The Stupid Bowl

As you surmise, I'm not a fan of pro football. But last year I went to a great party at chez Templeton, where the idea was to TiVo the game, speed through the football and watch the expensively produced commercials. Much better way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Comments

[Nick Lewis]

Amen, brother. Thanks for the link to Brad's blog.

[PXLated]

I agree but you don't even have to TiVo. You can watch them all right here :-)
http://dyn.ifilm.com/superbowlads/

[Jason]

and commentary here: www.adjab.com

[Jim Hill]

Every year, Dan, you put up a "Stupid Bowl" message in which you tell us what party you went to _to watch television commercials_. And every year, I'll be here to point out the utter laughability of that. Yes, the game is an overblown, overhyped, usually underwhelming spectacle of football. It's still a sporting event. You're watching commercials. Commercials, Dan.

[Ted Feuerbach]

Neither of us watch sports, but my Wife is in marketing and the Super Bowl of Football is also the Super Bowl of advertising. We've Tivo'd it for years and then fast-forwarded through the game to watch the commercials. We even did it with VHS in those dark days before Tivo.

BTW, I did a impromptu poll at a neighborhood poll of the Tivo owners. The question was: If you had to give up one of these things, what would it be, your cell phone, your car or your Tivo.
Without any hesitation, the 4 Tivo owners said they'd give up their cell phone. When asked to give up two, they hesitated and then all 4 said their cell phone and Tivo. However it did appear that they had to consider whether their car or Tivo was more valuable to them!

[Dan Gillmor]

Jim, the commercials are far and away more interesting than the "game" of football. I watch for production and editing techniques; how companies are trying to manipulate the audience; and more. Some commercials are just plain entertaining.

This year I didn't watch any of it. I was out of town, and too busy to bother. I gather I didn't miss much.

[Jim Hill]

Dan: I don't mind that you want to watch the ads; you're in the media biz, after all. I just get rubbed the wrong way by the not-so-subtle knock at those watching the game for the game represented by the phrase "Stupid Bowl".

That said, this year's ads were a colossal yawn, save for the one for a company and a product which as usual I can't remember which featured the guy, the cat, and the marinara.

[Owen]

I'm in Jim Hill's camp, and I'm not a football fan and didn't watch the game. Your disparaging comments come across as arrogant and elitist, and that's disappointing from somebody like you. Don't like it...don't watch it, but don't put either the sport, the event or the fans down. The fact that I like Mozart and Vivaldi doesn't mean I put down people who like Shania Twain or Whoopee John. Diversity of taste enriches our culture. Narrowness of mind is a negative reflection on the commentator, not the object of scorn.

[Brad Templeton]

While Dan didn't make it to the party this year, we still had a good time. This time it was HDTV and using the open source MythTV box, and a tuner card that will become illegal in July. I put the very high tech story up on the web at http://www.templetons.com/brad/myth/superbowl-commercials.html