RESULTS Superbowl Humiliation

The original prognosticatory post, here.

So that was Superbowl XLI, an emphatic MEH! from me is all you'll get.

Rex Grossman was disappointingly the Bizarro Rex Grossman in the second half (or is that the real Rex Grossman, and the Rex Grossman who plays well the Bizarro Rex Grossman?).

Congratulations to Indianapolis, I ain't going to mention the silliness about certain biographical peculiarities regarding the two head coaches, cause that whole line of commentary has been ridiculously overblown. But I will link this Ed Driscoll piece touching on that (tangentially), cause I think he makes some good points.

I was satisfactorily incorrect regarding the outcome of this game.

I won't be moving to Las Vegas and wagering real money on the NFL's 2007 season, that's for sure (go Saints!!!, I'm moving up my 2010 prediction to 2008, Superbowl XLII, Saints 45 Titans 34)

As far as the specific wagers I pretended to make, here's the breakdown;

Billy Joel, Under 1m44s WRONG, I'm not going to bother to check whether I was right or wrong on this one, officially (BODOG doesn't give links to results, if I'd known that, I'd have gone somewhere else to find crazy bets to fake bet). I'm assuming it was over, it seemed eternal, his performance of the anthem. Breaking out the piano is what did me in on this pick, I expected him to go a capella. The (seemingly obligatory) flyby lost some of its impact given the weather conditions. $125 lost

First Challenge, Indianapolis CORRECT, Dungy threw the red flag first, so that's one for me $215 collected ($115 wager + $100 won)

Longest Punt Return, Indianapolis CORRECT, As I predicted, they kicked away from Hester consistently (plus the Colts barely punted in this game, they were too busy scoring), Chicago's only return 3 yards, Indianapolis' longest return 18 yards. $230 collected ($100 wager + $130 won)

Chicago Will Score in Every Quarter WRONG, Oh well, they scored in every odd quarter, does that count for something? $100 lost

Chicago -10.5 WRONG (and then some). Chicago's crappiness on offense killed the ability of Chicago's defense to stop Indianapolis' onslaught. Time of possession was grossly lopsided, and a defense can not stay on field for such long stretches and be expected to succeed. Of course, the vaunted Chicago defense didn't help themselves as they allowed some 3rd and long conversions that would have ended drives. But twice in the game there were turnovers on consecutive plays (Indy turned over the ball, only to have Chicago give it right back up on the very next play from scrimmage). That's got to be demoralizing, and when you consider that Indianapolis spent nearly the entire game in the scoring half of the field and the Chicago offense handed the ball over 4 times in the game, you have to consider the 29 points allowed to be an incredible display of defensive prowess. Had Chicago capitalized on their shocking opening kick off return and had done some more damage in the 1st quarter, the rest of the game might have played differently. But there were too many passes thrown up for grabs by Grossman, and on top of that he botched the snap twice on consecutive plays that utterly destroyed a promising drive in the 3rd quarter. It was raining, yes, but Manning was dealing with the same wet ball, and he managed to settle down after throwing an early pick. In summary, grrrr, arrgggghhh!!! $500 lost

So out of that imaginary $1040 wager, I still managed to keep $445 for a total loss of $555. Last time I (imaginarily) bet on Billy Joel (or for a Rex Grossman QB'd team, unless he gets a brain transplant like the one Brett Favre underwent when he was traded from Atlanta to Green Bay).

As far as a commercials post, they mostly sucked. Nothing that impressive, certainly no acid-tripping Busby Berkeley inspired BK madness, this time around. So I think I'll forgo that particular aspect of Superbowl recapping, other than to agree with all the folks telling this overwrought idiot to take a chill pill.

Too many of the commercials explored territory already explored. The FedEx ad, was the same add as the funnier Dinosaur/Cavemen ad from last year, but in space, and the Bud ad with the Boxer/Pitbull mix dreaming dreams of Dalmatian-hood was a rip-off on their Clydesdale wannabe donkey. The Sierra Mist ads were less funny, and the Snickers man-kiss add was also not shocking, not funny, just kind of lame. The Career Builder ads were cinematic, but overdone. I did like the new series of Toyota Tundra truck ads, those were some impressive stunts. So I'm not bothering with the screen-caps as there was nothing visually arresting or particularly caption worthy in any of the ads (I might have been able to think of something for the Coke ads, which were good, but they've been showing those in movie theatres for months, so they've lost any possible impact for me).

As far as Prince, I thought he was fantastic, but I can understand those who thought otherwise. The Purple One is a true showman, though, and a fantastic guitarist, and if a man can't hump his guitar suggestively while playing Purple Rain, when can he? And those dancers in their stiletto heels on the rain-soaked stage, I'm truly impressed that neither of them took a tumble.

OK, A couple screen shot, just to show off my **HD**-ness (on a separate post, for my own ease).