The Super Bowl: The Day After UPDATED

Remember the days when you watched the Super Bowl for the commercials as much as you did for the game?

It was all about the cola wars and what Nike would do next.

Clearly, those days are long gone…

Last night’s crop of ads were probably the weakest I’ve ever seen. You’d think if you were going to spend all that money, you’d put together something good.

Here are the ones that stood out for me…

Doritos had a strong outing with two commercials featuring a magic snow globe that worked its magic when people threw it at stuff. The second spot featured a man getting great things every time he ate a Dorito, until he got hit by a bus…

Bud Light seemed to be all about violence, while Budweiser went touchy-feely with the Clydesdales. However, Bud Light did have a decent one with Conan O’Brien doing a strange commercial he thought would only air in Sweden. The Budweiser Clydesdale ads were a little hit-or-miss, though. I liked the go fetch and circus love ads, but why does a third-generation Clydesdale born in America have an Irish accent?...

And Pepsi’s big idea was to compare will.i.am to Bob Dylan?...

Priceline produced a funny one with William Shatner coaching a man on how to talk to his wife and the man imitating Shatner’s speech pattern…

Denny’s Super Bowl debut was a good one as mobsters’ revenge plans were interrupted by a waitress decorating pancakes. But this one also stood out for me because of the free Grand Slam Breakfast they’re giving to everyone Tuesday and we have no Denny’s near here to take advantage of it…

The Hulu commercial was going well until that whole alien thing. Although hearing Alec Baldwin say, “We’re aliens and that’s how we roll” was kind of funny…

I always love MacGruber on “Saturday Night Live” so it was cool to see him in a Pepsi commercial, especially with the real “MacGyver” Richard Dean Anderson. But as much as I hate to admit it, the best cola ad featured Steeler Troy Polamolu spoofing the classic Mean Joe Greene ad for Coke Zero…

So which ad was my favorite? I’d have to go with the E*Trade spot with the baby’s friend singing “Broken Wings.” I have no idea why, I just thought it was cute. Check it out for yourself here.



By the way, the winner of the annual “USA Today Ad-Meter,” which is the standard by which the Super Bowl commercials are measured was the Doritos snow globe spot, which was actually created by a pair of amateurs from Indiana who won a Doritos online contest. You can see it here. My favorite didn't even make the top 10...



But in all honesty, the best ads were actually NBC Universal promos. I loved the “Heroes” promo where they were playing football and John Elway turned out to be a hero. And the USA characters ad was funny and beautifully done. You can see the “Heroes” promo here.



If only NBC’s shows were as good as the promos…

And speaking of NBC, I should say a word or two about their coverage of the game. I have to admit that the only part of the pre-game I saw was Matt Lauer’s interview with President Obama, which despite technical difficulties was quite good (Still can’t believe President Obama mentioned Jessica Simpson pushing him off the “US” cover. That was funny!).

But based on what I saw, and the halftime and postgame shows I have to ask a very important question: Are NINE EMMYS not enough for you people? Apparently, Cris Collinsworth was not enough of an analyst so they had to invite an entire fleet of people to join them. Mike Holmgren and Tony Dungy I could almost see—although they were completely unnecessary—but MATT MILLEN?! This is the guy that helped a team go 0-16 for the first time in league history and we’re supposed to believe he knows what he’s talking about?! Seriously?!

If Collinsworth doesn’t win his ninth analyst Emmy in a row, I’m totally blaming NBC…

As for the game itself, I thought the coverage was solid and regardless of what the “Wall Street Journal” might have said, John Madden hasn’t lost it…

But I don’t think I have to tell you that I was not thrilled about how the game itself came out. I am a Bengals fan after all…

So what did you guys think? About the game? About the commercials? About the fact that NBC apparently forgot their hair colorist in New York because Bob Costas, Dan Patrick and Cris Collinsworth were all showing their gray?...

Discuss…

By the way, you can see all of the Super Bowl ads at Hulu.com…

UPDATE: I just realized I didn't say anything about the Halftime Show, which I thought was very solid although I would've liked it better if Bruce and the gang would've ended with "Workin' On a Dream" rather than bringing out that lame ref to signal the end of the show. With the gospel choir and the candles, "Dream" would have been much more inspirational. I also loved it that Max Weinberg brought most of the Max Weinberg Seven for the show...