Greatest Super Bowl Performance

Today is Super Bowl XLVI between the New York Giants and the New England Patriots and I couldn't care less about it. That's not to say I'm not a football fan because I am but I'm not a fan of the Giants or Pats. My NFL teams of choice are the Chicago Bears and the Washington Redskins and they didn't even make the playoffs this year.

Now I do plan to watch the game because it's still the biggest game of the year, even if it might not be the best game of the year. But this isn't about football. For me as a music fan, the real spectacle and highlight usually comes at half time when in recent times the entertainment is provided by well known musical acts.

Some years are better than others and this year it's Madonna performing. I don't hate Madonna but I just don't see her as the right choice for the Super Bowl. But I'll watch it and make my assessment later. Maybe she'll surprise me.

To me the great entertainers of past Super Bowls were acts that own stadium shows. Bands like The Who, Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band, Prince and Michael Jackson.

When it comes down the worst performances, I can't help but single out the Black Eyed Peas, Christina Aguilera, Toni Braxton, Enrique Iglesias, Patti Labelle, Elvis Presto and the Winter Wonderland salute. Do a Google search for some of those performances if you don't believe me.

For me though, the absolute best and my most favourite performance at the Super Bowl came in 2002 at Super Bowl XXXVI when U2 took to the stage and not only gave a great performance but also an amazing tribute to all of the people who lost their lives during the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Watching the seemingly endless list of names scroll up the screen behind the band was unbelievable but at the same time the exceptional playing of "Where the Street's Have No Name" was electric.

If you don't believe me, have a look at the video evidence below. Keep in mind, I'm a huge U2 fan from way back in my youth. I've also included my second favourite performance by Bruce Springsteen and the 1987 show for your enjoyment.

Super Bowl a Super Ripoff

I've never attended an NFL game in person before. I've been to several CFL games in Toronto in the past and they were fun but I’ve always wanted to sit in the stands and experience an NFL battle.

I have come to the conclusion, however, that the Super Bowl is not the game I should go to for my first experience. Don’t get me wrong…I’d love to go to the Championship Game but there’s no way I can justify spending that kind of money.

This season the Super Bowl is being held in Tampa, Florida at Raymond James Stadium on February 1st. As it so happens, I’m going to be in the Tampa area at that time and figured, “Hey…why not look into getting some tickets?” Needless to say I wasn’t looking very long.

The cheapest seats available cost $2,137 for one ticket in the nosebleed section of the end zone. By comparison, the most expensive ticket around mid-field lower level would set me back $6,364 per ticket. Of course…this is in U.S. funds and doesn’t take into account the exchange rate.

I may be a fan, I may like football and I may be a lot of other things but insane isn’t one of them. Obviously I won’t be attending the game but will probably just watch it on my brother’s TV instead.

I understand it’s the game of the year and the league and the city of Tampa want to make as much money from the event as possible but the prices mean there’s no way any average working person who’s a fan could possibly afford to attend the game. The Super Bowl is only for the elite fan with money to burn or the wannabes who don’t even watch football but will attend just to keep up appearances. Celebrities come to mind.

Curiosity also forced me to look at the prices to attend just a regular season game in any NFL city. I picked Washington and Cincinnati for no particular reason.

My faith was restored to some degree. In Washington, the cheapest tickets were $112 while the most expensive ran around $570 at field level. Sure they aren’t cheap either but at least an average guy could probably afford to attend a game or two.

If you live in Cincinnati, you might want to go to a few more games during the season. The cheapest seats available were $12. No…that isn’t an error, at least not on my part. Twelve bucks gets you a seat in Paul Brown Stadium. The most expensive seats were around $250.

So after doing this little bit of research, I’ve come to this conclusion. If I’m going to attend my first NFL game it will likely be during the regular season. That is, of course, unless someone reads this and wants to take pity on me and buy me a couple of tickets to Super Bowl XLIII. I’m not opposed to accepting charity.

Also, don't feel too bad for me...I'm going to attend a Tampa Bay Lightning and Montreal Canadiens NHL game while I'm there instead. That only cost $100 per ticket.

18 Wins - 1 Giant Defeat

How many of you decided to skip Super Bowl XLII because you knew the Patriots were going to have a cakewalk to their 19th straight victory? Boy did you miss a beauty!

I'm not going to say I predicted the Giants were going to win but I was certainly hoping they would. Of course now we know the two teams combined for one of the greatest 4th Quarters in Super Bowl history and New York came away with a 17-14 win in Phoenix.

The Game
Let me start at the end. I can understand Tom Brady being upset with the loss and not being in the best of moods after losing but as a leader and a professional he showed complete lack of class. By leaving the field without acknowledging or congratulating the tremendous effort of his counterpart on the other side of the field he made a bad choice. Brady has won in the past and Eli Manning had just picked up his first championship.

Sure, the game was over after Brady's last pass didn't find its mark and sure the field was prematurely filled after oodles of people stormed the gridiron but there was still one second left on the clock. Instead the pretty boy undid his helmet and headed for the locker room. Of course once the field was eventually cleared, Eli Manning dropped a knee and perhaps one of the biggest upsets in sports history was complete.

All that aside, the game was a defensive struggle and the New York Giants did something that no other team was able to do during the season...stop Brady and beat New England.

The Catch
If not for the most amazing catch I can recall in any Super Bowl, the outcome would have been much different.

David Tyree had caught the first touchdown pass of the game for the Giants which is pretty good for a guy who was little more than a special teams player most of the season. The grab he'll always be remembered for now was pivotal as it set the Giants up for the game winning TD.

The Giants trailed 14-10 with only 1:15 left when Manning faced a third-and-5 at his own 44. The Patriots brought pressure, and Manning somehow shook loose from two defenders.

Scrambling to his right, he made a desperate and scary toss deep down the middle where two defenders were waiting. Tyree jumped up and with one guy on his back slapping at the ball, he managed to get both hands on it, pinned it to his helmet and fell backward to the ground. He had the presence to hold the ball aloft to show it was his. A spectacular catch that will be on everyone's top ten catches list for a long time to come.

Halftime Show
I was happy to see the NFL made it through another Super Bowl Halftime Show without any wardrobe malfunctions. Where's Janet Jackson when you need her?

Instead we had five guys who make me feel young, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Don't get me wrong...I love their music and at one time I belonged to their Fan Club. Don't ask.

It would seem that the powers that be are doing everything they can think of to guarantee no accidents during the Halftime Show. Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones, Prince and now Tom Petty. I guess the only accident they might worry about with these guys is someone falling off the stage and breaking a hip.

I have to admit they had an excellent performance and played four of their most popular songs which seemed to delight the crowd. I just wonder how much the crowd was payed to look that excited. I'd be surprised if the teenagers and twenty-somethings that surrounded the stage had even heard of Tom Petty before the game. I laughed when I saw the close-ups of the crowd and you could see they were trying to sing along but they obviously had no clue of the lyrics.

I'm not saying the NFL blew it with their choice as I thought the show was fine but I would like to see them take a chance on a band known more for their stage shows and a group that might whip the crowd into a real frenzy. They can do this without even breaking the string of old rockers if they just go out and confirm AC/DC for next year's Halftime Show. Now those guys will put on a good show guaranteed.

Final Thoughts
Overall I thought this year's Super Bowl was great from start to finish. I still think two weeks of pre-game hype is too much and starting the pre-game show at dawn is a little early but in the end the game is what counts and the fans got more than what they expected. Well...everyone except the New England fans any way.

Clip of the Week January 21/08

If you're a football fan I really hope you were able to watch the Division Finals this past weekend because I have a strong feeling that the Super Bowl is going to be a snoozefest.

The undefeated Patriots and the underdog Giants will meet in this year's Super Bowl and after two great games on the weekend we must now prepare for a let down because it's my opinion that New England (who I don't like at all but have to give them the respect they deserve) will roll over Eli Manning and his New York team-mates.

It's going to be ugly.

In fact the Ontario Lottery Corporation may have predicted the outcome without even knowing when they produced this advertisement which my fellow Canadians have probably seen already. But it's still funny enough relive.