Super Bowl Sunday

super bowl (Photo credit: sinosplice)

Will you be watching the Super Bowl game tonight?  I will try to catch as much of the game as I can, but my part time pizza gig is requiring that everybody work today.  I am scheduled to work from 3-7, but because we will have so many drivers in the store I am hoping that they will start letting some of the extra people off a little earlier.  I do not normally work on Sunday's, so I would qualify as "extra."

The Super Bowl used to be a much bigger deal for me so it doesn't bother me too much that I will miss the beginning of the game today.  Over the past few years, my fervor for all things NFL has waned a bit.  The hype around the Super Bowl has become overblown, from the 3 hour plus pregame show and the extra long half time show, has made watching the game more of a chore than enjoyable.  Maybe I would feel different if my Redskins were involved.

I also think that all the hype around the Super Bowl commercials is a bit much.  There will be a couple of fun commercials, but I saw that most of the commercials have already been released online.  There is one thing that Coca Cola is doing that looks like it will be fun.  Tying in with social media, the polar bears will be watching the game in real time online and participating in social media on Facebook and Twitter.

There will be a polar bear representing each team, and you can watch them react online at www.cokepolarbowl.com to how the fortunes of their favorite team are played out on the field.  It looks like it could be kind of fun and cute.  I will be checking it out for a bit, but am thinking it will not be something I pay a whole lot of attention to.  I will be multitasking by doing Entrecard drops and playing other games online while the Super Bowl plays out.

UPDATE-So I get home from delivering pizzas about half way through the second quarter and head over to CokePolarBear.com to check out the polar bears watching the Super Bowl.  Instead, all I see is message saying that the site is undergoing maintenance.  At least that is the message I am getting with Chrome.

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The Green Police

Congratulations to the New Orleans Saints who defeated the Indianapolis Colts to win their first Super Bowl. I have actually grown somewhat tired of the endless hype leading up to the Super Bowl, what with the six hour pre-game show and the extra long half time show. I just want to watch the damn game.

The other big thing with the Super Bowl is the hype of the commercials that will be shown during the game. I have to admit, that in past years, some of the commercials have been just as entertaining as the football. Aside from the usual assortment of beer commercials and Go Daddy commercials none really stood out to me, with the exception of the Audi Green Police commercial.

It isn't that I thought the commercial was particularly well done or clever, but that it is a frightening example of the direction of we are heading in as a society. Sure it is supposed to be a tongue in cheek, over exaggeration to show the Audi as an eco-friendly automobile, but how far away are we really from having a "Green Police?"

Let's just take a few examples.  We have several jurisdictions that have banned the use of plastic bags in the grocery stores and several others that have passed legislation taxing those bags.  Several states have already banned incandescent light bulbs, and current federal legislation will eventually phase them out in the next few years.  Years ago, when I was a buyer for trash bags for a grocery chain, one local county passed legislation requiring blue trash bags for recyclables and clear trash bags to make sure people were not throwing out items that could be recycled.

Now, I am all for a cleaner planet and conservation.  However, most of these things that the political elite are trying to force upon us are more costly and disproportionately impact the lower and middle classes.  Do we really want to live in a society where every decision we make in our consumption is controlled by government forces?  I don't.

Gentleman, Start Your Engines

I know sports fans are getting all geared up for the Super Bowl, and rightfully so.  It should be a good one.  I don't really care too much about who wins, though I am kind of pulling for the Saints to win.  There is just something about Peyton Manning that bugs me.  Maybe because you can't watch a game without seeing him in every other commercial.

Yes, the Super Bowl is a big deal, but I am also looking forward to the start of the NASCAR racing season which kicks off Saturday night with the Bud Shootout. Sure it isn't the official start of the racing season, which starts next week with the Daytona 500, but it is fun to watch.


Over the last couple of years, a lot of NASCAR fans have complained that the sport has become too corporate and too boring.  Officials have announced that they are going to relax some of the rules regarding aggressive driving and bump drafting.  They are also encouraging drivers to show a little more emotion and less corporate plugging.

Hopefully it will make for a more exciting brand of racing.  A lot of the races I watched last year were pretty BORING.  Today was the first day of practice for the Shootout on Saturday night.  If the first practice is any indication, it could be an interesting year.  Denny Hamlin and Mark Martin set off a 6-car accident about halfway through the first practice.  In the second practice, Juan Pablo Montoya wrecked Kurt Busch.  As Darryl Waltrip will say when the green flag drops, "Boogity, boogity, boogity.  Let's go racing boys!"

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