Super Bowl Ponderings

It's always surprising to me the shear number of things people decide to get offended by.  I think of myself as a fairly smart person.  Even if I don't agree with people on things, I can usually understand why they feel that way (on pretty much everything except backing Trump - in that case, you have a serious screw loose.  There's no excuse for you.)  Anyway, I may not agree with you, but I can see the logic.

Until today that is.  I watched these moments that have caused such anger, and never once thought "that's going to make XYZ people mad." I literally have no idea how they jumped from Point A to Point B, and why they chose to spend so much of their life looking for things to rally about.  Life's too short, peeps!

First up, was the commercial during the Super Bowl with Kevin Hart as a protective dad who followed his teen daughter around on her date.  Cute, right?  I admit I laughed, then forgot about it.  Until I went on Twitter, and saw the feminist tyrade about Kevin Hart and whatever car company the commercial was for, suppressing the teen's rights as a woman to make decisions for herself.  Seriously? She's a teen girl.  When did it become wrong for a father to be over-protective of his teenaged daughter?

Then it was the fairly amusing ad for Doritos that was sort of icky and sort of funny, at the same time.  It all revolves around a father eating Doritos at an Ultrasound.  The "baby" on the monitor really wants a Dorito.  Hard to explain so just YouTube it.  I laughed.  Today, the pro-choice advocates are stating that the commercial makes the assumption that a fetus is a baby. Their argument that the fetus doesn't become a baby until after birth, is irrelevant.  It's a commercial about Doritos for a bunch of football loving people that are just watching it because they're waiting to get back to the game.  Must we get philosophical with everything?!

My favorite was the argument over which QB did worse in their post-game interview. Carolina fans think Manning's "I'm going to go drink a lot of Budweiser" statement was ridiculous and feel he should have some sort of penalty since no active football player in the NFL is allowed to endorse an alcohol brand.  Yes it was a slightly strange thing to say, but he'd just won the Super Bowl so give him a break.  Then the Bronco's fans are up in arms over Newton's gloomy, post-game press conference that he walked out of.  Yep, he needs to deal with losing much better if he's going to continue in the game, but he's a 23 year old dude, that just got sacked 6 times in a game they were favored to win.  Maybe cut him a little slack?

And don't even get me started on the half-time show that simultaneously has "undertones" of the Black Lives Matter movement, White Lives Matter, All Lives Matter, and pushing a "gay agenda."  I'm fairly certain at least 2 of these contradict each other, how on earth could the show have included them all?

These are these are the stories that were going around the internet today.  Not the score, or whether or not the winners are going to Disney Land.  Controversy and opposing views. Maybe, just maybe if we focused on what's really at hand - in this case, a big loud, fun football matchup - we'd be a little more open to what everyone else has to say and not so worried about how it affects us.

Happy Super Bowl!

It's Super Bowl day.  The Ravens aren't playing.  And Coldplay is the Half-Time show.  So really, all that's left to be excited about is the food and the commercials.

So as someone who has no stock in this game whatsoever, my choice for winner is Peyton and the Broncos.  Nothing against Carolina - though Cam Newton is a bit too cocky for me - but I'd like to see Peyton end his career (it just has to be his last game, right?) on a high. And seeing as they're ahead at half time, I'm feeling a bit confident.  

So for the first and last time, Go Broncos!

Cheaters Never Prosper - Except When They Do

The story on Tom Brady and the Patriots knowing about "Deflategate" was my most favorite story of the day. Honestly, after all the denials and press conferences, it came out that what everyone knew to be true, actually happened.  It's good to see that they might get a bit more scrutiny as well as lose some of the respect of the fans.  

But I doubt it.  

What I really want to know is, what happens to the team now?  Because of the deflated balls, they went on to the Super Bowl and won.  Will that be taken away from them?  Will they lose the endorsements and money they made from that huge game? Doubtful.  I like to think they will.  I like to think they will hold these players to a higher standard.  But it's proven that for some reason the Patriots are beyond that level of scrutiny (they're already on Strike 2 after a previous dalliance with the rules a few years ago).  And I doubt that the Seahawks will want to have the "win" that way either.  

So I guess, I can just be happy with Karma biting them some time in the near future.  I just have to believe that they'll get their just desserts, because they deserve it and we all know that people always get what they deserve...

Holy Wind Batman!

Because of the crazy, insane and cold winds blowing through MD, I may or may not get kicked off the internet for like the 10th time this evening.  So if this is short and sweet, you'll understand...Have I mentioned that winter is awesome!?

As most people know, yesterday was Super Bowl Sunday.  When I posted last evening, I was feeling just a bit too cocky.  The Seahawks were up by 10 and the win looked like a lock.  Yeah, as you may know, it wasn't...

The Good: 

~ The Always Ad Campaign - #LikeAGirl.  Loved it!  
~ Idina Menzel nailing the National Anthem.  Don't you think she would have been a better half time show than Katy Perry?
~ Chris Pratt and Chris Evans betting on the winner of the game.  Instead of wagering cash, they wagered trips to Children's Hospitals dressed as their Marvel character.  The kicker? Even the loser is planning on making the trip to the hospital in character as well.

The Bad:

~ I'll say it again.  Really Nationwide? Did a dead kid really say Super Bowl to you?
~ Seeing Tom Brady's stupid face after winning for a 4th time.
~ Russel Wilson throwing the game winning interception instead of just handing the ball off to the open Marshawn Lynch.  WTH?!
~ The fight at the end, and the clearly distasteful "celebration" after the Seahawks scored their first TD.  

The Ugly:

~ Dancing sharks.  Need I say more?
~ Tom Brady's celebration jumps after the win.  He looked even more ridiculous than he usually does.
~ The call that Pete Carroll (or some other coach on the Seahawks staff) made to throw the ball in last few seconds.  Someone deserves to be fired to say the least.

Go Hawks!

I have absolutely no allegiance to the Seahawks (other than loving their color scheme), but if I have to see Tom Brady win another super bowl, I'm gonna scream!  So, Go Hawks!!

Commercials: Some great (Always, Budweiser), some not so great, and some down right depressing (Nationwide, seriously?!)

Food: Delicious even if I do say so myself.

Half Time: Bizarre and a half.  Not sure the Super Bowl is ready for Katy Perry's particular brand of weird.

Company: Wonderful, but missing an important part.

Social Media: There are some fabulously smart and creative people killing it on Twitter tonight - so far, Jim Beaver is my favorite!

Game: So far, so fantastic (Let the record show, this is being written in the 3rd quarter, and the Hawks are up by 10 thanks to a TD a second ago : )

Super Bowl Recap

~ Despite not loving (ok, strongly disliking) Peyton Manning and his Omaha-shouting ways, I had picked him for a win.  It turns out that I'm just as unreliable with my picks as the Broncos were in that game.  Though based on uniforms alone, I had to go with the Seahwaks - gotta love that green and blue!

~ After finally learning what "Super Bowl Squares" were, I tried my luck and bought one square for $10.  Mostly because I'm much too cheap to spend money on something I still don't really get and too much of a pushover to not buy at least one.  After receiving the numbers 8 and 5 for the first quarter, I wasn't feeling too optimistic.  But somehow in the first 12 seconds the Seahawks pulled out a Safety and a field goal to actually get me a 5 which I thought was impossible (seeing as I have no idea what a Safety even is...).  But, as in most of my attempts at gambling, it was all for naught since the darn Broncos decided to not show up for the Super Bowl.  Seriously, all I would have needed was 4 touchdowns!  Was that so much to ask?!  

~ As in most years that the Ravens aren't playing, the half time show was definitely the highlight of the evening.  I don't really get the whole Red Hot Chili Peppers crashing the awesome Bruno Mars spectacular, wearing no shirts and baggy pants, but I suppose it's a choice.  Thankfully they weren't there long, and Bruno continued to rock out after they left. I only know 2 of his songs, but I have to admit, he was amazing!

~ The commercials, which are usually the highlight, were even so-so this year.  The Doritos winner (Ellicott City native created this one for $300.  Woohoo!), the Budweiser Best buds (cutest ad of the year, hands down!) the Cheerios family (Way to beat the haters from last year with the same super cute family!) and Ellen's Beats headphones were the best.  Outside of that there just wasn't much there.  The Coca-Cola commercial was sweet too. Though I can't believe that so many people are up in arms over them showing a diverse America.  Isn't that why America is so great?  People are allowed to speak different languages, practice different religions, believe in different ideologies.  Grow up people!  (Maybe Coke will beat their haters from last year like Cheerios did this year : )

~ While it was all around boring and the Seahawks truly deserved the win.  They were most definitely the best team and their 12th man should feel proud.  I'm assuming they're half the reason they won anyway.  Before the game, John Harbaugh was talking to a reporter saying that fans aren't usually an issue in a Super Bowl because the stadium is pretty evenly split.  I love John, but for yesterday's game I disagree wholeheartedly.  That stadium was rocking and got considerably louder when the Seahawks took off.

Super Bowl Sunday

Last year on Super Bowl Sunday, there was this to look forward to.  All of Maryland was bathed in purple and the Ravens came out on top which was about the best thing ever. Though this year, Super Bowl Sunday just isn't that enjoyable. Especially seeing as though Peyton and the Broncos have decided not to actually play in this game and my Super Bowl Squares have turned up some truly hideous numbers (5? 1?, Really?!).  

However, there's always food so, you know, that's exciting : )

Har-Bowl Bound Baby!

So proud of our guys!