SUPER BORE BOWL XL

©06 the media desk
http://themediadesk.com

      The Desk wanted to call this article "the good the bad and the stupid" and go in depth about the commercials and ignore the game they were wrapped around.
      However, there weren't that many that fit that bill. There were a couple of good ones, there were a couple that were really bad, the rest were just mediocre.
      And, truth be told, the title could just as well fit the officiating in the game itself.
      Here's where the Desk is starting on this. The Officials SHOULD BE viewed as impartial and fair. There should be No Question about the calls working about even both ways. Yes they are human, that's why they use instant replay. They Should Not decide the outcome of the game unless things really get out of hand.
      The fact that we are even having this discussion means something is wrong.

THE GAME

      ALL SPORTS have been plagued by bad officiating of late, and 'the Big Game' was no exception.
      It has been painfully obvious for the last two weeks that the NFL thought it was in the best interest of the NFL for Pittsburgh to win the game, and it seems somebody somewhere told the officials to make sure of it.
      People's exhibit ONE- The blown call in the endzone of Offensive Pass Interference against the Seahawks. If you are going to call pushing off against one teams' receivers, do it against both.
      Exhibit TWO- Roethlisberger's touchdown at the end of the first half. There is no way the ball was across the goal line when his Hand and Knee were down. That and what was the ref thinking when he Started to make it down outside the goal line, Then changed his mind and called the TD. It's like this: the NFL Hype Machine had built its house on Big Ben being the youngest QB to do this and that, so it had to give it to him on review. Period.
      Exhibit THREE- Matt Hasselbeck, the Seattle signal caller's tackle that was ruled blocking below the knee. Come on, that's simply stupid. You CAN TACKLE THE BALL CARRIER by cutting him off at the knees, and that's what Hasselbeck was doing. If the ref had a bad angle on the play to make the call, don't make the call.
      FOUR- The holding calls against Seattle that killed one scoring drive and choked the life out of another one. Again, you can call Holding on almost every play. What they called might have been, or maybe not, but if you call it against one team........
      FIVE- Where are the list of bad calls AGAINST the STEELERS? hhhhmmmmm
      Add all of that to the usual bad spots and assorted Non-Calls, including one delay of game that was NOT called against Pittsburgh, you get the impression that the officiating crew all had their car trunks full of Iron City Beer and Big Ben's beef jerky.
      The OFFICIALS should NOT be Eligible for MVP for the winning team. In this case, they were. They did as much to defeat the Seahawks as ANYBODY on the Steeler Defense.

      Why is it that the Desk is beginning to think that the NFL is on its way to the scripted plots and outcomes of Professional Wrestling?
      Vince McMahon has already tried his hand at football once, maybe he's looking to get back into it. [conspiracy theory mode OFF]

      Now. Moving On.

THE COMMERCIALS

      THE DUMBEST. Hands down. The Tim Allen dog movie. We all know Mr. Allen is at his best when he plays an idiot. If he does too many more of these we'll start to think he's not playing.

      MOST OFFENSIVE. Face it, the Transportation Safety Administration does not need any help looking incompetent. We know it, the terrorists know it, everybody except some bureaucrats in DC know it. We don't need Pepsi to remind us.

      WHAT WERE THEY THINKING? GM spent a TON of money both making its ads and buying the time to run them. The Hummer ad with the monsters was just idiotic and the Cadillac ad gave the impression that only people impressed with ugly clothes and worse makeup would want one.

      DON'T BUY OUR PRODUCT. Sprint went out of its way to tell you to NOT buy their phones by using one as a projectile weapon in one spot and another to celebrate both a house fire and a model that escaped from the Cadillac ad abusing an old man in one ad.

      FALSE ADVERTISING AWARD. Warning: if you immerse ANY pick up truck up to its windshield in salt water for several hours, IT WILL NOT START! Toyota doesn't seem to know that.

      AND THE POINT IS? Dove soap has started a foundation to promote self esteem about beauty for young girls. Fine. Exactly what are they going to do to accomplish this worthwhile goal?

      SO WHAT?
            MALE: 'MacGyver' buys a bunch of junk with Mastercard. They must want us to believe if we buy duct tape and pork rinds with their card we'll know how to save the world with them.
            FEMALE: OK. The Overstock.com woman (Sabine Ehrenfeld) is still gorgeous. And that makes us want to buy something from their site how?

      THE DUDS- Burger King's dancing girls (they said what?), the Degree stunt man, ESPN's city, GoDaddy's girl, Kermit, the movie commercials and so on. Oh please... Don't make a 'Super Bowl Commercial' just because you think you have to. And with every one of the movies advertised, it's about an even bet we saw the best parts and just saved the eight bucks for a ticket.

      AND NOW THE BEST:

      Budweiser's colt and the fridge. The 'magic refrigerator' could have become a classic with one shot. With the Clydesdales you are dealing with an icon, hard to blow it with them.
      Aleve. It was Leonard Nimoy, hard to go wrong with him too.
      Ameriquest. Nobody is going to sign up for a mortgage with them because of their two ads, but they were refreshingly entertaining.
      CarreerBuilder. The Chimps have ALMOST run their course, but the donkeys were a nice gag.
      FedEx. More Cave Men, except this time they weren't selling insurance, they just needed it.

THE HALFTIME SHOW

      The Stones are still uglier than anybody should be allowed to be.
      Mick Jagger can still work the crowd like the master showman he is.
      The Five Second Delay was over-hyped.
      But it was OK for what it was.

THE CITY

      Detroit didn't look like the absolute rotting hellhole we've been told it really is for the last two weeks. Somebody in town has some money for special effects and fancy light shows.
      Maybe it'll manage to turn itself around like Philadelphia has. no, wait, that's a rotting hellhole too. Los Angeles? Bad example. How about Chicago? Cleveland? Atlanta?

OVERALL

      The entire experience from the Anthem and the MVPs, the Game Itself, the Commercials, Halftime, and all the rest.
      Well.
      Let's hope Animal Planet runs Puppy Bowl again next year. If the current trend for the NFL to announce the winner before the game and then have the referees enforce it continues, we'll all be watching it instead of the Mediocre Bowl.

-30-

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