Reflections on the Super Bowl

Super Bowl XLI is in the books, and the Colts won. A few thoughts on the game and broadcast: 1) It’s d?j? vu in reverse. This game was the mirror image of Super Bowl XXXIV (Rams-Titans). That game had a plodding first half and then an exciting ending. The first quarter of this game was ...

By , a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast.

Super Bowl XLI is in the books, and the Colts won. A few thoughts on the game and broadcast: 1) It's d?j? vu in reverse. This game was the mirror image of Super Bowl XXXIV (Rams-Titans). That game had a plodding first half and then an exciting ending. The first quarter of this game was blink-or-you'll-miss-it highlights, followed by the slow grinding of the Bears into inferiority. 2) So I'm thinking the summer blockbuster movies this year are gonna stink. Independence Day. Men In Black. Spider-Man. Hell, even Van Helsing had a preview shown at the Super Bowl. I didn't catch every ad, but the only movies I saw previewed were Hannibal Rising (blech) and Pride. Where are the friggin' previews? 3) The wrong man won the MVP trophy. Manning managed the game well, but Colts center Jeff Saturday managed the line of scrimmage even better. I hadn't seen many teams run up the gut of the Bears as well as the Colts did -- plus the pass protection was excellent. This was the perfect game to award an offensive lineman -- and Saturday was the key guy on that line. 4) Was it just me, or did Prudential's admen screw up? OK, I'm a foreign policy wonk, so maybe it was just me, but did anyone else hear the Prudential ad "What Can A Rock Do?" and think the phrase "a rock" sound like a country in the Middle East currently experiencing some turmoil? Watch the ad with that thought, and, well... it's a wee bit off. On the other hand, I though this ad was the best of the lot: Most important -- less than two weeks before pitchers and catchers report.

Super Bowl XLI is in the books, and the Colts won. A few thoughts on the game and broadcast:

1) It’s d?j? vu in reverse. This game was the mirror image of Super Bowl XXXIV (Rams-Titans). That game had a plodding first half and then an exciting ending. The first quarter of this game was blink-or-you’ll-miss-it highlights, followed by the slow grinding of the Bears into inferiority. 2) So I’m thinking the summer blockbuster movies this year are gonna stink. Independence Day. Men In Black. Spider-Man. Hell, even Van Helsing had a preview shown at the Super Bowl. I didn’t catch every ad, but the only movies I saw previewed were Hannibal Rising (blech) and Pride. Where are the friggin’ previews? 3) The wrong man won the MVP trophy. Manning managed the game well, but Colts center Jeff Saturday managed the line of scrimmage even better. I hadn’t seen many teams run up the gut of the Bears as well as the Colts did — plus the pass protection was excellent. This was the perfect game to award an offensive lineman — and Saturday was the key guy on that line. 4) Was it just me, or did Prudential’s admen screw up? OK, I’m a foreign policy wonk, so maybe it was just me, but did anyone else hear the Prudential ad “What Can A Rock Do?” and think the phrase “a rock” sound like a country in the Middle East currently experiencing some turmoil? Watch the ad with that thought, and, well… it’s a wee bit off.

On the other hand, I though this ad was the best of the lot:

Most important — less than two weeks before pitchers and catchers report.

Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast. Twitter: @dandrezner

Tag: Sports

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