Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Super Bowl Let Down

My prediction was somewhat correct, I predicted the Saints would top the Colts by a fourth-quarter field goal, final score 24-21. That was wrong; the Saints beat the Colts 31-17! It was an exciting game and for someone who's fallen asleep during past games, this one was exciting.

In fact, in my opinion, the game was the best part of the whole experience. The half-time show performers were well into the second half of their lives. The light show was entertaining, but the rest of their performance left me with a desire to watch CSI.

The commercials -- ahh, yes, the commercials -- always a highlight were, sad to say, very disappointing this year. Rather than hilarity and out-of-the-box thinking, I got mediocre man bashing. Hey, if I want to be made fun of because I'm a man, all I have to do is drive around with the Garmin on. The little lady does everything but slap me upside the head and call me an idiot. One day I will "recalculate" her! But I digress.

Yes, I thought the first Bud Light commercial showed promise with its remodeled home done as an Extreme Makeover in Bud Light style. The prospect of drinking myself out of house and home is kind of appealing, but the last image with the shower was appalling.

It went downhill from there. Casual Friday from CareerBuilder really crossed the line with the underwear images now burned into my brain. Bud Light struck again with the concept that men will only read a book and discuss it in exchange for a beer. (I will read and discuss a book for much less.)

The phrasing showed promise with, "Guys can cry," "Man's last stand," "Get a spine," and "Men, it's time to wear the pants." However, each phrase only dug deeper at the whole guy-bashing concept. Guys can cry only because they are eating a jalapeno chicken sandwich; men will stand anything in order to drive a Charger; men need to get a spine or they have to go shopping with their wife and miss football (I couldn't figure out who the audience was for this last one, since we are all watching football to watch a commercial about men not watching football); and, finally, men need to wear pants or they will be seen on national TV running around in their underwear.

In fact, even da Bears got in on the underwear kick with the leopard-print-thong thing. With all the underwear shots, I felt as if I was back in third grade and reading The Adventures of Captain Underpants in the coat room.

With an estimated 103 million people watching, America's businesses put forth their best effort -- old people in underwear. I think America would be better off if these advertisers gave their Super Bowl commercial budgets to the government to reduce the national deficit.

Maybe it's time for men to be seen as men -- not some pitiful, ad agency mockery of a man -- but a man who calls a sin, a "sin"; a man who works hard to provide for the needs of his family; a man who dares to show emotion; a man who demonstrates a life built on biblical principles; a man who will love his wife; a man who can change the world; a man who thinks for himself and isn't influenced by incomplete science, bad taste, or lousy commercials.

I will reject the TV hype and be a man, will you?

3 comments :

Mike said...

I thought that the Pro-Life ad was too middle of the road. If you didn't know the history of the ad, you might think she was talking about that he was sickly as a child. The tackling thing was too much and made the ad ridiculous. I agree that this year's ads were a waste of money that could have been spent helping people.

The Layman said...

In my local newspaper I am known as a "Bible Thumper." Twenty-five years ago I used to think a thumper was an extremist who could only preach Hellfire and Brimstone. However with today's standards we can slip down that slippery slope just by saying something up-right and proper about Christianity,even if it hurts the feelings of the vocal live and let live society. You can stand in the crowd and look while doing nothing but social customs under the guise of political correctness are claiming all mankind must live by their own personal truth, as they find fault in Christian teaching.

Anonymous said...

I have to disagree about the game. Of course, being from Indianapolis, I didn't think the game was all that good. In fact, our tackling wasn't much to write home about. And our team just didn't look like they came to play. I kept thinking that maybe we would show up in the 4th quarter like we did most of the season. But this time we didn't. Some days are like that.

As for the commercials. I have to say that I've been disappointed in the superbowl commercials for quite a few years now. Every year there is this hipe about the upcoming commercials, and then I find that most of them really aren't very good. I think it's all about the fact that companies pay at least an arm and a leg for 30 seconds on the air, and people just assume that that means they will be really great commercials. But they aren't. Most of the time, my favorite commercial is one of those Budweiser commercials with the horses in it. I'm soft on horses. So I like them. I thought the one this year with the horse and the steer was ok. But not great. About the only one I really liked was the Snickers bar commercial with Betty White and Ab Bigota (don't know how to spell his name). That was funny.

Maybe next year will be better. But I doubt it.

I like football. I enjoy a casual Sunday afternoon watching my favorite team (when they win) on TV. But what I really like is the fact that our team (Colts), and many others seem to be more Christian and community minded than most other sports. Baskeball players seem to always show up in the police line up, and baseball players are always found to be on drugs. But NFL players are often seen helping out in the community, or getting together in a huddle before the game in prayer on the field. At least in Indy, most of the team, including the coaches and owner act like good role models. I like that.