Has the Super Bowl jumped the shark?\u00c2\u00a0 Could it be that it’s no longer an American ritual and merely a FOOTBALL GAME?<\/p>\n
Appears that way to me.<\/p>\n
Everything’s got a lifespan.\u00c2\u00a0 Just look at "Monday Night Football".\u00c2\u00a0 Nothing goes on forever.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s kind of like music videos.\u00c2\u00a0 Companies started to wonder, was it WORTH IT to spend all that money on commercials?\u00c2\u00a0 Did it end up on the bottom line or was it like setting the money on fire?\u00c2\u00a0 Based on yesterday’s lineup of spots, it seems America’s marketers have decided it just doesn’t pay to create a mini-movie that blows people away for a zillion bucks.\u00c2\u00a0 Because that’s all it does, blow people away.\u00c2\u00a0 It doesn’t sell more product.<\/p>\n
The Pepsi spots were decent.\u00c2\u00a0 But not in a laugh out loud way.\u00c2\u00a0 And anybody who thought up the brownandbubbly.com url should be fired immediately, or made to stew in his own feces.\u00c2\u00a0 Sure, cola’s brown, but what did Frank Zappa so famously say?\u00c2\u00a0 BROWN SHOES DON’T MAKE IT!<\/p>\n
The highlight of course, was the Sprint ad.\u00c2\u00a0 Where the two guys were comparing the features of their cell phones.\u00c2\u00a0 You’re sitting there thinking, how in the hell is a cell phone a crime deterrent?\u00c2\u00a0 You figure it’s a joke, but when the shorter, wimpier guy turns around and throws the phone at the other guy’s head, I burst out laughing.\u00c2\u00a0 THAT’S innovation.\u00c2\u00a0 And the same kind of irreverence all over television channels kids watch.<\/p>\n
Other than that…<\/p>\n
Isn’t it interesting that the company that made the MOST famous Super Bowl spot of all time, which many people believe is the BEST commercial spot EVER, didn’t even buy ANY time on the Super Bowl?<\/p>\n
Now it was a reasonable game.\u00c2\u00a0 Not as good as many of the playoff games that preceded it, but not a typical Super Bowl blowout.\u00c2\u00a0 Still, one was watching and asked oneself, I invested five months of my life for THIS?\u00c2\u00a0 The World Series ALWAYS delivers more drama.\u00c2\u00a0 Or, if it’s a 4-0 blowout, the dominance is palpable.\u00c2\u00a0 I mean who really gives a fuck about the Seattle Seahawks and the Pittsburgh Steelers.\u00c2\u00a0 Isn’t that like a battle of the bands between Gerry & the Pacemakers and Freddy & the Dreamers?\u00c2\u00a0 We want the Giants, the Raiders, even the fucking Dolphins.\u00c2\u00a0 But that’s what parity will get you.<\/p>\n
Oh, there WAS one football highlight.\u00c2\u00a0 After the game in fact.\u00c2\u00a0 When Jerome Bettis said the bus stops here.\u00c2\u00a0 Sports stars NEVER do this.\u00c2\u00a0 They say they’re going to take some time, think it over.\u00c2\u00a0 But Jerome, whom I’m not a big fan of, enhanced his credibility and his dignity by delivering the answer to the question on everybody’s lips WHEN they wanted to hear it.\u00c2\u00a0 Utterly amazing in this publicist-controlled truthiness world of today.<\/p>\n
And then there was the music…<\/p>\n
John Legend.\u00c2\u00a0 All I can say is you’re no Marvin Gaye.<\/p>\n
Joss Stone.\u00c2\u00a0 Is that the only way you can sing?\u00c2\u00a0 In that controlled ORGASM style?\u00c2\u00a0 You make Janis Joplin look like Aretha Franklin. And believe me, she wasn’t.<\/p>\n
Stevie Wonder…\u00c2\u00a0 If he could have seen the proceedings, he wouldn’t have participated.\u00c2\u00a0 Then again, he IS from Detroit.\u00c2\u00a0 But, if they really wanted to honor someone for putting Detroit on the map, they should have had Berry Gordy throw out the first ball.\u00c2\u00a0 He built Motown, along with Henry Ford, they’re the two Motor City giants.<\/p>\n
At least Stevie was playing live.\u00c2\u00a0 But, he was a bit off too.\u00c2\u00a0 Even though he played some great material.<\/p>\n
And then there was the aforementioned Aretha singing the national anthem.<\/p>\n
Did you catch the parody on SNL the night before?<\/p>\n