Day 309: The Most Watched Super Bowl Ever? Really?

So it's no secret I thought the Super Bowl sucked. If you weren't a Seattle Seahawks fan reveling in the beat down or a general Peyton Manning hater, it was a total yawn-fest. The fourth quarter was so incredibly painful to watch, I left it for the comfort of my latest read. I, for sure, would rather have my tonsils removed through my belly button than have to watch anyone on the Seahawks in an interview.

A lot of the late game uncomfortableness had to do with the Denver Broncos' lackadaisical approach to trying to make a comeback. Where was the hurry-up offense? Where was the sense of urgency? It was clearly all absent. The Broncos went fetal at the worst possible time. Did that football off the noggin on the first play of the game knock something loose in Peyton's brain? Or where they a bunch of impostors? A friend posted on Facebook: "Somewhere, all of the Broncos players are tied up in their underwear while the Raiders play in the Super Bowl wearing Broncos' uniforms." Yeah... it was just like that. (Thanks for the laugh, Jamie!) 

It's really unbelievable to me that this ridiculous 43-8 drubbing was the most watched Super Bowl ever. Seriously? I'll believe most mocked, but most watched? Get out of town. But it's true—111.5 million people watched this crap—the biggest blowout since Dallas clubbed Buffalo 52-17 in 1993. I'm assuming about 90 million of those people used the game as an excuse to eat absurdly large vats of food and wax poetic about the overpriced and mostly disappointing commercials. (Not Budweiser, they were my favorite.)

Five of the last six Super Bowls have been decided by less than a touchdown—two of those games featured my New England Patriots who lost both nail biters. I would've preferred one or both of those games ended a little differently... maybe with second stringers getting some snaps because the game was so far out of reach. I will say I was a bit envious of those 'Hawks fans just coasting to the presentation of the Lombardi Trophy without a care in the world.

I also have to wonder if any of the other 111,499,999 people noticed what I noticed. There's a common denominator in three of last seven Super Bowls for the losing team. There was a certain player that played in Super Bowl XLII, XLVI and XLVIII and lost all three. Yup, Wes Welker. I've come to the conclusion that this guy is bad news. He's a jinx, a curse and total hex. Someone very evil and very clever possesses a tiny little Wes Welker voodoo doll ensuring that any team he's a part of will never win the coveted Championship. Sorry, Peyton... you're stuck with him now.

I'm curious how many of those 111.5 million folks woke up this morning with no recollection of anything that happened after the muffed coin toss by one fur-cloaked (and possibly drunk) Joe Namath. Oh well... so long, football. See you next fall.

Day 307: More Super Bowl Commercials... and Now for Some Funnies

It's no secret that I really could care less about the two teams playing in the Super Bowl on Sunday. I mean, I'm rooting for Denver but all I really want is a good game and some great commercials. It has to be a good game, right? Both Denver and Seattle led their respective divisions with 13 wins and were both top seeds going into the playoffs. And how often does the Super Bowl feature the best offense versus the best defense? I'll tell you... it has only happened six times.

If you go back and review each of those games, the best defense won five of the six. Those statistics don't bode well for the Denver Broncos. As a matter of fact, the only best defensive team that didn't win the Super Bowl just happened to be the Broncos when they lost to San Francisco 55-10 in Super Bowl XXIV—the year Joe Montana won his fourth title. 

The other thing to keep in mind is that in four of those five wins for the best defense, that team also featured a future Hall of Fame quarterback driving the offense. Now that's just not fair. The best defense AND a kick ass quarterback—I imagine the shame factor would've been high had those teams not won it all. It's still too early to tell if Seattle's Russell Wilson is going to be that caliber of QB, but for now, let's just say he's not.

But I digress. The real purpose of this post is to talk about some more Super Bowl commercials. I recently stumbled across a couple of spots that totally cracked me up. One has a past tie to the Broncos and features former and brief NFL quarterback, Tim Tebow. Who knew the kid could pull this off? And considering I'm not a big fan of Tebow, this ad cracked me up.

The other commercial I found entertaining was also just a wee bit disturbing—but it also proves once again that dogs make everything better. Audi has historically been high on the list of best Super Bowl ads and they produced one of my favorites in 2012 called Vampire Party. But this year's spot is kitschy and somewhat troubling and completely not what I expected from the luxury car brand. And it made me totally guffaw.

Ok, I'm done with blog posts about commercials now. Maybe. I can't believe tomorrow is Super Bowl Sunday and then football will be over. {{flails}} Deep breaths... in exactly two weeks, pitchers and catchers report for the Red Sox!

Day 306: Budweiser's Gone and Done it Again {{SOB}}

Each year as the Super Bowl approaches, we start to hear about the commercials advertisers are planning to run during the big game. And nowadays, with that whole internet thing, we even get to preview the spots before they air on television. With a national price tag of around $4 million for a 30-second commercial, it's imperative that the creative teams but their best ideas forward. Some products fail miserably while others keep raising the bar higher and higher every year.

Budweiser is one of those companies that continues to up the ante each February, putting forth commercials that make me cry every damn time. Each year, there's another installment featuring the ever popular Budweiser Clydesdales and each year, the commercials tug just a little more at the heart strings. Who can forget last years' Bud spot titled "Brotherhood"? Still to this day, I can't watch this one without the tears.

I honestly didn't think they could top the 2013 ad. It was a perfectly crafted story wrapped up in a 60-second commercial. I was anxious to see what the masterminds responsible for thinking up these tales would come up with for Super Bowl XLVIII. Let's just say that I am in awe of the genius minds at Anomaly, the agency responsible for the spots. Get yer tissues ready for "Puppy Love"—the only thing better than horses is puppies and horses. This might be my favorite commercial ever in the history of commercials.

I thought Bud only bought one spot in the game. I was wrong. They're running two 60-second commercials in the Super Bowl. The second spot is titled "A Hero's Welcome" and features a soldier's return home to a giant celebration. The only thing that would've made this commercial better is if the woman at the airport had a puppy with her. Puppies make everything better. 

Remember earlier in this post when I mentioned how much the 30-second spots were? I think you can do the math. But I don't blame them for spending such a huge chunk of dough. These commercials make me want to buy cases of Budweiser. 

Bravo, Bud... you just get it.