Here are the top things I learned watching the Superbowl yesterday.
1. If you want to actually watch the game and have kids, a DVR is invaluable. By the time we got home from church, the game had almost started and the kids had yet to be fed, much less snacks prepared. I recorded the game and ended up starting about an hour after it actually began. And you can pause it whenever you want. Very handy.
2. If you even have and inkling that you may be right, Challenge The Call On The Field. Sure they could have been wrong and charged with a timeout, but they weren’t and the Saints ended up with 2 points. This was the “Big One”, the last game of the year so they had nothing to lose. Life can be like this. If we just go along and be sheep never questioning or never challenging others opinions can we truly call ourselves free thinkers? It doesn’t matter how big something is, if you have a valid point, challenge it. You may be wrong but at least you are thinking for yourself and that is a beautiful thing.
3. You may never have enough chicken. Saturday night. “Yea that should be plenty” I said. “We have all this other food too.” Cut to Sunday, start the Game. First quarter nearly over. 6 year old whining because he needs more chicken. Pause game. (see #1) Thaw out more chicken to cook during halftime. When you get t0 the “yea, that should be plenty” place, think again. Not always good to second guess but always good to rethink your initial preparations, not just in food but in life.
4. Doritos has their advertising budget priorities askew. All I can say is, if you channel the $$ for even one of those superbowl ads into a decent ad agency you wouldn’t have a whole bunch of stupid commercials that seemed to be trying hard to be Budweiser but missing the mark by 3-4 thousand miles.
5. And for Budweiser… Still doing something right. Good commercials that were memorable even if they didn’t have as many big punches as in the past. They still are cranking out memorable content, and people still remember their commercials from the past 10 years. Much like us bloggers would like to achieve, things that jog memory yers in the future.
6. E-trade…Just give up already. While I am ranting about advertising, and I guess it works or they wouldn’t keep doing it, but the talking babies at the computer? Really? I don’t think they are cute or witty or anything but stupid. Sometimes you just have to know when to give up and go a different direction. Monster.com and Careerbuilder.com, take a memo. You are darn close.
7. Last advertising I promise. Gold’s Gym. Brilliant campaign. Showing “typical” superbowl party foods and the related calories and fat grams followed by “See You Tomorrow”? Brilliant! Toss is just enough guilt to be memorable and you have everyone’s family. I bet if you tracked Golds Gym membership visits today they would be up. They made me glad I went with veggie platters and chicken breast nuggets for our party. Still going to need a double kettlebell workout today.
8. Even if “Puxatawney Palomalu” says 6 more weeks of football I don’t believe it. There is no professional football until August. And the country mourns.
9. Don’t give up. We hear that all of the time. ALL of the time. Both teams yesterday played the whole game. Mistakes were made but both played the whole game. Except for one interception for a TD, it was a much closer game than I expected. The Saints were down on the scoreboard and they found a way to come back. The colts were down and found a way to come back. The Colts were down at the end of the game but were still playing like time wasn’t against them and they could get those 2 touchdowns before the end. They didn’t make it, but they didn’t give up.
10. And finally, Onside Kick to start the second half?!?!? A WTF moment that turned out to be a brilliant move. One unconventional move sent the Colts reeling and they never seemed to shake off that blow to the head. They never seemed as crisp on either side of the ball after that opening play. Something for us to learn. Sometimes a gamble or unconventional move can be just what we need to succeed.
Hope you had fun watching if you could.
Justin
