Super Bowl Sunday

A few quick thoughts:

• It's increasingly evident that being the best team during the season is a mug's game. The goal is getting to the playoffs, because after that everyone seems to have a puncher's chance to win the thing. I don't think that too many people outside of Baltimore saw the Ravens running the table.
• A lot of what makes the game so interesting is the spectacle involved, which is also why the power outage in the 3rd quarter was such a departure. You can plan it down to the smallest detail, but something can go wrong no matter what.
• A lot of the Super Bowl ads were typical fare, cute and/or funny. But the one that I suspect worked the best was the long one for Ram Trucks that featured a Paul Harvey commentary. A lot of farmers and people in the Midwest generally might have been Paul Harvey listeners back in the day, but I'd wager that the majority of people in the audience had never heard one of Harvey's radio essays before. It was a brilliant ad, I thought -- the stark imagery combined beautifully with Harvey's distinctive cadences.
• The game itself reminded me a lot of Super Bowl XXV. The Ravens got out to a big lead and then had to hang on for dear life. Benster and I disagree on the relative merits of Colin Kaepernick, but I will say this -- if he can stay healthy, he's a dynamic player.
• Also, I'm happy for Matt Birk, the longtime Viking who got his ring. I'm also not heartbroken that Randy Moss was denied for a second time. And congratulations to Cris Carter for finally getting in the Hall of Fame, and to former Packer great Dave Robinson, who was one of the few Lombardi-era Packers I actually remember. Now we have to get Jerry Kramer into the HOF. Oh, and Jim Marshall, too.