The Good: The game was great. It had everything. It had a possible come from behind win that was thwarted by a (non controversial call, sorry Troy) great play by the stout Green Bay defense. Green Bay jumped out to a quick lead, but knowing how the Packers play combined the experience of the Steelers, I projected a close game still. Aaron Rodgers started strong, then took some time off to go talk to Erin Andrews, then came back in and led the Packers to the promise land. His receivers did him no favors, but in nobody has done Rodgers any favors in his life. He had to go the JUCO route, transfer to a college who wasn't even scouting him, then fall down the first round when his favorite team didn't want him. His well documented wait to start behind a legend, then replacing said legend means he was under a ton of pressure and had to battle for all that he has earned. I'll wait for his movie (directed by the excellent Tommy Wiseau) to come out in a year or two.
The Steelers were resilient and fought back, but were in too big of a hole to win. They played well, but gave away the ball too much to compete with the flawless Rodgers. Their defense didn't play as well as they needed to stop the Packers offense more than they did, since they were bailed out by some ugly drops. Overall, a good game, with some big plays and unbelievable magic by two Pro Bowl caliber QBs.
The Bad: The commercials were once again lackluster. Most weren't funny, and that was because they weren't trying to be. It is OK to try and be artistic, or going for something more than the usual slapstick comedy. I enjoyed the Pepsi Max commercials a lot, and the little Darth Vader commercial was cool. Good for Brisk Ice Tea for coming back and making a solid commercial, and for Chrysler for making a great (although overrated) commercial for Detroit. And Kim Kardashian was very excellent as well. Most of the usual beer and talking baby commercials weren't very good, and the Groupon commercials were awful and not funny. Nice first attempt, now go away. I am just glad there isn't forty Go Daddy commercials to break down today. One is more than enough.
Outside of commercials, the NFL mishandled the whole Super Bowl. Sure, Dallas is not used to snowfall like they saw this last week. But they could have made a better effort to fix the situation or bus people in. And Dallas is getting none of the blame, when Detroit was getting all the blame for their weather in August before the season started in 2006. Obvious politics played by the NFL about their cities. Dallas, media darlings and ESPN sweethearts, gets a pass on this terrible mishandling while downtrodden Detroit gets dismantled on every media imaginable when a little snow falls.
On top of the unfortunate weather, printing off of too many tickets, or not getting enough seats ready, or whatever the excuse, is no excuse. Three times the ticket price is nice, but it wouldn't cover the disappointment of not seeing the Super Bowl. Trying to set the overall attendance record for the Super Bowl (it got third place) seemed to be at all cost. Now they just look dumb.
The Ugly: The Music of the Super Bowl. Bottom line. Christina Aguilera spent too much time trying to jazz up the anthem and forgot how to sing the lyrics. I know people say its a lot of pressure, but I would think she is used to it by now. I know shes had a rough year, with a divorce, a terrible box office bomb of a film and now this, but it was still pretty bad.
The Glee girl was all right.
The Half Time show was just terrible. I liked having the classic rock lineup the last decade, with Prince and The Boss doing a great job. The Who were terrible, and some were lackluster. But the Black Eye Peas were bad. They were lame, stale and the guests (Slash and Usher) did nothing to spice things up. I didn't even know they were even to appear. The presentation was bad, there were many errors and it just didn't feel like the best the NFL could have done. There is always next year, and don't screw it up.
For the Super Bowl Picks, my entire family was right to believe in the Packers. My brother Aaron came the closest to the final score out of all of us. My sister Mary already locked up the win, and went 10-1 in the playoffs this season. I got second place with 8-3, and successfully picked the NFC and NFL Champions in the beginning with Green Bay, the only one out of my family to do so. Here are the final standings for the Playoff Challenge 2011:
Mary: 10-1
Weston: 8-3
Mom: 7-4
Dad: 6-5
Sam: 5-6
Aaron: 4-7
For her grand prize, my sister gets creative control over my blog for one whole day. Whether its telling me what to write of writing herself, she can do what she wants on Season Tickets all day. I know, be jealous.
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