Superbowl XLIII Was Fantastic on Every Level

This year's Superbowl on NBC was completely awesome and had something for everyone. Even the most Football-Phobic person on earth could have enjoyed this show, as it started with a salute to the heroic crew of the US Air flight that landed safely on the Hudson, including pilot, "Sully" and all the flight attendants. The coin toss was from a military hero (General Petraeus) and the national anthem was sung magnificently by Oscar winner, Jennifer Hudson. I always watch for the commercials and the half time show, but even as a complete football moron, was able to get a great deal of excitement out of this extremely close game between the Cardinals and the Steelers. It was chock full of last minute cliff hangers and even a historic 100 yard play, the longest in SuperBowl history, by Pittsburgh Steelers player, James Harrison.

Springsteen and the E Street band were an absolute delight at halftime, playing a tight 12 minute set that included "10th Avenue Freeze Out", "Born to Run", "Waiting on a Dream" (from the new album) and the football themed "Glory Days". Afterwards The Boss screamed, "I'm going to Disneyland!!!" Kind of corny, but it worked for me.

Only the commercials seemed a little off...good, but not great like some of the award winners from past SuperBowl events. And by the way, has anyone noticed that Pepsi ripped off Obama's circular red, white and blue logo?

My favorite spots, as always, were the Budweiser horses; in this instance a 3 commercial story arc that included Jake the draft horse a) showing off to a dog, b) going on his first date and c) recalling the story of his grandfather who was, apparently an immigrant from Scotland! And if you've missed any of the commercials or would like to see them all again, MySpace has kindly posted them all on their homepage for your convenience. That's where I got this lovely copy of the Clydesdale horse chasing a stick below.

"Clydesdales/Stick" (Budweiser)