Reflections on Super Bowl XLIV (44)

I confess. I was hoping that recently retired Kurt Warner would play in the 2010 Super Bowl. He was a classy quarterback throughout his career. He retired at 38, while still at the top of his game. His personal records include the top three passing performances in Super Bowl history, the second most career passing yards per game at a 260.8 average, the third most passing yards in a single season at 4,830, the fifth most touchdowns in a single season at 41. In 124 regular season games, he completed 65.5% of his passes for 32,344 yards. He was the fastest player in NFL history to reach 10,000 yards passing and he tied with Dan Marino as the fastest QB to throw for 30,000 yards in a career.

In spite of my disappointment that Warner wasn’t playing in the Super Bowl, I still enjoyed the game. It edged out M.A.S.H. as the most watched television program in history with 106.5 million viewers. The Colts and the Saints both played incredible football, but the Saints executed the more aggressive game plan, which turned out to be the difference between winning and losing. The onside kick to start the second half was brilliant because it worked, but I never doubted that Peyton Manning might be able to bring the Colts back, until the one pass Manning wished he could have taken back before the Saints took it back all the way for a touchdown with only minutes left in the fourth quarter. My favorite memory of the 2010 Super Bowl had to be the picture of Drew Brees celebrating the victory while holding his young son tightly.

One person I didn’t need to see in this Super Bowl was the oft-retired Brett Favre from the vanquished Vikings. I actually muted the television during his Hyundai commercial. I haven’t been a Dallas Cowboys fan since Jerry Jones fired Tom Landry, so I was ready to celebrate along with Favre and the Vikings should they win their second round playoff game against Dallas. But then the unthinkable happened. Favre and the Vikings decided to show even less class than Dallas as they ran up the score against the thoroughly defeated Cowboys. The Cowboys didn’t have a Peyton Manning to bring them back from a blowout so there was no need for this display of poor sportsmanship. As it turned out, Favre wasn’t satisfied to thrash the Cowboys on the field. He decided to lead his team in a locker room version of PANTS ON THE GROUND just to rub a little more salt in the Cowboys’ wounds.

Fortunately, what goes around comes around. Favre and the Vikings got their comeuppance from the Saints in the NFC playoff game the following week. I thought it was fitting that Favre’s last pass attempt in the NFC playoff game, and possibly the last of his career, was intercepted, leaving Favre’s pants, and perhaps something a little more personal, lying on the ground in the New Orleans Superdome. Chew on that in your next annual retirement, Brett Favre!

While on the subject of Super Bowl commercials, it seems that most of the commercials from the last couple of Super Bowls have been advertising network programs for whichever network is carrying the game. While I think that reflects how Super Bowl commercials ain’t all they’re cracked up to be these days, I did enjoy the commercial for the David Letterman show featuring Letterman, Oprah, and Jay Leno. My least favorite commercials were the “Casual Friday” commercial for Career Builder (had to look up the product so the commercial wasn’t memorable on that front) and the “Skechers” commercial with former Super, Super quarterback Joe Montana. Not only were the “Skechers” shoes ugly, I found it very telling that Montana swore by them without allowing himself to be photographed in them.

I’m confused by all the critics of the commercial from Tim Tebow and his mother about her decision to have a baby years ago (Tim) in spite of pregnancy complications. While I didn’t think it was a great commercial, I have to applaud any mother doing what’s best for her child, instead of herself. Maybe Mrs. Tebow’s critics need to get a life of their own and they’ll understand . . .