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Super Bowl XLIII: Will it be worth watching this year?
By LJ Maggie
It is that time of year. The day football fans all over the country look forward to, the Super Bowl. Some even consider it a national holiday. Families and friends gather around their televisions with snacks, and their favorite football watching faire for the 'Big Game'. Everyone watches the game for different reasons. Most men, women and children, have followed the game since pre-season started in August and have their predictions of who is going to make it to the Super Bowl in February and take the win. Many fans also watch the game for the ads, those creative and memorable commercials that have us talking around the water cooler for the next week. There is also the spectacular Half-Time Show. We all remember the year Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake performed and there was that notorious 'wardrobe malfunction'. This year there should be no wardrobe malfunctions at half time as Bridgestone will be sponsoring the mid game festivities. Bruce 'The Boss' Springsteen and the E-Street band will be performing and, though there hasn't been much word on what will be happening during half time, surely Bruce will play some of the hits we all love such as "Born in the USA." Seems like a fitting song to perform this year.
This year the Super Bowl will be different for many reasons. First NBC is the network that won the bid to air the game. NBC isn't really known for airing football as Fox, CBS and ESPN are the primary networks that are known for football. For those of us that watch the Super Bowl primarily for the ads we might be slightly disappointed. Last year we saw some great commercials, Hank the Clydesdale training like Rocky for Budweiser, Joe Buck falling asleep while Troy Aikman was talking to him for Diet Pepsi Max, Justin Timberlake getting tossed around town for Pepsi, the E-trade baby, two guys accidentally kissing for Snickers and who can forget the fire breathing man lighting the candles while on a date for Budweiser. Last year we saw a number of film trailers as well: Don't Mess with Zohan, Wanted, Iron Man, Chronicles of Narnia, Jumper, and Disney/Pixar used Woody and Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story to introduce their newest creation, Wall-E. The most fitting movie trailer of last year was for Leatherheads, the George Clooney movie about when football first started. The movie didn't do that well at the box office but we all became aware of it after the Super Bowl and being a football movie probably attracted more people to go and check it out. Fox also used players to help promote season premiers of The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Prison Break, Moment of Truth, and American Idol. This year, since there is a threat of an actor's strike all of the major networks have premiered new episodes of all of their series'. But don't expect NBC not to promote their prime time lineup. They will most likely use unbought air time to reintroduce viewers to shows such as "The Office," "My name is Earl", and of course their big hit "30 Rock", three shows that do very well for the Peacock network.
This year $3 million will buy you a 30-second slot during the big game, up from $2.7 million last year. No doubt, Audi will mostly likely come up with another gangster movie-inspired ad like "The Godfather" riff they came up with last year. Anheuser-Busch who is the Super Bowl's exclusive beer sponsor through 2012 will try to top last year's ads as they do every year. Hyundai is launching their "Hyundai Assurance" campaign during this year's Super Bowl. Even Denny's restaurant chain has decided to include the Super Bowl into their marketing campaign. It is said they purchased an ad within the last week that will be airing during the third quarter when ad time is cheaper, a 'Grand-Slam' idea. They are not revealing how much their 30-second spot cost but most likely NBC gave them a deal since it is so close to the game. All that has been said about the Denny's ad is they will be taking a riff on some of their competitors' ads. NBC has reported they had already sold 90% of their ad spots by last September, this makes one wonder: Is the economic downturn possibly nothing more than media hype and propaganda? …Who knows? Let's face it, selling 90% of ad space availability by last September is a pretty good number. Many companies see the Super Bowl as the best time to launch their new product or brand campaign. With NBC predicting one million viewers, you have to agree.
The big ad this year will be the collaboration between DreamWorks, Intel, and PepsiCo's SoBe Lifewater. Remember those lizards that danced with Naomi Campbell to Michael Jackson's "Thriller" last year for SoBe? They will be back this year for the special 90-second trailer for DreamWorks' "Monsters vs. Aliens." To watch the commercial you have to pick up special 3-D glasses at your local store where Pepsi is displayed. Other studios are following suit and taking advantage of Super Bowl ad time to promote their upcoming films. Paramount will have ads for "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen", "Star Trek," and "G.I. Joe". Sony will be showing off the highly anticipated "Angels and Demons," the prequel to "The Da Vinci Code." Universal will be promoting "Land of the Lost" and the fourth movie in the "Fast and the Furious" franchise. Fox and Warner Bros. have yet to buy any air time to promote their upcoming flicks, probably hoping to get a reduced rate as it gets closer to the big day. Fox has "Wolverine," "Night at the Museum" and yet another "Ice Age" movie. Warner Bros has "Terminator Salvation" and "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," an IMAX experience coming out this summer, as well as "Watchmen" coming out in March. Hopefully they take advantage of this opportunity to promote their films to such a big audience.
For those of us that watch the Super Bowl for the pure love of the game, it will be an interesting game to watch. Die hard fans and sports analysts made their predictions for the teams that would make it to the Super Bowl based on their roster and past seasons. Many of the teams the experts picked in September didn't even make it to the playoffs. A few of those teams predicted to make it: New England Patriots, Dallas Cowboys, Indianapolis Colts, New York Jets, and returning champs, The New York Giants. The Patriots lost their star quarterback, Tom Brady to a knee injury in the first game of the regular season. It made everyone in Boston cry because they knew their chances of making it to the Super Bowl were slim. They were right, fill in quarterback, Matt Cassel, tried to fill Tom Brady's shoes and prove fans wrong, but failed to take the New England Patriots to the playoffs. The Dallas Cowboys had a good start to the season but again had problems. They were unable to keep up their early on winning streak and started losing games in Week 4 when they lost 26-24, a tight match against the Washington Redskins. The Cowboys ended their season with an upsetting 44-6 loss against the Philadelphia Eagles. Indianapolis made it to the playoffs but were defeated by the San Diego Chargers in over time for the AFC Wild Card playoff spot. The Jets were expected to make it to the playoffs because of their new quarterback, former Green Bay Packer, Brett Favre. Things looked good for the Jets and Brett was playing some of the best football of his career, but they were defeated in week 17 by the Miami Dolphins. The New York Giants were expected to make it back to the Super Bowl after being crowned Super Bowl champs last year when they took away the crown from the New England Patriots. They failed to make it to the NFC championship playoff game when the Philadelphia Eagles took away their chance in a heartbreaking 23-11 loss. And the Giants did have their season of controversy, remember Plaxico Burress, the player that shot himself in the leg coming out of a club? That was a move that might tarnish his career but didn't bring the Giants down. As the season started, the Tennessee Titans seemingly were the pick to make it to the 'big dance', because they were winning effortlessly during the regular season. They wound up with only three losses and made it to the AFC Divisional playoffs where the Baltimore Ravens defeated them by 3 points.
On Sunday, the four teams that were up for the crown were the Arizona Cardinals and Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC and the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens in the AFC. These are four teams no one would have guessed would make it this far. They proved above all else, they are the teams that have earned the right to be in the playoffs. It was expected that the Steelers would be facing the Philadelphia Eagles. In the end, it was the Arizona Cardinals and Pittsburgh Steelers that captured the champion title of their division.
The newly crowned NFC Champions, the Arizona Cardinals have not captured an NFL title since 1947, or seen the playoffs since 1998. Arizona has never made a trip to the Super Bowl in the team's history. In last Sunday's game, Arizona had a 21-6 lead over the Philadelphia Eagles, the team most analysts and sports fans picked to take the NFC Champion spot. Arizona has had some trouble figuring out their lineup. Last year Arizona was deciding between two quarterbacks, Kurt Warner, the veteran and Matt Leinart, the newcomer. For the 2008-09 season, Arizona went with 37-year old Kurt Warner as their starter. Leinart has played a few games this season but it has been Kurt Warner that has led his team to the Super Bowl. You can bet that Kurt and the boys are pumped up for their trip down to Tampa.
When the Pittsburgh Steelers played for the AFC Championship title on Sunday they came out fighting. They wanted to make it down to Tampa so bad they scored a field goal in the first four minutes of the game against the Baltimore Ravens. Pittsburgh was good at keeping Baltimore from scoring and by half-time, Baltimore had only been able to put 7 points on the board. In the end, it was Pittsburgh who captured the coveted AFC Championship title with a 23-14 victory over the Baltimore Ravens. This win didn't come without some pain. The Baltimore Ravens' running back Willis McGahee suffered a neck injury and was taken off the field on the cart. The Steelers' quarterback Ben Roethlisberger left the game with a championship trophy and a sore back. Though Ben left the game sore he is excited about what is to come, it is the second trip for the young quarterback to the Super Bowl in four seasons. He is not giving up and is going to fight to get that Super Bowl ring again.
Both quarterbacks will be grueling it out on February 1st to make their team Super Bowl Champs and bring home the NFL title. For the Arizona Cardinals' Kurt Warner this might or might not be his last season. In his late thirties, he may be looking to get off the field. This would be the best way to go out, taking his team to their first Super Bowl, and winning. For the Pittsburgh Steelers, Ben Roethlisberger will make sure his team is ready to take on Arizona and make sure they walk away with the Super Bowl trophy. He has been quoted as saying "it's going to take a cart to get me off the field." Hopefully with the two week break he will be able to take time and heal his back and be healthy for the 1st.
No one predicted either of these teams would meet up with each other, and here we are, trying to figure out which team will take the coveted title home. And for those of us that watch for the ads, we are hoping the companies that bought air time will entertain us and make us laugh. This year the Super Bowl will be worth watching so get ready. Go to your favorite store and get your favorite Budweiser product, a case of soda, favorite football snack, gather the family and a few close friends around the television and secure your spot to watch the most interesting Super Bowl in history. Oh and don't forget to pick up a pair of those special 3-D glasses. You are going to need them somewhere in the 2nd quarter.