Big Lead Sports Bar

2/01/2007

Where is Mondesi? NOT in Miami.

Sorry for the lack of goods today. I've been like Waldo this week. No one knows when or where I'll show up. Geez, even Bill Simmons has been more consistent posting stuff the past few days.
So where was I? To quote the great Latrell Sprewell, I was working on the site that "puts food on my table". I changed some of the color schemes, added some new categories, deleted some stuff...I'm just trying to make it more user-friendly. I have to inspire more collectors to part with some of their treasured mementos. In Pittsburgh, that's no small task. It's nowhere near being done, but I made some progress. I'm also working on an affiliate program that will pay websites/blogs that link to Steel City for any sales and/or consignments generated. Again, it's still in the development stage, but it should be done soon.
Being that I was so engrossed in my work today, I was too focused to even turn on some talk radio in the background. But I feel I should make some sort of comment on the Super Bowl, mostly because I've completely ignored it to this point. So here are some thoughts on "the big game".
I feel absolutely zero excitement going into the game. I don't think it's sour grapes because the Steelers aren't involved; I've enjoyed past non-Steeler Super Bowls just fine (although the presence of the Steelers would have increased the enjoyment tenfold).
I don't like the Colts and I really don't like the Bears. That's probably where my lack of interest starts. I can't stand Tank Johnson, and if it's possible, I dislike him even more after Media Day.
I keep reading story after story on Deadspin about various ESPN personalities chasing women around South Beach, and they haven't even gotten to Berman...yet. So it makes it harder than ever to take them seriously on TV when you hear what they were up to the night before. These guys make Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan look like amateurs.
Then I heard that the NFL Fed-Ex'd an overnight letter to an Indianapolis church, demanding they cancel their Super Bowl party for using the words "Super Bowl" in the title. We can't have a church commit copyright infringement. But if the NFL is so PR-conscious, why make such a move? Because it's a sign of how serious they are about those words. They'll even go after a church. That will make bar owners think twice when they name their event on Sunday.
We have the black coaches storyline, which has been thoroughly overdone as soon as Championship Sunday ended. We have the "Rex Grossman sucks" angle, which is almost to the point that I feel sorry for Grossman. Almost.
We have Jimmy Kimmel sending the two American Idol rejects to Media Day. Yawn.
These teams are doing absolutely NOTHING to even create any fictitious hoopla. There's been no Jerramy Stevens moment, and certainly no pitbull-owning loudmouth to call out the XLI version of Stevens. The coaches like each other; this isn't like Cowher and Billick. If Don King was promoting this game, you'd see Booger McFarland swing a chair at Brian Urlacher at Media Day. Instead we get cliche after cliche about how great the other team is, with teams ever-cautious of supplying bulletin board material. For the people who say sportsmanship is dead, they must've been at the beach this week. It's alive and well, at least for these teams. The Colts and Bears are what's known as a blogger's nightmare.
The game aside, we don't even have an interesting musical act to get quasi-excited about. And I don't care about the music angle, only about the wild-card tendencies of the personality performing. As weird as Prince is, I don't see him whipping it out. Nor would I want to see that. Ditto Billy Joel.
And the commercials? We've already seen the K-Fed spot. Well done, but memo to Nationwide: try to keep better tabs on who has your commercial in the future. Nothing like paying big bucks for a Super Bowl ad that millions of people have already seen on the internet. Yes, millions have seen it, and that's the name of the game. But people will watch anything on the net featuring K-Fed. Just pick out a YouTube video, slap a Nationwide logo on it, and voila! Millions saved.
Few, if any, are giving the Bears a shot to win. I find this hilarious, since "Peyton Manning is a choke artist" jokes were this nation's favorite pastime for the past nine years. I guess all it takes is a win over the storied Patriots to wipe that out. Just ignore the fact that Manning may or may not have an injured thumb and also ignore the fact that he is still Peyton Manning and could snap at any time. Everyone else is.
On the flip side, Rex Grossman inspires no one except for bartenders waiting on a good night of tips. He is exciting and nauseating in consecutive plays. Blitz him and he blindly throws the ball up for grabs. Give him time and he blindly throws the ball up for grabs. Yet he continues to win and win and win. Why not give the Bears a chance? They could absolutely win this game. In a league where the Raiders beat the defending Super Bowl champions, the Bears could beat the Colts. And they just might.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Since all the "experts" are picking the Colts, this means the Bears will win.

I'm calling this now, Bears win 27-24.

Sean said...

I agree that there has been little buzz about the Super Bowl this year compared to the last few years. I guess we need someone to get arrested this week.

Is it possible to root for the Colts to win so that Tony Dungy gets a Super Bowl victory as a coach but that Peyton Manning somehow doesn't win? Does this make sense?