It seems that everyone, except perhaps Patriot fans, found something to hate about the Super Bowl.
The New York Times Kevin Draper wrote, “It was the lowest scoring Super Bowl ever, a universally agreed upon snooze-fest. The halftime show was forgettable. The commercials were tame.” And that was one of the kinder reviews!
I must be out of sync with, well, everyone because I enjoyed the Super Bowl.
There, I said it, and thus I have opened the door for critics and haters who will argue that I; A) know nothing about football; B) couldn’t tell Maroon 5 from the Jackson 5; C) am ignorant about marketing (the commercials).
First, I appreciate that television and radio produce hours of pregame coverage. The Super Bowl is one of, if not THE biggest sports story of the year, so is there really any such thing as too much coverage?
Also, as a person involved in nine hours of WVU football game day programming, I can identify with day-long coverage.
Second, the game is being panned as boring. I admit the first half was a snoozer, but what we had was a tight game that came down to the wire.
The tension rose in the second half as it became apparent that one or two big plays could make the difference, and it did when Tom Brady connected with Rob Gronkowski on a 29-yard catch to set up the go-ahead touchdown.
And while I love offense and scoring, can we not appreciate excellent defense? Have we become so obsessed with video game-like numbers that we have lost the ability to enjoy the Patriots zero coverage blitz that forced Rams quarterback Jared Goff into a game-changing interception?
The halftime show is being panned by many critics as lame. I do know who Maroon 5 is, although I did have to brush up on Travis Scott and Big Boi Even if the music is not necessarily to my tastes, I am always amazed that a crew can do all the necessary set up for a major concert in minutes, and then tear it down in time for the second half.
The halftime show will always get a pass from me because just pulling it off is a technical marvel.
Who’s with me on celebrating that a half-pint 7th round draft pick from Kent State was the game MVP? The game didn’t have much scoring, but what’s more exciting: Watching a running back dive in the end zone from two yards out or seeing the replays of the bearded, hyper-twitchy Julian Edelman leaving defenders frozen in their tracks?
As for the commercials, come on. Tell the truth. You avoided going to the bathroom during the breaks so you could watch them! And then you talked about them with your friends Monday morning—which ones you liked, which ones you didn’t like. The ad that combined a pitch for Bud Light AND Game of Thrones may have started a new trend in piggyback marketing.
And finally, there is Tom Brady. Years from now when you are watching Super Bowl LXXXI (81) with youngsters and the announcer harkens back to when Brady won his record-setting sixth Super Bowl, you’ll be able to say, “I watched that Super Bowl…and it was epic!”