Remember when Super Bowls stunk? When every year we’d get blowout after blowout?
Yeah, seems like an awfully long time ago. Sunday night, in a room filled with Giants fans both old and recent (as of a few hours earlier), I watched the latest in a recent series of scintillating Super Bowls.
So much drama, so much excitement, and once again, Eli Manning and his mates sticking it to the New England Patriots again, denying Coach Hoodie and the pretty-boy quarterback their fourth Super Bowl, 21-17.
What a thrilling contest. You can’t ask for anything more than the ball in the air, on the last play of the game, with the outcome in doubt. If Rob Gronkowski had come down with that Hail Mary, I think the Internet would’ve exploded and so might the heads of all Giants fans.
Some quickie thoughts on the game, before I get to halftime and the commercials:
— Eli Manning now has more Super Bowl wins than Peyton Manning. That blows my mind. Dude is just beyond clutch. He was terrific early, had some lulls later, but in the fourth quarter he took his team down the field like he’s done all year. It was so reminiscent of the Super Bowl from four years ago, I half expected Plaxico Burress to come limping out onto the field.
— No other way to say it, but the Pats offense choked in the 4th quarter. From Wes Welker dropping what could’ve been an almost game-clinching pass, from Brady underthrowing Gronkowski deep, from the drops on the final drive, New England came up very small in the final minutes.
— That Ahmad Bradshaw game-winning touchdown was awfully strange. It looked like he realized the Pats were trying to let him score, tried to stop himself from scoring at the 1 yard line, then fell into the end zone. It was a brilliant call by Coach Belichick to let the Giants score, and not let them run the clock all the way down and kick a winning field goal. If the Pats had won, Bradshaw wouldn’t have slept for months.
— That catch by Mario Manningham (above) was sick. Incredible.
And now, for my Madonna and commercial thoughts:
— I got two of the three Madonna “old” songs correct in our little party’s guessing game, for what that’s worth. I thought the Material Girl did really well, generally; the costumes didn’t do much for me, and she looked like she was moving a lot slower than she used to (well, she IS 53 years old now), but I thought it was a pretty solid show.
I missed the now-famous M.I.A. middle-finger salute during the performance; frankly I had no idea who M.I.A. was so hey, good job getting a little more famous, lady!
— I liked several of the ads Sunday; the Skechers one with Mark Cuban and the dog was really good, and I loved Budweiser “Prohibition” and the E-Trade baby ad as well. The Fiat ad with the woman was pretty great, too.
But my favorite was the one above, the dog in the Volkswagen commercial. Great stuff.
**I always love these kinds of stories, especially during hockey season. A Minnesota man was arrested last week for driving while intoxicated.
His vehicle of choice? A Zamboni. Yep, Joel Bruss, 34, of Apple Valley, Minn. was apparently driving erratically, as witnesses saw his Zamboni careen across the ice and bounce off the sideboards.
Read the rest of the glorious details here. As for Joel, well, all I can tell him is this: next time pal, don’t drink and ice-clean.
Wide World of Stuff 