Superbowl Musings

By pure chance, my visit to the US coincided with that totally American event, the Superbowl. I won't bore you will details of the game, except to say it was exciting to the finish. I'm happy for Steve that the Steelers won. Here are my Superbowl musings in bullet form.

• The game started at 5:30pm here in Houston, but NBC started coverage in the morning. They certainly milked the event to the extreme, having characters from its various lame sitcoms introduce segments throughout the day. They all looked very uncomfortable. This really reinforced what I hate about TV.
  
• I attended a "Superbowl party" held by one of my brother's friends. I was hoping to get out of it, but they called early in the day to say they had bought "veggie meatballs" especially for me. So I was trapped. Actually, it was very nice. The crowd watched the game and the commercials and there was very little cross talk. I usually find these TV watching events difficult because I like to focus on the screen and get very annoyed by those that do not. They did have excellent snacks. America definitely dominates the world in snack foods. They even had my favorite Costco Party Mix (it's like mainlining MSG).
  
• President Obama was interviewed earlier in the afternoon. I thought he did an excellent job. The dude is completely natural and friendly. I could see him fitting in easily at one of our Friday night dinners. He would have no trouble shooing Sid and Nancy off the couch so he could have a place to sit. I sincerely hope he can deliver, because the US certainly needs some direction.
  
• The amount of Pomp and Circumstance in the the Pre-Game Show was unbelievable. Such patriotism. It's very hard not to be completely cynical. They had "heroes" (the flight crew of the US Air plane that landed in the Hudson), they had "warriors (General Patreas, was head of coaliition forces in Iraq, he is short), they had "queens" (Faith Hill, Blond C+W star who sang America The Beautiful, she's not a dog), they had the "overcoming of tragedy" (Jennifer Hudson, American Idol star who's mother, brother and nephew were murdered in October) and then at half-time they had "the boss" (Springsteen really can rock for a geriatric). This was a most American display.
  
• The Superbowl heralds the unveiling of new commercials. This year's seemed less innovative than what I have seen in the past. I was surprised I only noticed two "green" commercials, both by GE. Bridgestone tires had some clever ads. The dismal economy was mentioned a few times, mostly by job placement firms (careerbuilder.com and monster.com). There seems an overall obsession with the transition from how things were (in the good old days) to the present (Pepsi's Bob Dylan and Will.i.am commercial and the incomprehensible Coke Zero remake of Franco Harris' classic).
  
• Denny' is treating America to a free breakfast Tuesday morning. That should be interesting.

In all I lucked out at being able to spectate at this great American tradition. It's been years since I have seen a Superbowl. Nothing much has changed except the TV's have become flatter. The veggie meatballs were O.K. I guess, a little salty but edible.