Sunday, February 01, 2009

My Heart Was In Phoenix

by Wilfred Bereswill

Okay, I’m just back from watching one exciting Superbowl. Superbowl XLIII wound up being one of the most exciting games I can remember. And I guess a hearty congratulations goes out to many of you Working Stiff contributors and readers from the Pittsburgh area.

Honestly, being from St. Louis, past home of the Cardinals, the game reminded me of the old team that used to be here many years ago, the Cardiac Cards. The Cardiac Cards, a team famous for pulling out last minute victories or blowing a lead at the last minute. At that time, a quarterback named Jim Hart lead a squad that would make your heart race and then break in all at the same time.

What made the game even more special for us here in St. Louis was the Cinderella Story of Kurt Warner. I think I can speak for most of St. Louis that we were pulling for him to be the first quarterback to lead two different teams to a superbowl victory. Kurt Warner was down to working in a supermarket and playing arena football when the St. Louis Rams took a flyer on him as a back-up quarterback to Trent Green. Green went down to injury and Kurt Warner never looked back. He is a special man.

With 2 minutes left in the game, this blog read completely differently. The Cardinals made a miraculous comeback take the lead. A great punt led to a safety and then a touchdown and suddenly, there were just over two minutes in the game and the Cardinals had taken the lead. You could say the Cardinal defense let them down or you can give props to the Pittsburgh Offense for not backing down, or you can say that fate was smiling upon the Steelers. (Some in the room I was in felt that the bulk of the officials hailed from the greater Pittsburgh area.)

Regardless, the Lombardi Trophy will find a home in Pittsburgh and a bunch of guys will be sporting expensive new rings. Once again, Congratulations to the Pittsburgh Steelers.



So what about the commercials? For the past 17 years I’ve been more enamored about the Superbowl commercials than the game. This year, not so much. Being an ex-Anheuser-Busch employee, I was always proud to watch the commercials. I did notice 3 Clydesdale commercials, but didn’t particularly like them much. Doritos had a few funny ones. GoDaddy went sexually provocative as usual. Pepsi? Ehhh! Coke zero had a good takeoff of the old Mean Joe Green commercial. Dorito’s crystal ball was funny.

For a refresher, you can watch them on Hulu.

We’ll have to wait till morning for the Ad Meter official results to be posted in the USA Today, but I’ll go out on a limb and say that A-B will come out on top. So what do you think? Chime in and let me know what you think.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sorry, Will, I didn't watch the game, so I missed the commercials and the Boss as well. I knew the Steelers won, though, when folks began honking and hollering outside, an activity they kept up most of the night, interspersed with the intermittent wail of sirens. I think I must be the only non-sports fan in the 'Burgh. For the last several weeks, our local news has been all Steelers, all the time. Even last evening, when I found a newscast, they were covering the game!@ Didn't they think maybe people who were interested in the Superbowl would have been watching the Superbowl???

Annette said...

Sorry about your Cards, but they played a helluva game. No shame there. However, being a Steelers fan, I'm over the moon this morning.

I have to admit I thought the commercials were a huge disappointment. Coke probably had the best ones overall.

Joyce Tremel said...

Will, if you ever make it to Pittsburgh, you're likely to get tarred and feathered.

I'm not a football fan, but I did watch the game--it was a good one. I thought the half-time show was one of the better ones.

I wasn't too impressed with the commercials, though. Most of them were just plain stupid. I love the Clydesdales, but even their spots fell kind of flat. Maybe they're not thrilled with the takeover, either.

Anonymous said...

I thought the clydesdale ad with the male looking for the female was cute. What it had to do with drink beer isn't clear, but then what did the bugs drinking coke have to do with humans consuming it. Yeck to it all, but fun and pretty to watch.
When I sit down to sport events, I tend to have every notice, newspaper article and ads received in the mail there to get me through the boredom. I really had saved up a lot, because I did say at the end, Who won? The guys in yellow? And who were they again.
No wonder nobody invites me to a Superbowl party.
Patg