Super Bowl 48 Was Sub-Par In Most Aspects

On Super Bowl Sunday, 111.5 million people tuned in.

While it was the most-watched Super Bowl ever, it did not live up to the hype that was built up over two weeks. Other parts of the game that did not take place on the field also fell short of the viewers' expectations.

First off, the game.

The Seahawks had the best defense coming into the game. The Broncos had the best offense. When the final gun sounded, the Seahawks looked like the team with the best unit on both sides of the ball.

Peyton Manning's third go-around in the Super Bowl started off in the worst way possible when a cadence error resulted in a bad snap and a safety on the first play. Manning could not do anything against Seattle's defense. Malcolm Smith's pick six of Peyton blew the game open before Bruno Mars and the Red Hot Chili Peppers took the field for halftime, or Harvin's return for a touchdown to start the second half convinced you that a comeback was impossible. 

Second, the Commercials.

If you are like myself, you adjusted your food runs and bathroom breaks so you could see the commercials. The Budweiser "Best Buds" commercial had many feeling that they were in for 30-60 seconds of great entertainment after seeing it earlier this week.

Too bad most of the commercials fell flat with television audiences. If Budweiser waited until the game to show it, they would've ran away with best commercial of the night.


There were a few that stood out.

Thanks to some hateful tweets and comments, the song, "America the Beautiful," looked more like "America the Bigoted" which was featured in the Coca-Cola ad. It featured the patriotic tune being sung in English and several other languages. The commercial, which displayed our history of being a "land of immigrants" and one of different cultures, rubbed conservatives the wrong way and lead to the old "Speak English!" and hashtags such as #F***Coke. America didn't look beautiful in some comment sections.

Side Note: The "Star Spangled Banner" is our national anthem. 

Radio Shack's "The 80s called. They want their store back" ad was brilliant. Have you been in one of their stores in the past few years? It really does feel like an electronics store from the era.

Bringing back 80s icons like ALF, Hulk Hogan, and Boston's favorite mailman, Cliff Clavin, made it memorable. Also, check out their other videos on YouTube. They include individual commercials with the different characters. Ever imagine Cliff covered in EL Wire? Well, there's an interesting fact.

Another ad that stood out was Tim Tebow with T-Mobile. Making light that no NFL team will sign him to a contract, it fit into the mobile company's "No Contract" campaign. I would expect him to be the one to find Bigfoot and take a selfie with him. 

It also gave you another reason to roll your eyes at Skip Bayless, who didn't like that his favorite segment filler did the commercials.

Tebow ads were a terrible idea for him. Tell you why tomorrow 10-12E, ESPN2.

— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) February 3, 2014

In the end, it was Bruno Mars' halftime show that featured a little bit of everything and gave everyone 12 minutes of entertainment that beat out 4 hours of football.

Sure the Red Hot Chili Peppers instruments were not plugged in, but at least they can actually play their instruments (unlike The Monkees). There's a group the older crowd knows about.

Despite the game being a blowout and the commercials giving us little to nothing to remember for years to come, the Super Bowl will always attract a large audience. Even if the product stinks, we all will still tune in.