Covering University of Colorado sports, mostly basketball, since 2010

Monday, February 7, 2011

Monday Grab Bag: Superbowl Edition

As America, and particularly the upper Rust Belt, tries to shake off our post-Superbowl hangovers, we can now turn our attentions to the stretch-run of the basketball season, and the quickly approaching baseball season (hooray!).   Today in the bag I'll be delving into the game, the hoopla, and the flat Buffs performance in Columbia on Saturday.




Superbowl Wrap - I really couldn't have cared any less about the outcome of the game.  In fact, in a way, this was the most boring Superbowl I've ever watched.  Don't get me wrong, I was happy to see my Packer-fan-friends celebrate, but the game held no meaning for me personally.  That said, I thought it was a well earned victory for the Pack.  They had the best offense, and their defense was flat-out dominating before Charles Woodson left the game late in the fist half.
The Packer D dominated the Steelers and QB Roethlisberger all night long.  From: The Trib

It was obvious to me that the Steelers just were not ready to face the Packers defense, and that sent them scrambling for the first half-hour of play.  If Woodson stays in the game there is no way the Steelers even score 10 points.  Think of it this way: before his injury, had the name "Hines Ward" even been mentioned other than team introductions?  Dom Capers had that D on another level yesterday afternoon, and the Pack got a ring because of it.  3 forced turnovers turned quickly into 3 scores which equals victory; it's as simple as that.

Aaron Rodgers - As much as I'd like to say the Packer defense was the deciding factor, Arron Rodgers continued to prove why he's the best QB in football right now with his dominating performance on the game's biggest stage.  He continued to throw exceedingly accurate passes (Over 60% completion rate, with more than a few dropped passes), had only the 4th ever 300+ yard passing day in Superbowl history, and threw for 3 scores and no picks.  As a Bears fan, I can only stare wistfully at the talismanic centerpiece that rival-Green Bay will be able to build their franchise around for the better part of the next decade.
Rodgers was excellent and finally earned his title belt.  From: the Trib

Which brings me to the inevitable comparison to that "other" Green Bay QB.  Say what you will about his impact on the game, at the end of the day, Packer Nation, which would you rather have: a "gunslinger" who would just as happily throw into quadruple-coverage as progress to his 4th read, or someone who constantly breaks down the D and makes the best throw possible?  Not for nothing, but they now have the same number of rings, and Rodgers took fewer years to get his first.  Rodgers may not end up with the all-time records that Brett has, but I guarantee you his teams will win more consistently.

Commercials and Halftime - Once you get past all the sentimental schlock that Fox loves to pour onto it's sporting coverage (This Superbowl will allow me to dream again!), the Superbowl is all about commercialism in the form of the high-profile ads during the breaks and the needlessly over-hyped halftime show.  This year, both aspects sucked big-time.  Outside of the Star Wars VW add, there wasn't a single commercial that gave me pause (although the Eminem "Detroit is badass" ad would've been cool if it hadn't reminded me how we've essentially consigned that city to failure), and the Black Eyed Peas were just lame during halftime.  Hey!  Look!  We have Slash here for no reason!  I don't care!
I'll give them this, at least they weren't as bad as the rotting corpse of the Who.  From: CTV.ca

Additionally, I know Superbowl host sites like to get local performers to be in the "crowd" on the field, but Texas is so abundantly fat that they couldn't find enough skinny people to fill out their on-field dance troupe.  If you can't make it work then bus in some skinny people from California.  I may be fat myself, but that doesn't mean I want to see fatties jiggle their way across the field.  In summation, Texas is too fat for their own good.

Buffs Lose in Missouri - The weekend got off to a lousy start as CU failed to bring their A-game with them to Columbia.  They still out-rebounded the Tigers, but failed to limit turnovers or take advantage of poor Tiger shooting early on.  Missouri ended up shooting over 50% in the first half, and opened things up to a 16 point lead at the break.  CU tried to make a run at it in the 2nd half, but just couldn't find any traction.  The big 3 offensive threats (Burks, Higgins and Relphorde) shot a below average 36% from the field, and only Alec, with 14 attempts, got to the line enough to win on the road.  Add in a ridiculously high 23 turnovers, and CU really had no chance in this game.

CU gave up the ball to the feisty Tiger defense far too often.  From: The BDC

The Buffs will now have to regroup for a big home matchup with A&M Wednesday night.

Happy Monday!

2 comments:

Aaron Jordan said...

Hey now, I don't think The Who was as bad as The Black Eyed Peas.

Between the mic problems (not their fault, but we are evaluating the entire performance here), Fergie's butchering of an awesome song, and the hippie Love theme, it was a pretty awful use of the largest television audience ever. Now had there been a "wardrobe malfunction" I bet my opinion would be different =)

RumblinBuff said...

Fergie is #2 on my list of "Women" who if they came out tomorrow as a trans-gender I would not be surprised. BTW #1 is Lady Gaga (looks exactly like Sacha Baron Cohen as Borat)

For what it's worth I also think the Who went from 2 live members to 1 during the performance last year. I got 3 years older just watching them.