Super Bowl 46

CONGRATULATIONS New York Giants!

SUPER BOWL XLVI (46) was an exciting game to watch, especially the final 5 minutes or so. The game was kept close through out. The game could have gone either way and both teams missed some scoring opportunities and dropped passes that would have been huge plays that would have led to a score.

As for the commercials. I think one of the best was the second Coca-Cola Polar Bears, where the one goes out of the cave to get a coke and has to run past and play football against the other bears on the frozen pond. The Matthew Broderick Honda commercial was OK for a nostalgic trip down Hollywood's Memory Lane but wasn't THAT exciting and didn't need the extra attention it got pre-game during the week. The sexy Fiat commercial was also pretty good, where the geeky guy with a cup of coffee sees a hot babe that turns out he's looking at the car and fantasizing about the babe. There were a few others that were pretty good, but those I think were the highlights.

UPDATE: I can't believe I forgot to mention these two cool commercials:  The Elton John Pepsi commercial with him as King (or was it Queen?) where a girl sings R-E-S-P-E-C-T and asks for Pepsi for all and sends Elton into his Dungeon (as he had a previous character) and sitting in the cell is Flavor Flav. And one of the coolest M&Ms commercials with the candy characters they have ever had. A Brown shelled female M&M says that she hates when idiots think she is out of her shell, then the Red M&M guy sees her and says "Oh it's one of THESE Parties" and he rips off his shell.

Merlin Olsen (1940 - 2010)

Merlin Jay Olsen (September 15, 1940 – March 11, 2010)

Today is a sad day for Rams fans. HOFer Merlin Olsen (Age 69) passed away due to mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer often related to exposure to asbestos. He played with the Los Angeles Rams from 1962 - 1976 he was enshrined into the National Football League's Hall of Fame in 1982.

Olsen played left tackle in the Rams' legendary front four nicknamed "The Fearsome Foursome", with David "Deacon" Jones at left end, Roosevelt "Rosey" Grier at right tackle and Lamar Lundy at right end. Jones, who lined up to Mr. Olsen's left, coined the term "sack" to describe tackling the opposing quarterback behind the line of scrimmage. Olsen is the second member of the Fearsome Foursome to pass away, Lundy passed away on February 24 2007 at the age of 71.

Fearsome Foursome: (L to R): Lamar Lundy, Rosey Grier, Merlin Olsen and Deacon Jones

Merlin was also known for his acting in television roles for "Little House on The Prairie" and "Father Murphy" . Teammate Lundy also did some acting he portrayed the boulder-hurling cyclops in the (previously) unaired pilot of Lost in Space (this pilot was later made into episode 4 of the series, entitled "There Were Giants in the Earth").

Lamar Lundy as the Cyclops Monster in "Lost in Space".

Stuper Bowled 44

Coming Sunday it's the annual NFL Budweiser Clydesdale Commercial Celebration with a football game. Wait that's not right, OH yeah it's the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue? Um the revival of Rock 'n' Rollergames? Oh that's right the SUPER BOWL. The Indianapolis Colts vs. The New Orleans Saints. It's the first time for the Saints to the big show, and the umpty umpth for the Colts.

So what commercial will everybody be talking about on Monday morning 8 February 2010? I don't know and I don't really care. I will of course watch the game and actually pay attention to the commercials, except for when I really really gotta go to the head.

Sometimes I take pride in the fact that I am as old as the Super Bowl, but since Super Bowl XL that pride has fallen by the wayside along with my youth and my excellent health. Just call me Middle-Aged Man!

The first Super Bowl I recall watching or being interested in was SB VII (7) The Washington Redskins were the favored team, even though the AFC Miami Dolphins had an undefeated season, and ended up winning 14-7. It was a major disappointment. It was also disappointing because my fave quarterback Sonny Jurgensen didn't play because of a leg injury he had during the season. I recall my brother used to (and probably still does somewhere) have a joke book that had photos of the Redskins season that year with cartoon "thought" balloons. One of the pictures was of Sonny on the sidelines on Crutches. I forget what the saying was. I don't have many clear memories of the actual game, like so many other games though the years. The Skins did have revenge 10 years later in SB XVII. My fave Super Bowl though is XXII when the Skins beat the tar out of the Broncos 42-10. That was the best 2nd quarter of any Super Bowl I've seen, and as I said the first one I saw was number 7 and I've seen every one ever since. I've been bored with some of them especially during the 1990s but the last few have been exciting. For a few years there the commercials were more exciting than the game.

I do have some vague memories of a commercial campaign around that time for Noxzema cleansing cream. One of the Super Bowl commercials from back then was with Joe Namath and a the Noxzema girl who was a then unkown Farrah Fawcett. I recall she used to sing the jingle part of which went "Let Noxzema cream your face.." something something "it can't be beat"

Joe Namath and Farrah Fawcett from Noxzema shoot.

If I recall correctly at the end of that commercial with Joe and Farrah she smacks him in the face with a handful of the stuff. see it on youtube OK so maybe the last part of my quote isn't right.

Anyway a classic Super Bowl commercial is the famous Coke commercial with Joe Greene and a kid, where the kid gives "mean Joe" his Coke and Joe gives the kid the sweaty jersey from his back. My faves have always been the Budweiser Clydesdale commercials. One of the best I think is the one where the horses are playing football and you see a zebra "reviewing" the last play, two cowboys are standing against a fence, one of them says "That referee is a jack-ass" the other one says "Nope I believe that is a Zebra".

Zebra Referee Commercial

Remember during the 80s, if you were alive then, the Bud Bowl commercials? It was one of the first concept "mock Super Bowl" commercials where they pitted regular Budweiser Bottles up against Bud Light, the bottles had on little helmets instead of bottle caps, I think they were stop motion type animation. Pretty silly but they had them for a few years until people got sick of them. I think they are much better than the "Waaazz UP?" or that STUPID E*Trade talking baby. UGH I can't stand those things.

There have been some side line gimmicks that feed off the success of the Super Bowl. The Puppy Bowl, Various Half-Time Specials like the "In Living Color" Live Half-Time Special one year and more recently the Lingerie Bowl. The LB is apparently a real thing though as there is a real Lingerie Football League. I think it started as a joke, but got such a super reaction it became a reality. CSI:NY a couple of weeks ago had an episode that featured the LFL the story centered around the death of a quarterback for the NY team that was found dead floating in the whirl-pool sauna. I've never really watched any of a Lingerie Bowl, or a LFL game if those are real.


Anyway with the game I hope the Saints win because I always think its cool when a team that has never been before beats a more established team.

Mabye I'll cheer to see more of this:

YES! A Win!

OK so the NFL season is about 1/2 over and a first win at this time of the season isn't great, but at least it is a start to something good. It boosts confidence for a team. I am talking about the St. Louis Rams 17-10 win over the Detroit Lions.

The rams end a 17 game losing streak, and last season they were only 2-14.

So guys you can take off the bags.

Most of last season and this season things have looked pretty much like this. The rest of the NFL chasing down the Rams and knocking them down.


Yeah the look on Lions Coach Jim Schwartz's face is the face Rams fans have had all season long, and most of last season.


Now for the last couple of weeks Redskins fans have been annoyed at their team during their losing streak, and are so ashamed of them attendance for home games are down, and people are making jokes like "How do you keep the Redskins out of your yard? Put up a goal post" One fan a few weeks back was so upset they created this new logo for the Skins:

I was tempted to try and make a similar one for the rams, and while writing this post up decided I'd give it a try. So here is my quick attempt at a Rams-Shame Logo, it's not terribly good, but it ain't too bad:



Photos of Rams vs. Lions game from Getty Images from Yahoo Sports.