2008 Super Bowl Ads

Agree? Disagree? Let me know what you think in the comments, and tell me how you’d rank them.

The absence of Emerald Nuts commercials made me very, very sad.

FIRST QUARTER

Bud Light Fire (7/10)- Mildly amusing, but not on par with some of the ads they’ve run in previous years. Still, I chuckled. One of the better ones of the night.

Audi (8/10)- The Godfather spoof was sheer brilliance.

Diet Pepsi Max (7/10)- It started poorly, but ended well. They just couldn’t resist throwing in some gratuitious violence.

Sales Genie (0/10)- Not funny. Not convincing. In fact, it made me dislike Sales Genie. Subpar even for late night television. Horrific for the Super Bowl.

Bud Light Cheese (5/10)- Again, mildly amusing. But more what I’d expect during the second round of the Buick Open, not the Super Bowl.

Under Armour (5/10)- They tried a little too hard to get the goosebumps. Didn’t really work. Decent, but overstated.

Bridgeston (6/10)- Kinda funny, but nothing special.

SECOND QUARTER

Gatorade G2 (3/10)- Lame effort for the Super Bowl, fellas.

GoDaddy (0/10)- In poor taste, as usual.

Dell XPS (3/10)- The idea is to get me to want to own an XPS. I don’t.

FedEx (6/10)- Fairly good. Nothing special, but above average for this year.

Cars.com (7/10)- For some reason this one had me laughing. Stupid, but funny.

Tide (4/10)- Um. Weird.

Budweiser (5/10)- Eh. Apparently it’s a spoof on something. Not really that good.

Toyota (6/10)- Again, decent, but not Super Bowl quality. This is a commercial you’d expect to see during the regular season.

Garmin (4/10)- Not as funny as it was trying to be.

CareerBuilder.com (8/10)- Creative. Funny. Well done.

LifeWater (1/10)- Unnnnnnnngh.

GMC (4/10)- Watching the little black guy pushing a rock up a hill got a bit tedious after, oh, maybe two seconds.

Bud Light (8/10)- Funny mainly because it built off last year’s.

Planter’s Nuts (5/10)- Aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh.

T-Mobile (7/10)- A bit odd, but amusing. Built off a running joke they’ve been using for quite a while nowl.

Pepsi (10/10)- Seeing Justin Timberlake getting beat up was one of the highlights of the evening.

Doritos (3/10)- Did I miss something?

THIRD QUARTER

Claritin (2/10)- Um. You spent millions of dollars for…this?

Cars.com (9/10)- Probably one of the best of the night. Like the first one, except funnier.

Sales Genie (0/10)- Like the first one, except even worst.

Vitamin Water (6/10)- I like Vitamin Water. Their commercials…not so much.

Budweiser Cavemen (5/10)- Drop the cavemen motif already. Please.

IceCubes (4/10)- If you share our gum with Carmen Electra, she’ll say “Whoa”. Yeah, fantastic.

Bridgestone (4/10)- Same theme as the first, not half as funny.

CareerBuilder.com (6/10)- Kinda funny. Not memorable.

Hyundai (5/10)- Sorry folks. Simpler is not always better.

E*Trade (9/10)- Talking baby + Creepy clown = Superb.

Bud Light (7/10)- Similar to the first one. Again, gratuitous violence. But still amusing.

Sunsilk (5/10)- Eh.

Coca Cola (7/10)- Rather odd, but still mildly effective.

FOURTH QUARTER

Classic Coke (9/10)- Great commercial with Carville and Frist. You have to follow politics a bit to get it, but it was brilliant.

Toyota (6/10)- Fairly unexceptional, all in all.

E*Trade (9/10)- Same formula as the first, every bit as funny.

Taco Bell (6/10)- My biased hatred of Taco Bell food is probably skewing this one, but I thought it was a pretty lame ad.

Gatorade G2 (7/10)- Still not a great ad, but I liked this one a lot more than their first one.

Bud Light (10/10)- Will Ferrell at his finest. Really, really funny. Best commercial of the Super Bowl. “A magical blend of barley, hopps, and delicious alcohol.”

Hyundai (7/10)- I liked this one a lot more. Simple, but this time effective.

Victoria’s Secret (7/10)- I’m not sure this is the best commercial for the target audience, but I’m guessing most guys were watching intently.

Amp Energy (6/10)- Some people liked it. Me, not so much. Not the worst ad of the year.

Super Bowl Wrap

Well, well. So there you have it. 18-1*

That great gust of air you felt was the football world letting out a sigh of relief. There still is karma. And it’s a beautiful thing. For the third year in a row, Tom Brady cracked when it really counted. I’ve been saying it all year; they don’t give out Lombardis during the regular season. I’m pretty sure everyone on the Patriots team would gladly trade a couple of their regular season wins for one last night. Suddenly, beating the Redskins by fifty points doesn’t feel all that special, does it?

I’m officially ready to say that Eli Manning has grown up. He’s been legit since week 17, and that go-ahead touchdown drive at the end was the stuff of legends, as was the spectacular David Tyree catch. That play will cement itself as one of the greatest in Super Bowl history when it’s all said and done. Manning made a Houdini-like escape from the clutches of Jarvis Green, backed up, and heaved it thirty yards downfield where Tyree leaped above Rodney Harrison and barely managed to trap it against his helmet before getting a better grip on it as he fell to the ground.

The officiating for the game was excellent. There were a few questionable calls (and non-calls), but I don’t think anyone can say that they really impacted the game.

If there’s one thing this Super Bowl accomplished, maybe it will be that teams will stop kissing up to their opponents and finally have the guts to say what they actually think. Of course everyone thinks their going to win every game. So why not say so? Why pretend like you have all sorts of respect for your opponent when you don’t? Call it like you see it. Really, if you need the other team to predict a win to get motivated, then you need to hang up the cleats.

*- Lost to Eli Manning

Super Bowl Pick

Patriots 24, Giants 14

The Patriots will get off to a quick start. Possibly 14-0. The Giants will wake up late in the second half to make it 14-17, then it will be a long boring stretch with the Patriots putting the final nail in the coffin with a few minutes left in the game.