Super Bowl 2014 Reflections

I don’t normally pay attention to sports. I might check out the front of a sports section in a newspaper or watch a game while exercising at the gym or while eating at a restaurant, but I rarely sit down on my own to watch a team play. I make an exception for the big game that happens at the end of the American football season. This year’s game was less disappointing than the last, but at least the accompanying entertainment made watching the game live worthwhile.

The actual performance on the field was comical in how much went wrong. The commentary indicated that the Denver Broncos had the strongest offense in the league, and the Seattle Seahawks had the strongest defense. To my surprise, and Broncos quarterback Manning’s as I noted during the replay, the first score was a safety because the Broncos snapped the ball wrong and recovered it in their own end zone. The Broncos did not even score once during the first half of the game, and to add insult to injury the Seahawks returned the second half kickoff for a touchdown. If you don’t follow the sport, just know that the Seattle team scored multiple times and only let Denver score once in the game that was supposed to be the best teams in the league facing off at the end of the season. Since San Francisco was already eliminated from the playoffs, I just wanted to see a competitive game, but instead I got a blowout victory with teams I don’t follow.

Besides the events on the playing field, the big game attractions were okay. The halftime show was Bruno Mars doing a medley with a cameo from the Red Hot Chili Peppers. I liked Mars’ pop medley more than Beyonce’s show last year, and Mars’ demonstration of his dance moves sold his versatility as a performance. Some of the commercials made me smile, but I still won’t drink Bud Light because of them. The best one was the Toyota commercial only because the Muppets were in it, and that made me think of their upcoming movie rather than the car being endorsed. Runner-ups included a Radio Shack commercial with multiple ’80s references and Colbert’s disturbing endorsement of pistachios. Check them out for yourself and see if they justify a purchase to you.

While the big game was not as exciting as last year, I still had fun watching at the party I attended. With the season over, it will be another six months before American football comes back to the screen. I might not be paying attention during the regular scheduled play, but I will come back to see if the next Super Bowl is more entertaining and competitive than the last. I guess the bar’s set pretty low, but I’m hoping for the best.