Super Sunday Sell-a-bration!

Super Bowl Sunday it's the day given over to American excess done in the grandest, loudest most garish of scale. In the midst of the never ending pre game shows, the patriotic marching of the colours and in case we didn't get the patriotic tones of the day, there was the combined service glee club with the national anthem. There was the player introductions, ceremonial coin tossing, countless close ups of intense looking football players on the sideline and non stop nattering about the importance of the winner take all game, eventually they actually get around to playing a football game.

This years Super Bowl for the most part was at least close, but entertaining it wasn't I'm afraid. Sure the last six minutes had their excitement and certainly provided a lesson to grade school students everywhere to study their math, especially how to count time. But the first half was a sloppy affair, made up of many miscues on both sides of the field and on both sides of the ball.

The Ameriquest Half Time Show (everything at Super Bowl seems to be sponsored by somebody) gave both teams the opportunity to take an extended break in the dressing room, think things over and groove to the tunes that perhaps brought them into this world. Yep in order to avoid another bout of nippledom, we had the safest of all possible insects trotted out to centrefield. Paul McCartney, picked up a guitar did a few Beatle songs and a Wings effort and most importantly managed to keep his clothes on to boot. There would be no controversy this year, during the sell-a-bration of all things pure and patriotic.

The only possible whiff of controversy would have aired 2 and half hours prior to kick off, sandwiched into the pre game show was a short set by John Fogerty who played Fortunate Son, one wonders how many Senators sons, the fortunate ones were in attendance in Jacksonville on this Super Sunday. The visuals of the many US servicemen and women serving and sacrificing around the world, mixed with those of the platoons of expense account America bunkered down in Jacksonville was a tad ironic. At any rate Fogerty was not seen again in the actual game time broadcast, FOX execs no doubt in a hurry to get that kind of thing off the air.

The second half of football provided a few more thrills than the first, the two teams managing to move the ball a little more effectively giving the many thousands of fans in the stadium a chance to get up and stand and cheer, if only to pass the beer down the aisle. For the most part the game was non descript, a defensive battle which boiled down to the last six minutes of action. The Super Bowl must be the only major sporting event where those in the stands are at a definitive dis-advantage to those of us watching on the tube. Because when your in the stands you can't enjoy the one fact about Super Bowl Sunday that is indisputable, the broadcast is always better than the live event.

And what is it that makes the TV viewing of Super Bowl superior to a butt in the seat at the great spectacle? Is it the witty play by play discussions? No! How about the special camera angles utilized by Fox this year, including a pylon camera for the first time? No, nice if useless touch but that's not it. Maybe the Super, Duper Sloooooooo Moooooootion camera byplay, letting you watch that agonizing foot step just out of bounds, or that ball just go sloooooowly out of the reach of a wide receiver. No not even that makes the broadcast.

No, none of the special effects matters a hoot, it's the commercials that make a Super Bowl, yes the banquet of new ads for familiar and newly launched products(view them all here) keeps even the most bored viewer stuck to the TV screen. Over the years we've been treated to football player Clydesdales and smart talking chihauhas exhorting us to "drop the chalupa". Fortunes are paid to be on the show and made from the exposure. It's no wonder that major American ad agencies can bank their entire future on one hit ad.

And while tamer (and with the amount of control exerted by the NFL no wonder) than in past Super Bowls, this years crop once again had a few major hits and some rather disappointing efforts by surprising clients. The Big winner again this year apparently were the folks at Budweiser who found their ads receiving the best response, the funniest was the efforts of Cedric the entertainer and his revised wish list of beer, BBQ's and dogs over nagging women, the most poignant and the one to bring the tear to America's eye was the "homecoming ad" featuring returning American troops in an airport arrival lounge receiving the accolades of a grateful nation. Beer and patriotism, tis a heady elixir.

The newcomer of the year that wins big bang for their bucks was Ameriquest, not only were they presenter of the McCartney Magical Mystery tour of Half time, but they had two spots that were just plain brilliant in their content and appeal. The best of the two the moron on the hands free cel phone, telling his partner in telephonic convergence that they were getting "robbed", the Mom and Pop operators of the store mistake that for a robbery attempt and our cel phone carrying idiot met his just reward. Now some Americans may not need a mortgage but if they ever want to score some cash I guess they'll remember Ameriquest first.

The strangest campaign was McDonald's Lincoln Fries, a French fry in the shape of Abraham Lincoln's profile. It had the appeal of a box of fries left under the heat lamp for over an hour, it was limp, pour on some poutine and we could call it cheesy. Not suprisingly it did not fare very well in the post super bowl boxscore of ads, I suspect the vice president of advertising won't fare so well either.

The ratings for the actual broadcast were down from past efforts, perhaps a symbol of malaise at the same team in the Patriots returning for the third time in four years or signs of a backlash to the extravagance of excess showcased. The fact that most people can recount most of the ads, over the highlights of the game may tell us more about the presentation than anything else. In fact the NFL even includes a link to vote for the best Super Bowl commercials of all time, go figure!

The Super Bowl Experience lends itself wonderfully to the blog universe, I found this wonderful recap of the entire day (and truth be told, I couldn't remember half the events listed, I believe this is a good thing for me, but kudo's to the author for his dedication) If more people can tell you the order of the Diet Pepsi commercials over the scoring plays in the second half, we'll know that perhaps the game is starting to take a back seat to the event. But then at least the NFL knows they're watching I guess, good for marketing and profits, not necessarily a good thing for the sport in general.