– Game was as good as advertised, and I’m happy for the Packers — a good bunch of guys and a great bunch of fans (not to mention Jets schadenfreude compels me to root against the Steelers).
– I was disappointed Clay Matthews never really put Roethlisberger on his rear end. They seemed to QB-spy him three out of every four plays, which I think was a poor — and nearly disastrous — coaching decision. Sure, Big Ben didn’t break off too many big runs, but he had the time to check down and find receivers time and again.
– Sorry to see a hall-of-famer like Woodson not be able to finish the biggest win of his career.
– Does anybody throw the ball with more velocity than Aaron Rodgers? On a number of attempts, passes were dropped simply because receivers misjudged their speed and couldn’t close their hands around the ball quick enough.
– Everything that wasn’t the football game was pretty uniformly awful. Don’t get me started on the Black-Eyed Peas. After the Janet Jackson fiasco in 2004, the NFL went with classic rock year after year to generally good results (Prince and the Who were probably the weak spots, and even they were pretty good). But the Black-Eyed Peas were a mess. The audio levels were off, the lights on half the “V” in the “LOVE”-shaped stage were out, and the auto-tune (!) was glitchy, which only served to draw attention to why they needed it in the first place. Also, a gratuitous Slash.
– Christina Aguilera has a big voice, but she flubbed the lyrics to “The Star-Spangled Banner.” (Can you spot it?):
– The commercials, I thought, were fairly weak. Budweiser and Bud Light both went 0-fer. The former failed to deliver on a Western-themed ad they’d been running as a cliffhanger for days –
– and the latter stuck to the well-worn territory of soft misogyny, groin humor, and screwing-over-your-friends-to-get-the-last-beer. The usually solid Doritos also did some straight-up weird stuff.
Three that stuck out as good:
(To this day I’ve been known to subtly wave a hand across my body when approaching motion-activated doors at supermarkets)
(Clever use of recession-bred resentment of the wealthy to push cars that MSRP at $115,000)
(Falls under the category of “it’d better be good — we paid for it.”)
Daniel - keep in mind most of the non-football stuff is taste driven. Of the 3 commercials that you chose as good, only the Star Wars one impressed me in the least. I found the Snickers commercial where Roseanne gets mowed over by a swinging log, however, to be quite pleasurable. And even though I'm an oldster (51), I much preferred the Black Eyed Peas this year over the wheelchair bound acts that we've seen the past few years. The Who totally embarrassed themselves and all of their fans.
As far as Christina Aguilera goes, how could someone NOT spot it? That was downright shameful - maybe if she hadn't been so focused on her runs she might have remembered... I dunno... the words to the song?
Christina Aguilera's voice is a little too big. It's not just that she messed up the words, she oversang the entire song. There was no sense of reverence or restraint, just more of the usual histrionics that ruins 90% of modern R&B.
For more laughs check out "Chad Vader" videos on YouTube. Chad is a supermarket produce manager who fantasizes having the powers of ....you guessed it.
Matthews as a spy: I think it worked; Steelers were held to net 6.4 ypp which is pretty good considering Roethlisberger's career and season averages. Plus a spy is a variance reducing strategy, which is kinda the point when you get a substantial lead.
Leave the stat analysis to those who have the databases for it.
The NFL needs to bring Prince back every year until they find someone better. That funky little dude and his guitar provided (in the pouring Miami rain no less) the best halftime show I have ever seen.
Great game, love it when they are close. If you're a Steelers fan, you had the ball down 6 with 2 minutes to go...just came up short this time. Go Packers.
The Darth Vader commercial was the only one I could remember after the game...funny.
I thought that it was interesting that two spots seemed to be subliminally hitting the Obamas. The Audi Spot where a Barack-alike was imprisoning the rich & the Pepsi Max spot where a Michele-alike was scolding her spouse over food choices. My how times have changed.
Worst spot of the night was definitely the groupon spot mocking Tibet. While a spot calling out ridiculous celebrity causes could have been great, using an actual country ravaged by cultural genocide for decades as the butt of a joke was an epic miscalculation. Think this spot and the Kenneth Cole tweet from earlier in the week will be taught as case studies of where not to inject humor in corporate communications for years to come.
btw, before some knucklehead comes on to complain that this is a respectable journal, not Facebook, here is a great Conservative article by J. Last at the Weekly Standard called "The Case for the Empire: Everything You Know About Star Wars is Wrong"...
Cromulent, I wouldn't embiggen your statistical analysis over traditional armchair coaching so quickly. I'd bet you'd have a hard time turning that correlation into causation, I don't care how big your databases are. Admittedly, I haven't studied the Pro Football Prospectus style metrics as closely as I have sabermetrics in baseball, but the spatial and interactional variables are just so much greater in the former than the latter, and I'm not yet convinced we should take them as gospel. FWIW, Roethlisberger's career net yards per attempt is 6.7; 6.4 adjusted. Though I don't know what method you're using so this is probably apples to kumquats.
Great game, horrible entertainment. Maybe the NFL should stick to what they do best - football - and cede the half-time show to a couple college marching bands, or something.
The best pre-game performance of the National Anthem was done several years ago when they had the combined Service Academy choirs sing the Anthem. It was performed as it should be, with reverence, respect a little humility. Christine, not so much.
Prince? with that juvenile silhouette of his priapic guitar neck during a "family" half-time show? ? geddouddaheah!
He was a great performer once upon a time, with far more physical energy on-stage coming from his entire ensemble (even the drummer was out of his seat) than any other band.
But now? Meh.
(If you never saw Dave Chappelle send Prince up, but good, here it is.
At least Xtina's flub was not as bad as the performances that Maya Rudolph parodies here, External Link, and truth be told, the Stat-Spangled Banner is a notoriously difficult song to sing, and while in was originally written in G major, it is now usually sung in A-flat or B-flat major to make it accessible to non-professionals. In 'Angels in America' there is angry monologue that talks about that verse, "He set the word 'free' to a note so high nobody can reach it." I think a better take would be than freedom is meant to be lots of work, not easy. She tried, she failed, she kept going. Unfortunate. Leah Michelle, though, was a much better interpreter of her song, and that was a good thing.
Daniel, "a great bunch of fans"? Packers' fans? You obviously don't spend much time around them. I live in Wisconsin. It's the 8th different state I've lived in, and no fan base is more irritating than Green Bay's. If they lose, it's always the due to the officials or the field conditions or whatever other excuse they can concoct. And if they win, suddenly they think they're masters of the universe. I can say I'm happy for Rodgers--he seems like a class act. But being surrounded by Packers fans, it would have been much better if the Steelers had won.
I've read that no QB throws harder than Roethlisberger's backup, Byron Leftwich. AR has serious velocity but you can't blame all those dropped passes on it. He had the highest completion % in the postseason this year. Sunday was unusual for that team.
Favre in his prime broke fingers, and some guys who've played with both QBs said Rodgers threw at least as hard as Favre at the back end of his career. But I don't think Rogers throws as hard as Favre did when Favre was 27.
- the product placement Bud Light commercial was hilarious.
- the Pepsi commercial where the chick throws the can and hits the blonde was great.
- some good movie previews. (side note: how come we treat steroid athletes as cheaters and not to be role models and yet one of our most American symbols Captain America gets a pass? Swap "super soldier serium" with "human growth hormone" and then explain how there's a difference.)
- i for one welcome the break from the classic rock shows. i mean come on, you seriously would have rather had The Who??? The Superbowl is supposed to be a "party" atmosphere and i think they picked a gorup that best played to it. If we're shooting for a band that plays to the hard-hitting football atmosphere then we need to get Metallica in there.
- I'm just grateful we didn't have any over-hyped stories to try and do tear-jerking. I'm sorry there's sick kids and homeless people or whatever out there I really am, but I'm trying to watch football and I don't wanna hear about it.
- whoever keeps making commercials with talking babies/animals needs to be waterboarded for a week.
- side note to the earlier side note. Why is it that people doing things to enhance their physical attributes to better compete in a physical game are called cheaters yet Tiger Woods who had eye surgery to enhance his vision in a sport that requires good vision is not?
I thought the truck add that parodied Lassie was fun. Though, as I only saw it once, I can't tell you the brand. I think they created the commercial you'd remember and thought that you'd catch the brand later.
My 3 year old son kept asking me to
show the whale again. It took me a while to explain that I didn't have any control over the commercials. It would have made a great Tivo ad.
Daniel - keep in mind most of the non-football stuff is taste driven. Of the 3 commercials that you chose as good, only the Star Wars one impressed me in the least. I found the Snickers commercial where Roseanne gets mowed over by a swinging log, however, to be quite pleasurable. And even though I'm an oldster (51), I much preferred the Black Eyed Peas this year over the wheelchair bound acts that we've seen the past few years. The Who totally embarrassed themselves and all of their fans.
As far as Christina Aguilera goes, how could someone NOT spot it? That was downright shameful - maybe if she hadn't been so focused on her runs she might have remembered... I dunno... the words to the song?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseChristina Aguilera's voice is a little too big. It's not just that she messed up the words, she oversang the entire song. There was no sense of reverence or restraint, just more of the usual histrionics that ruins 90% of modern R&B.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe VW one is a classic. Love it.....
Only regret I have is I am no longer a Wisconsin resident, so I will miss out on the celebrating this week. Go Pack Go..........
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWhat's this about Detroit having been "to Hell and back"?
It's STILL in Hell.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseFor more laughs check out "Chad Vader" videos on YouTube. Chad is a supermarket produce manager who fantasizes having the powers of ....you guessed it.
Start here: External Link
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseMatthews as a spy: I think it worked; Steelers were held to net 6.4 ypp which is pretty good considering Roethlisberger's career and season averages. Plus a spy is a variance reducing strategy, which is kinda the point when you get a substantial lead.
Leave the stat analysis to those who have the databases for it.
Like me.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe NFL needs to bring Prince back every year until they find someone better. That funky little dude and his guitar provided (in the pouring Miami rain no less) the best halftime show I have ever seen.
Great game, love it when they are close. If you're a Steelers fan, you had the ball down 6 with 2 minutes to go...just came up short this time. Go Packers.
The Darth Vader commercial was the only one I could remember after the game...funny.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI thought that it was interesting that two spots seemed to be subliminally hitting the Obamas. The Audi Spot where a Barack-alike was imprisoning the rich & the Pepsi Max spot where a Michele-alike was scolding her spouse over food choices. My how times have changed.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWorst spot of the night was definitely the groupon spot mocking Tibet. While a spot calling out ridiculous celebrity causes could have been great, using an actual country ravaged by cultural genocide for decades as the butt of a joke was an epic miscalculation. Think this spot and the Kenneth Cole tweet from earlier in the week will be taught as case studies of where not to inject humor in corporate communications for years to come.
btw, before some knucklehead comes on to complain that this is a respectable journal, not Facebook, here is a great Conservative article by J. Last at the Weekly Standard called "The Case for the Empire: Everything You Know About Star Wars is Wrong"...
External Link
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseVW owns Audi, so that reduces the success rate a bit. I don't know for sure that they use the same advertising agency, but I suspect they do.
Overall a weak commercial showing. Jimmy James is upset. He's reaming someone about now.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseCromulent, I wouldn't embiggen your statistical analysis over traditional armchair coaching so quickly. I'd bet you'd have a hard time turning that correlation into causation, I don't care how big your databases are. Admittedly, I haven't studied the Pro Football Prospectus style metrics as closely as I have sabermetrics in baseball, but the spatial and interactional variables are just so much greater in the former than the latter, and I'm not yet convinced we should take them as gospel. FWIW, Roethlisberger's career net yards per attempt is 6.7; 6.4 adjusted. Though I don't know what method you're using so this is probably apples to kumquats.
External Link
Mogriff, you're right. The Groupon commercial was shameful.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseGreat game, horrible entertainment. Maybe the NFL should stick to what they do best - football - and cede the half-time show to a couple college marching bands, or something.
The best pre-game performance of the National Anthem was done several years ago when they had the combined Service Academy choirs sing the Anthem. It was performed as it should be, with reverence, respect a little humility. Christine, not so much.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbusePrince? with that juvenile silhouette of his priapic guitar neck during a "family" half-time show? ? geddouddaheah!
He was a great performer once upon a time, with far more physical energy on-stage coming from his entire ensemble (even the drummer was out of his seat) than any other band.
But now? Meh.
(If you never saw Dave Chappelle send Prince up, but good, here it is.
External Link
Sheer comedic perfection! Especially Prince's hang time!
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAt least Xtina's flub was not as bad as the performances that Maya Rudolph parodies here, External Link
, and truth be told, the Stat-Spangled Banner is a notoriously difficult song to sing, and while in was originally written in G major, it is now usually sung in A-flat or B-flat major to make it accessible to non-professionals. In 'Angels in America' there is angry monologue that talks about that verse, "He set the word 'free' to a note so high nobody can reach it." I think a better take would be than freedom is meant to be lots of work, not easy. She tried, she failed, she kept going. Unfortunate. Leah Michelle, though, was a much better interpreter of her song, and that was a good thing.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseDaniel, "a great bunch of fans"? Packers' fans? You obviously don't spend much time around them. I live in Wisconsin. It's the 8th different state I've lived in, and no fan base is more irritating than Green Bay's. If they lose, it's always the due to the officials or the field conditions or whatever other excuse they can concoct. And if they win, suddenly they think they're masters of the universe. I can say I'm happy for Rodgers--he seems like a class act. But being surrounded by Packers fans, it would have been much better if the Steelers had won.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI've read that no QB throws harder than Roethlisberger's backup, Byron Leftwich. AR has serious velocity but you can't blame all those dropped passes on it. He had the highest completion % in the postseason this year. Sunday was unusual for that team.
Favre in his prime broke fingers, and some guys who've played with both QBs said Rodgers threw at least as hard as Favre at the back end of his career. But I don't think Rogers throws as hard as Favre did when Favre was 27.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI'll never understand why people spend so much time and energy discussing commercials. What is the point?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI didn't like the Pepsi commercials at all. What was with all the violence in their ads? They weren't the least bit clever. Loved the Darth Vader ad.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseDude, come ON.
- the product placement Bud Light commercial was hilarious.
- the Pepsi commercial where the chick throws the can and hits the blonde was great.
- some good movie previews. (side note: how come we treat steroid athletes as cheaters and not to be role models and yet one of our most American symbols Captain America gets a pass? Swap "super soldier serium" with "human growth hormone" and then explain how there's a difference.)
- i for one welcome the break from the classic rock shows. i mean come on, you seriously would have rather had The Who??? The Superbowl is supposed to be a "party" atmosphere and i think they picked a gorup that best played to it. If we're shooting for a band that plays to the hard-hitting football atmosphere then we need to get Metallica in there.
- I'm just grateful we didn't have any over-hyped stories to try and do tear-jerking. I'm sorry there's sick kids and homeless people or whatever out there I really am, but I'm trying to watch football and I don't wanna hear about it.
- whoever keeps making commercials with talking babies/animals needs to be waterboarded for a week.
- side note to the earlier side note. Why is it that people doing things to enhance their physical attributes to better compete in a physical game are called cheaters yet Tiger Woods who had eye surgery to enhance his vision in a sport that requires good vision is not?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI thought the truck add that parodied Lassie was fun. Though, as I only saw it once, I can't tell you the brand. I think they created the commercial you'd remember and thought that you'd catch the brand later.
My 3 year old son kept asking me to
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuseshow the whale again. It took me a while to explain that I didn't have any control over the commercials. It would have made a great Tivo ad.