Last night was Super Bowl 45. As Vegas predicted the Packers won a close game despite some big injuries, and Ben Rapelesberger was denied his 3rd ring in 6 years. It was a good game, and as much as I hate the Lion’s division rival, Green Bay has a loyal fan base and I’m happy for them.
Go Lions.
The stories that I walked away with though had less to do with the game and more to do with America and all her problems. Greed, self involvement, and arrogance highlighted Dallas’ Super Bowl hosting.
It starts off with Cowboy’s owner Jerry Jones and his super stadium. Jones wanted to set the Super Bowl record for attendance and ending up massively over-selling the game when the Fire Marshall refused to approve the make-shift stands that were put up for temporary seating. This initially left anywhere from 6000-9000 people with tickets to a game that wouldn’t house them. These are people who took off work, spent ridiculous amounts of money on travel, hotels, and the biggest ticket of the year, only to be stopped at the door. The Cowboy’s stadium staff scrambled and found place to seat most of the unhappy crowd, but there were still several hundred fans that were forced to accept a triple refund voucher and watch the game on a monitor somewhere. If that were my beloved Lions in said Super Bowl, a refund voucher would not satisfy me. Jerry Jones arrogance in overselling the game cost a lot of fans what should’ve been the night of their life. The NFL’s greed, sucking every dime they can out of their fan base to create a spectacle that is this game every year is disgraceful. Do you think the “Black Eyed Peas” were chosen because they appeal to the average football fan? Doubtful.
Then you have the utter disgrace that was Christina Aguilera…
…butchering the National Anthem.
What an embarrassment. Broadcast in over 200 other countries, you don’t even need to know the song to know she screwed up. Too self involved in trying to make the song her own, she flubs it not once, but twice. To whom ever sings it next year, they should be made to watch the video of Whitney Houston singing it at the 1991 Super Bowl, or of Marvin Gaye in 1983 at the NBA All-Star Game, as they have yet to be matched.
Truth is Christina had months to prepare, and if she wasn’t so busy trying to put her own spin on it, she probably wouldn’t have screwed it up. We know she knows the song, she performed it many times. This is simply not being prepared. Hell even Jerry Stackhouse knows the words…
Anyhow, aside from the seating and anthem, we had one of the most disappointing years for commercials in recent memory. We did however get glimpses at some of the upcoming movies for this summer. TRANFORMERS 3 look terrible, THOR and COWBOYS & ALIENS both should be watchable, and SUPER 8 is still a wait and see. But the one we were all waiting for was a look at Captain America. It was just a mere 33 seconds, but we got a glimpse…
And finally there was one more in particular that I loved. And based on how quickly my phone blew up after it aired I’d say those who know me best know exactly which one I’m talking about. DETROIT BABY!
Now I’m not a huge Eminem fan, but this was excellent. Detroit gets enough bad pub nationally that it’s nice to see something like this.
KEEP DETROIT BEAUTIFUL.