Super Bowl

Overall, I’d give the Super Bowl high marks this year.

The game itself was a good one. Both teams played well. The result was in doubt until near the end. The underdog, America’s favorite this year, won. So most viewers could go on with their lives in a ‘feel good’ state.

The halftime show was well done. I don’t have any particular affinity for The Who, but I enjoyed their performance, and the accompanying laser show was effective. Overdone? They always are, but this was less offensive than many in years gone by.

Contrary to my usual pattern, I watched quite a few commercials. Justification? Curiosity. On the negative side:

I found those geared to the younger demographic (like Doritos) either insipid or beyond my ability to understand. The heavy focus on cars and beer bored me. Danica Patrick should stick to racing. I prefer that unattractive people keep their pants on. The Denny’s chickens should be served for dinner. I didn’t watch movie and TV promos. The Tebow pro-life ad that got a lot of pre-game attention was too vague to be offensive.

On the plus side, I thought Coke was very creative. The career-oriented websites did well, as did some of the other online business ads. I liked the Snickers commercials.

TV coverage of the game was good visually. For me, Nantz and Simms are inferior to other top announcing teams, and they did nothing last night to disabuse me of my prejudice. I didn’t listen to what the other pundits had to say before the game, at halftime or when it was finished. I’m sure I missed some brilliant insights.

Thanks to a really good game I’d give America’s favorite extravaganza a B+.