Super Bowl XLV: Well, at Least the Game was Good

Super Bowl XLV has come and gone, with the Green Bay Packers defeating the Pittsburgh Steelers 31-25. The game was quite exciting, with both teams having highs and lows throughout the game, and the game itself went down to the last few minutes!

Over the years, the Super Bowl has become a great big cultural spectacle and this year held true. Leading up the game, Dallas was hit by some nasty winter weather, which is not a regular happening in North Texas, that canceled many flights DFW and prevented fans from arriving early. The thaw from the cold temeratures also forced ice/snow to fall from the roof of Cowboys Stadium, causing injuries. Fans were also turned away at the doors to Cowboys Stadium (and those who weren't turned away were redirected to different areas of the stadium) because the temporary seats were not yet ready.

On game day, the musical performaces did not live up to expectations. Christina Aguilera sang one of the worst renditions of the Star-Spangled Banner and even GOT THE LYRICS WRONG; coming nowhere near the caliber of performances by Whitney Houston or Carrie Underwood, but closer to the performances of Roseanne Barr or Frank Drebin. The Halftime Show featuring the Black-Eyed Peas and a really bad Guns-N-Roses cover did not come off well, causing fans to wish they were watching Bruce Springsteen from 2009 or U2 from 2002.

The commercials were not bad, but nothing to the level of Reebok's Terry Tate-Office Linebacker, Audi's Green Police or Coca-Cola's "Mean" Joe Green. I was able to pull out one honorable mention and my top 3:

- Honorable Mention: VW and The Force: A little boy is dressed as Darth Vader trying to "use the force." His Dad came to the rescue, unlike the 2010 holiday commercials I spoke about (1:50) on Cavuto.



- Snickers 2011: Building on the success they had from last year's Betty White commercial.




- Bridgestone with the beaver: Because the driver had Bridgestone tires and was able to weave out of the way of the beaver, months later on the same route, was able to stop short in front of a large tree cut down by the beaver to block the driver from a fallen out bridge/raging river.



- And the best one was the Chevorlet/OnStar/Facebook commercial: The young man gets a goodnight kiss from his first date with a pretty young lady. As he's driving his Chevrolet home, he calls his OnStar to check his Facebook newsfeed, where he learns that his date updated her status to "Best First Date, Ever."



This commercial speaks to the power of Facebook, the impact is has on American culture and the fact that nearly 10% of the world population is on Facebook. Maybe it is also indirectly foreshadowing what will happen on Oscar night this year.