True, hardcore sports fans watch the Super Bowl for the game.  But that doesn’t mean we don’t all enjoy the commercials.  On advertising’s most hyped up day each year, different ad agencies and the large — usually well known — companies they represent, have 30 seconds to a minute to put up or shut up.  To make a lasting impression or to get stuck in the mud.  To create that re-watchability factor that will have people circling over to YouTube and commercial review articles the next day or to have people hardly remember the commercial aired at all.

While all the marbles are on the line this Sunday in Indianapolis, IN the Giants and Patriots will square off in a Super Bowl rematch.  But in the advertising world, it’s a dog eat dog money mashing, where 6 figures buys you literally a second of ad space.  And hey, 1 second ads can work — High Life! — just don’t expect any this Super Bowl.

I don’t have the breakdown on all the different Super Bowl ads, but there are a few certainly worth keeping your eyes on.

Toyota

Toyota will be unveiling their new ‘Connections’ spot on Super Sunday, but what makes this ad intriguing is that it gives fans a chance to Shazam the commercial and enter a contest to win a car, plus another one for a friend, all through the app. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a company use Shazam to run a contest. If you ask me — I think it’s a pretty innovative idea. Sorry Nissan.

This, for better or for worse is where advertising is heading.  Which got me thinking: Could you imagine if you had to go to a website to find out if the kid caught Mean Joe Greene’s jersey? “See more at coke.com/meanjoe. <– not a real website!) But everything is digital nowadays, and traditional advertising just doesn’t cut it anymore.

The PR release on the commercial as sent to me by Toyota:

“Connections” marks the first major outreach effort for the Camry Effect, a social media initiative developed to unite the nearly seven million Camry drivers in this country through an interactive, online experience. The Camry Effect provides past and present Camry owners a platform to share their stories, moments and memories from over the past 30 years.

It’s a nice nostalgic compilation, which gets away from the usual gags, sex, and utter ridiculousness that most spots go for. Most importantly it’s relatable, so I think ultimately it will be well-liked.

Coca-Cola

Coke can be found almost everywhere in the world — and wherever there’s a place that doesn’t know Coke and their friendly polar bear, they have people who are trying to get Coke in those areas.  Coke is brand awareness.  While it’s nothing more than a soft drink, the way Coke has branded itself through the past 100 years is unparalleled, bar none. It’s a timeless, classic.  Their cute fuzzy polar bears are treasured. And Coke just makes everything seem a little more magical.

I fell in love with their polar bears as a kid, and grew up to love polar bears because of it. I’m serious!  So what Coke is doing this Super Sunday is beyond cool. It’s downright revolutionary.  In addition to running their usual Super spots, Coke will introduce the first ever Polar Bowl. Unfortunately, it’s not real live polar bears playing football.  But the idea they came up with is almost as brilliant.

Coke’s mini-site dedicated to just the game (see link above), will feature polar bears watching the game just as you are at home. Here’s the cool part. Via Branding Magazine:

The bears reactions will be manipulated by two employees at Coke ad agency Wieden+Kennedy, so they will jump, groan, whoop – anything that you would do if your team was winning/loosing, and all that with a refreshing Coke in their hands. Also, should a racy advert air, they’ll cover a cubs eyes, so he doesn’t look (this particular detail is just too darn cute, you must admit).

So the bears will literally be reacting to the same thing you’re watching. I mean, how creative is that?  They will even have penguins too!

Sneak preview at one of their many commercials for the event — this one featuring New York bear.

Other ads:

Chevy

Woot, woot, will roll out Zack Borst’s winning Route66 entry on Super Sunday. Or you can just watch it here. “Best day ever!” — VH1 should totally sue!

Doritos

The usual Super Bowl advertising entrants will have their usual barrage of comical advertising as created by you– the fan. People submitted their ideas, Doritos choose a few and on Sunday, we find out which. This was allegedly one of the winning spots that you’ll see on Gameday, and before you watch, let me warn you that it is really cheesy.

Go Daddy

The domain name company will trot out a few more allegedly racy ads — this time featuring the new Pussycat Dolls. This idea is so dumb, it’s like the TV commercial version of something straight to DVD. We get it Go Daddy! You think you’re racy and hip. Newsflash: you’re just annoying. Tell me if any of these names ring a bell:

Lauren Bennett, Paradiso Girls
Vanessa Curry, Laker Girls,
Erica Jenkins, Dallas Cowboy cheerleader
Chrystina Sayers, Girlicious
Paula Van Oppen, So You Think You Can Dance.

Not listed, Jim’s dad, Eugene Levy. American Pie fans should get the joke.

It used to be fun to wait for the Super Bowl so you could see the new commercials, but now companies are leaking them all over the internet the week before, to try to ‘build buzz.’ Kind of kills the surprise element if you ask me.

Other companies participating, because we don’t feel like giving away every ad:

Hulu +
CareerBuilder.com
ETrade
TaxACT.com
Cars.com

and … you know what? Just watch the damn game on Sunday like people used to!

Happy Super Bowl Sunday everybody. Enjoy the game.

Let’s get a few things out of the way before we get into this so it’s clear that objectivity will reign supreme.

Fact: I live in Massachusetts and am a huge Patriots fan.  It would mean a great deal to me if they won.

Fact: I have picked against the Patriots in 11 of their 18 games this season.

My Opinion: The Giants are the better team.

That being said…

Patriots -3 (2.5 @ some books) vs. NY Giants

People say that the Giants are the hottest team in football.  Not true.  The Patriots are.  They have won ten in a row since losing a heartbreaker to guess who…the Giants back in November.  Meanwhile, New York was croaked by Rex Grossman and the Redskins at home in week 15.

People say the Giants have beaten superior teams.  Record-wise, that is true.  But let’s look exactly at what they have done during their run.  They beat the Cowboys and the Jets, two underachieving teams in the midst of their seasons being flushed down the toilet.  They basically shut out a fraudulent Falcons team at home.  Then they beat the Packers which was, at first glance, a shock.  However, in order to beat them they needed a halftime Hail Mary conversion and a 66 yard Nicks catch-and-run touchdown where Packer defenders bumbled all around him and did everything but tackle. And let’s not forget that most of the Packers’ key starters hadn’t played a game in three whole weeks.  There was a little bit of rust in play.  We’ll get to the 49ers game in a bit.

People say the Patriots haven’t beaten a team with a winning record all year before last weekend.  This is true, but the key is that they laid no eggs in the process which the Giants are extremely prone to do (Washington, Seattle, Vince Young’s Eagles, and Washington again).  The Patriots lost to two good teams (Pittsburgh and these Giants) by one score each in the middle of the season while they were putting together a patchwork defense of waiver pickups, wide receivers, and undrafted free agents.  They also lost to Buffalo after racking up a 21-0 lead and then falling asleep.  That is the extent of their blemishes this season.  It’s not their fault that they had to play “bad teams”.  They were supposed to beat them and they did.

People say the Patriots shouldn’t even be here because they were lucky and shouldn’t have won last week.  Well guess what?  The Giants were also lucky and shouldn’t have won last week.  Ted Ginn was out so the Giants ended up on the good side of two special teams turnovers at critical times in the game.  Prior to the second one they had the ball twice in overtime and couldn’t score.  Without a turnover, that game might still be going on now.

People say that the Patriots’ defense sucks.  A really crappy defense probably lets up 30 points regularly, right?  New England has only allowed 30 once, 27 once, and nobody else has scored more than 25 against them all season.  These Patriots can put up four touchdowns and a field goal if they need to.

People say that the Giants have already beaten the Patriots once this year.  What they don’t tell you is that New England had the game in hand with seconds to go when Sergio Brown interfered with Victor Cruz on the goal line and gave New York a fresh set of downs to take the game.  Mr. Brown does not play so much since then.  A wide receiver took over his spot until Patrick Chung came back from injury.

People say that the Giants will maul Tom Brady like they did four years ago.  First of all, in the game they played this season Brady was sacked twice and hit three times.  That means he was touched basically once per quarter.  That ain’t so scary considering in their first Superbowl he was sacked five times and reset the counter for how many times he was knocked to the ground.  Secondly, New England’s offensive line is strong now that they have added rookie Nate Solder and Sebatian Vollmer has come back from injury.  Brady will get rid of the ball quickly now that he doesn’t have to wait for Randy Moss to run the length of the field.  He’ll stay clean.

People say that emotions and intangibles will play no part in this game.  They say that X’s and O’s and matchups will determine the outcome.  The Giants hold the edge at nearly every position on the field except for tight end and (maybe?) quarterback.  But this Patriots team needs to win this game.  Eli, these receivers, and even Tom Coughlin will be around for a long time.  Brady is on the back 9 of his career.  He’s not just yet calling ahead to the clubhouse to order a hot dog from the 18th tee, but he’s probably on the final par five of the course.  The sun is creeping behind the trees and his wife is calling his cell phone asking him when he’ll be home while his buddies roll their eyes.  “Almost done,” he’ll say, maybe stretching the truth a bit so she’ll leave him alone.  Maybe not.  Time will tell.  He and Belichick want two more rings so they can be untouchable.  They know they lucked out this year with injuries around the league and their first playoff opponent.  They can steal this one.  They want payback for the one that got away.  And they have the memory of their beloved owner’s even more beloved wife to honor.

People say none of that matters.

Those people haven’t seen the look in the veteran Patriots’ eyes lately.

Eric Deters has tried more civil jury trial than any lawyer in Northern Kentucky.

Eric Deters has been described as: a fighter, passionate, aggressive, reasonable, tenacious and hard working.

Eric Deters is one of the lawyers representing one former Rams player and three fans who are suing the Patriots for cheating in the 2002 Super Bowl.

One thing Eric Deters did say on his website that I’m sure no one would disagree with is this:
“I’m never too busy to take a new case!”

(Profile Here)

One would think that if you have enough time to represent a few disgruntled fans and a no name player (his name is Willie Gary) that you would not be very busy.

Funny, because it seems that he would be pretty busy from all the cases he has to do to have tried more cases than any other lawyer in Northern Kentucky. (How he got to trying a case about the Pats I have no idea, because it say that he has only been licensed to practice law in Kentucky, Ohio and Florida.)

He listed 23 types of cases he accepts. No where does it say “Sports Cheating.” It doesn’t list “Wrongful Loss” either. Maybe this would fall under “Consumer Fraud,” or “Fraud of Any Kind?” If it doesn’t fit any of those, I suppose it could be lumped in under “General Litigation.”

As it turns out, the lawsuit was filed under fraud, unfair trade practices, and engaging in a ”pattern of racketeering.” Deters was hoping to turn it into a class-action suit for anyone who purchased a Super Bowl ticket, and all members of the Rams staff.

For the good of the country, Deters has now withdrawn the case. He called it an “exercise in futility,” claiming that Matt Walsh, accused of taping the Rams’ practices, would exercise his right against self-incrimination, or, in more universal terms, he would plead the fizith!

But, Deters says he isn’t giving up: ”We’re not giving up on the case. We just want to back off and see what he has to say before we make a move.”

In the meantime, Deters plans on taking up a case against Indiana University for their recruiting violations.*
(*NOTE: Deters isn’t really suing Indiana University. This is simply a joke, mocking the fact that he sued the Patriots for cheating.)

Interestingly, Eric Deters didn’t seem prideful enough in his case against the Patriots to list is as one of his “high profile newsworthy cases” even though it is one of his most newsworthy cases yet.

Eric Deters does have past experience messing with athletes, as he sued Chad Johnson for a raffle fraud (though that one actually had merit behind it).

This, my friends, is Eric Deters:

He does things for the people, not for the publicity.

You can email him your thanks here.

Eli Manning, the Super Bowl MVP, has no leadership ability, isn’t a good New York quarterback, and was a “Giant Mistake” when the Giants drafted him. All quotes from various critics, ranging from the entire New York Daily News sports staff, to the entire population of New York City, to most of the New York Giants front office, most NFL fans, and Tiki Barber.

Tiki was fed up with the young QB, only in his third year, not being able to win playoff games, so he retired because he new Manning’s lack of leadership would never get him to the Super Bowl. How can someone not make it to the Super Bowl in their first three years??!!!

Most quarterbacks take a lot longer to make a Super Bowl than three years. Now, granted, Manning didn’t have a great season this year, and he relied a lot on the Giant’s defense. Manning actually had a worse rating, worse completion percentage, less touchdowns, and more interceptions that any season he has started all 16 games. I certainly don’t think he had assumed the status of franchise QB yet, but he is well on his way.

The New York media overreacted in favor of Manning at one point.

The mistake the New York media made was thinking that just because he was a Manning and a number one draft pick (and a New York player), he should be a franchise QB right away. The fact that Phil Rivers and Ben Roethlisberger were having success early furthered that perception. Despite the fact that Manning had made the playoffs in each of his two seasons as a full-time starter, the Daily News was putting out headlines like this:

SHOULD HAVE PASSED ON ELI DEAL
WHAT KIND OF MANN IS HE?
STRUGGLES FUELING QUESTION OF GIANT MISTAKE

How bout:
YOUNG QB PLAYS MEDIOCRE AS HIS DEVELOPMENT PROGRESSES?

Of course, the venom wasn’t fired at just Eli. Tom Coughlin got his share, too:

KEEPING COUGHLIN WOULD BE BIG BLUE BOO BOO

Eli’s brother missed the Super Bowl a lot more times than Eli did, and people called him a choker, but there weren’t many people calling him a “mistake” in his third or fourth year.

Going into the Super Bowl, his own dad wouldn’t even give him much support. Archie said,

“We’re not saying he’s Phil Simms or anything. I just never thought he was as bad as some people thought he was.”

Winning the Super Bowl doesn’t make him any better. He just happened to have an above-average game against a great team in a big game. He isn’t suddenly going to throw for 4,000 yards next year. But, he might a few years from now.

Of course, he isn’t a big play quarterback, anyway. He has been noted more for not making mistakes than for making the big throw. Throughout the playoffs, he did just that, throwing no interceptions until the Super Bowl. But, it was also in the Super Bowl that he took the game on his shoulders and made the big throws–and bad throws–just when it counted.

He looked like Brett Favre in the fourth quarter, throwing wild passes, eluding sacks, as he drove down the field for the game-winner. There was one series where he threw a bad pass down the sidelines that was almost picked off. On the next play, he somehow pulled out of a sack with a Matrix-like move then threw another terrible pass. “This guy is a complete moron,” I was thinking. It was caught for a big coversion just over a Pats defender’s head. That doesn’t change the fact that he was a moron for throwing it, but now he has Brett Favre’s luck.

The indomitable New England Patriots (18-0) will play the upstart New York Giants (13-6) next week at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. Whether or not the Patriots triumph over Gotham’s Big Blue, they are deserving of their dynasty label. The Patriots are simply one of the most overwhelming teams in the annals of North American professional sports.

Because of New England’s decade-long dominance, some pundits have hailed their “HC,” Bill Belichick, 55, as the best coach to ever stroll an NFL sideline and others have had the audacity to infer that the Vince Lombardi Trophy should be re-named after the Patriots nefarious cheater. Such a ludicrous and unfounded assertion is shire tomfoolery.

The loveable Belichick, who makes Dick Cheney seem warm and bubbly, is a good coach who has reached an unjustifiably mythic status by riding the coattails of his iconic quarterback for the ages, Tom Brady, 30.

While in Cleveland and without Brady, Belichick led the Browns to a paltry record of 36-44 before being terminated after five miserable seasons. The grand majority of Clevelanders understandably rejoiced when the philandering fashion plate met his professional maker. Belichick chapped the asses of players, fans and the media alike and his coaching “skills” were proven to be subpar while he alienated the Cleveland region.

In his first year as the “HC” of New England, Belichick once again exhibited his anemic guidance en route to “leading” the Patsies to an intimidating record of 5-11. In 2001, the Patriots began the season with a mark of 0-2 before the New York Jets and their linebacker, Mo Lewis, changed the course of history for the Patriots and the overrated Belichick. After being flushed from the pocket, starting quarterback Drew Bledsoe, 35, ran upright to the sideline before being lambasted by Lewis. The vicious hit by Lewis caused moderate internal bleeding in Bledsoe and it opened the door for Brady to take control as New England’s signal caller.

Prior to being blessed with Brady, Belichick had a combined (Cleveland and New England) Hall of Fame record of 41-57. Since stumbling upon the rare pot of gold that is Brady, the man who perpetuated “Spygate” has gone 86-24. I like coincidences as much as I enjoy jock-itch and I refuse to believe that those numbers don’t expose Belichick for the mediocre gump that he is.

I fully realize that I reek of anti-New England bias. For me, cheering for Belichick and the Pats is akin to rooting for the reemergence of polio. But, how can anyone genuinely claim that Belichick is a better coach than either Bill Parcells or Joe Gibbs? Parcells captured two Superbowls with two different quarterbacks and he won at all four coaching stops that he made. Gibbs won three Superbowls in Washington with three different Redskin signal-callers. That puts Belichick, at best, as the third most decorated coach that I’ve seen in the NFL since I began watching the sport in 1987. So, please, New Englanders put down your Samuel Adams and take in a dose of reality. Green Bay Packers fans, take solace. The championship trophy will always be named after the truly special Lombardi.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Tom Brady was given a marriage proposal yesterday during media day.

In other news…

Darren Heitner of Sports Agent Blog gave me an update on all the fabulous parties coming up this week.

The most expensive are the Playboy and Maxim Parties, both over $2,000 per person.

Others of interest: The Penthouse Desire Party is being hosted by Snoop Dogg. There are only 1,000 tickets, so buy yours now! (They paid me to do that.) They cost $1,250 each.

Larry Johnson and Warren Sapp are hosting the Friday Night Lights party. I don’t know about NFL players hosting parties, but this is something Browns players could make a ton of money in. (Warren Sapp insists there won’t be any gay porn involved.) (I would have linked “gay porn” to the story, but that would look kind of weird, so here’s the story: Warren Sapp Compares Retirement to Gay Porn

There are a few other parties listed here. The ones hosted by agents like Steinberg’s have no policy allowing public attendance, so just bring some snake oil and they might let you in.

Brady’s Marriage Proposal

He denied it. He’s keeping his sights on Jessica.

Here’s a video of the proposal with some insight on ESPN’s reporting of the incident produced by Dear Tracy P’s Blog

MITCHELL BLATT

Big news, guys! Osi Umenyiora said the Patriots play dirty. Stop complaining, Osi, the Patriots don’t play dirty very often. Only on Sundays.

Regardless of the accuracy of his comments, the big question is, eleven days before the Super Bowl, how will this comment affect the outcome of the Super Bowl? After all, we all know that bulletin-board comments are what determine the outcome of sporting events, not skill level and chemistry of the teams.

The Patriots only went undefeated because of bulletin-board material. As the great journalists on Around the Horn mentioned today, teams have been trashing the Patriots all season, and they keep on winning. Their whole undefeated season was started when people called them cheaters for spying then they were rejuvinated throughout the season with comments on how they interfered with QB signals, ran up the score, and made cheap shots.

Jay Marrioti said it best when he said, “How can this help the Giants… It hasn’t helped anyone else…”

We remember how the Red Sox won the ALCS by manufacturing a fake bulletin-board quote by the Indians.

So, it’s been proven that bulletin-board quotes can affect the outcome of the games in sports, but what about in blogging? Will the escalating feud between Stephen A Smith and every real sports blogger give Smith added fire in his quest to be THE MOST IMPORTANT PERSON ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH?

Smith trashed bloggers last month for having no training, no credibility, and no morals. Further, he said that bloggers shouldn’t have the right to disseminate information to the masses.

Bloggers shot back harshly. My favorite comments came from Love Without Nagel who compared Stephen A talking politics to John McCain talking about rap. Further, they said that Screamin A’s rants disrespect journalism.

There was much debate over how that bulletin-board material would impact Stephen A. As it turns out, it has caused him to launch his own blog: Stephen A’s Blog

The one good thing about his blog is that it isn’t very loud.

Well, his blog got trashed with bulletin-board comments shortly after sports bloggers found out about it:

CHEESE DOODLE has this to say:

CHEESE DOODLE!

Here are more comments:

Remember that time you said the Chargers should kick a field goal on third down because if you miss, you can just kick it again on fourth down?

That was awesome. I hope this blog is that awesome too.

I hate you. I mean it…I really, rwally hate you. I hate you more than I’ve ever hated anything in my life. If I was forced to choose between saving your life and the life of Osama Bin Laden, I’d choose Bin Laden. And then take him out drinking to celebrate your death.

So what I’m really trying to say is your an ass and I along with the rest of the world hate you. I hope you get trampled to death by a herd of rampaging rhinos…because I hate you.

QUITE FRANKLY I’M AMAZED THAT YOUR BLOG ISN’T WRITTEN IN 50 POINT FONT!

Your radio show is the worst thing I have ever heard in my life. It seriously makes me want to die.

What are the chances of Harrold Reynolds taking it over once you get fired?

Stephen, please stop screaming.

- Helen Keller

I love this blog, or should I say, I love everybody ripping you to shreds for everything you have said and everything that you haven’t written about in 3 weeks…

Through 181 comments, the only positive feedback came from fellow asshole-turned-ESPN talker, Jay Mariotti, who said,

Welcome to the world of online blogs, my good friend!

I know it’s Mariotti because 1.) his comment didn’t completely trash Smith, 2.) no one else would call Smith a friend, and 3.) (and most important) Mariotti linked to his online column page, a page that I’m sure his editors probably don’t even link to.

Needless to say, the bulletin-board material contained in most of those comments will certainly give Smtih fire to take down the blogosphere. I fear that sports bloggers have unfortunately paved the road to their own demise by insulting Stephen A…

Other Stephen A Links
Stephen A’s Second Blog Post
Stephen A on Politics

SCOTT JACOBS

I am one to admit when I make a mistake. Namely underestimating teams. So I throw my hat out into the ring and declare you, the New York Giants, as a team I so easily over-looked. You’ve went into Tampa Bay, Dallas, and Green Bay and come out victorious in each one, impressively I might add, and now you have a rematch and a date with destiny’s darlings: the New England Patriots.

Your momentum came following a huge win over the Bills in crappy weather, and you followed that up with a sterling performance against the Patriots, although you fell short. That game changed your season. If you can keep up with the Pats, you can play ball with the big dogs. It’s why Tampa Bay was no real chore for you and the reason that Dallas was a win you could get. But Green Bay? Now that seemed a little too much to ask. In weather that dropped into the negatives, and a windchill that dropped to as low as -24!

But you were undettered. Your QB Eli Manning was mistake free all three games this postseason. Tiki Barber enjoys his desk job. Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw get the credit for taking this team to a very unlikely Super Bowl appearance. Tom Coughlin looked as good as gone early in the year, and now he’s the toast of the town.

And now we get the Northeast Superbowl, live from the Southwest. While it doesn’t sparkle and shine quite like Favre-Brady, it does have some appeal to it. Can the Giants figure out what they couldn’t do in week 17 and repeat their performance from that game, along with a little luck, and win? They got their revenge over Dallas. They got their revenge over Green Bay. And like Lawrence Tynes, last two field goals, it took a third, just like it will take a third revenge shot this post-season to accomplish the unthinkable.

Is this Pittsburgh all over again? The team that goes on the road throughout the playoffs, and comes out so confident that they decide they want to win the whole damn thing? Or is this as far as it goes. I mean, look at it this way: In the last two weeks the Giants have defeated a pair of 13 win teams in hostile conditions. It will take a win over the undefeated, unblemished Patriots to win it all. That would mean that in one month, the Giants beat teams with a combined 42-6 record. Pretty remarkable.

Then again, this run has been pretty remarkable.

They started the season out 0-2 and found themselves on the ropes in Washington down big. I remember watching the ticker on Fox and thinking this team is doomed to a bad year. And then they came back, and I watched that goal line stand. They’ve won every road game ever since, an incredible 10 road wins and counting.

I’m sure they’ll try to wear their roadies in Glendale, cause lord knows, road is where the heart is.

With two weeks to prepare for the playoffs, and a brand new Eli can they do it?

Can they win this final game?


You’ll just have to stay tuned for that one. I don’t give away my predictions that quick.