Thoughts on the Super Bowl

As I am waiting for parents to show up for conferences... Here are some thoughts I had on the Super Bowl.

- Journey's new lead singer has a really good voice.

- Jennifer Hudson really belted out the national anthem. Kudos for appearing in such a large spotlight after such a horrible tragedy happened with her family.

- Why does Matt Millen have a job with NBC? As my friend Steve so astutely said, he killed a football team. How can you be considered an expert commentator on the game if you killed a football team? On the other hand, the insights from Bill Belichick, who really broke down the game, were interesting.

- The commercials were a disappointment overall. I chuckled at a few of them, but the only ones I laughed out loud at were the re-enactment of the Mean Joe Greene Coke commercial with Troy Polamalu, and my favorite was this gem from Monster.com. Say what you want about the Budweiser Clydesdales, but as far as I'm concerned, it wouldn't be the Super Bowl without them.

- I like some of Bruce Springsteen's music, and I have about 10 or so of his songs on my iPod, but I wouldn't quite consider myself a fan of the Boss. That having been said, the halftime show was phenomenal. One of the best I can remember in recent memory. I wonder when will be the next time they choose a performer under the age of 50. They are still super cautious after the infamous wardrobe malfunction. I would love to see a younger act like Green Day perform (even though I did see Billie Joe Armstrong masturbate on stage, and it wasn't a pretty sight).

- Oh, yeah, there was a football game, too. I came into this thinking that the Cardinals would pull the upset, because they've never won before, and they wanted it more. Both teams played well, but the Steelers stayed true to their game plan of a bruising defense and ball control. A couple of plays in which Ben Roethlisberger evaded several defenders and still managed to complete the pass were truly amazing. He is maturing into one of the league's better quarterbacks, and I am finally starting to believe he deserves the big-money contract he was awarded.

Kurt Warner and the high-powered offense delivered too, but that didn't happen until the 4th quarter, and by that time, it was too little, too late. Warner was in top form, except for that one interception, which unfortunately led to a score and shifted the momentum of the game. However, the Cards' offense deserves just as much blame as Warner because no one was able to tackle James Harrison, who managed to juke a few players as he huffed and puffed his way to the goal line.

In short, the Steelers outplayed and outcoached the Cardinals, who still put up one hell of an effort.

People are saying this was one of the greatest Super Bowls ever. It was a good one, but the best ones that I can think of in my lifetime were XXV, where the Giants won 20-19 after it all came down to a shanked field goal. (Scott Norwood is still the goat here, but it's not that easy to make a 47-yard field goal.) Also XXXIV was really good, when the Titans lost 23-16 to Kurt Warner and the Rams, and were one yard away from the game-tying touchdown as the clock ran out.