know, both of your brothers have won a Super Bowl. What have you done?” “Dad, I don’t play footba–” “Get out of my house!”

Pre-Super Bowl rambling!

Sorry for no update yesterday. Been a rough couple of days, but life goes on.

Funny note: Rambo came out and had a bad return at the box office. Yet their commercials make it sound like they’re doing great. I hadn’t heard a single good review, so I looked to see what source the commercials took their props from – turns out its some horror movie review site I’d never heard of. Here’s the link. I think that says a bit about the movie, but maybe that’s just me.

Also, I got a couple requests for a source on my wallpaper from the other day. That, and many other fine photos, wallpapers, etc are from Volk Studio.

So! Super Bowl this Sunday. I’m pulling for the Patriots, for a couple reasons: One, it would be really cool to see a team complete a perfect 19-0 season. With the way they’ve been playing, it’s really very cool to see them this close. If anyone deserves it, it’s them. Second, I want to see the Giants lose because they beat Green Bay and I hate Eli Manning. Both Mannings, actually, but especially Eli. It should be a good game, either way. The Giants have really kicked it up a notch so they should give New England a run for their money.

Every source I’ve seen says the commercials are gonna suck this year. I know GoDaddy’s big plan is to air a “teaser” for a commercial they’ll have online that was too risqué to broadcast, which is just them pushing the line even further. Bob’s a great guy and all but sometimes I wonder. It’s really too bad about the commercials in general though, watching some of the old commercials from the pre-Janet Super Bowls brought back some awesome memories and smiles. We used to have big Super Bowl parties at my old church, and they’d broadcast the game onto the big projection screen in the main room. Everyone would pitch in chips and soda and hot dogs and hamburgers and have a grand old time of it. I’ll never forget Pastor Jay putting on his Broncos cap and explaining, with a big grin, that Jesus was going to be riding back on a white bronco, not a “packer,” and so obviously Denver was the team Jesus was rooting for. He must have – I can’t think of any other way to explain Terrell Davis’ performance that game. Also, watching for the Budweiser frogs while sitting in church always seemed somehow fitting in an ironic way.

Don’t really have much else to say, except that John Stewart has been awesome lately. I’ll save my political rambling, though, for a post later tonight, or perhaps tomorrow.