Superbowl XLV

The Sports Aspect:

This was a great game. The Packers were on it at the beginning, holding the Steelers at bay and scoring two touch downs in something like twenty-four seconds -- it was pretty intense. A Packer grabbed the ball/intercepted/whatever and ran with it like a maniac right after the first touchdown.

And then the Steelers began to play. (injuries on the GB side probably didn't help much) They stopped being sloppy and started being dangerous. They started scoring -- at first it was just a field goal, but then there were a few good touchdowns. The gap started closing, and fast. A two point conversion brought it to a six-point game. In other words, if the Steelers scored a touchdown and got the extra point (which is more or less a given), they won. Green Bay'd been on top the whole game, and now, they had two or three minutes to defend themselves from giving it up at the end.

Long story short, they managed to hold out. Green Bay managed to get possession of the ball with about fourty-five seconds left, give or take a few, and that was that.

The Green Bay Packers won Super Bowl XLV with a score of 31-25.

The Non-Sports Aspect:

Christina Aguilera opened with the Star-Spangled Banner. I admit, although I respect her voice, I was frankly disappointed with the performance she gave. She embellished the anthem so much that there were points I could barely tell what song she was singing. I'm not talking the way that Jimi Hendrix did the anthem on guitar - THAT was a GOOD way of embellishing. This was a bad way. She slurred words together and everything. It wasn't very good at all.

The half time show was all right. It was the Black Eyed Peas, being very sparkly with lots of lighted costumes (for them and their scads of dancers). Very Tron. The audio work was pretty bad, though. I actually texted someone to ask if my television was going wonky, and they were like, no. What I heard was a lot of leveling issues, such as Fergie's voice being muted out and then coming back...it's like they couldn't balance it right or something. I will say, though, it was an interesting show. Besides, there's one part I HAVE to give them absolute props for. When I heard "Sweet Child of Mine" playing, I was like, is that Guns n' Roses? What? And then Slash came out of the stage!!! I seriously squealed, pretty much. Huge fan. (Slash is the guitarist for GnR). Also, Fergie's voice really goes well with that song. She does a good parallel to Axl Rose.

The commercials this year were pretty good. Some of them were eh, but some of them were great. My favorites were the Pepsi Max commercials, hands down. There were three of them - the first date one, the dieting one (where the girl keeps taking away food from the guy), and the watercooler one (ends up with a jerk getting a Pepsi Max to the nuts). Also, the Sealy commercial that showed a bunch of couples lying next to each other in bed and then going "it's better on springs" or whatever...that was funny. There were sooo many good commercials. And you can find them all here:

http://msn.foxsports.com/video/shows/super-bowl-commercials-2011

NFL Playoffs - Championships

Packers vs Bears - The Packers had the upper hand in most, if not all, of this game. They clearly outplayed the Bears, though it wasn't a blowout; the game, as a whole, didn't have a lot of scoring to it. The final was 21-14, Packers, making them the NFC Champions and sending them to the Super Bowl.

Jets vs Steelers - Everyone saw this one coming. There was a point where the score was 24-3 Jets, and I believe that may have actually been at halftime. Their defense and offense, compared with the Jets' inability to move the ball down the field (likely due to the Steelers' defense as well as some miscommunications within the team), shut the Jets down. To their credit, though, the Jets came alive towards the end, and were within a touchdown of winning. If they had managed to take possession of the ball in the last two or three minutes and score a touchdown, and then keep Pittsburgh from scoring, they would have won. But this elaborate plan fell through, as Pittsburgh held on to the ball in the critical moments. You knew it was over when Rex Ryan slammed his headset down. The final score was 24-19, Steelers, making them the AFC Champions and sending them to the Super Bowl.

NFL Playoffs - Divisionals Day 1

Ravens vs Steelers - This game seemed to be pretty well fought out. The score was close throughout, pretty much, and for a long time in the fourth quarter, it was tied at 24. Near the end of the fourth quarter, though, the Steelers scored a touchdown, which gave them the necessary boost to win the game (31-24) and move on.

Packers vs Falcons - One could say this was a surprise. Atlanta was the number one seed, while Green Bay was the sixth. And, while the Packers have definitely been strong - after all, they beat the Eagles - I know many were thinking that the number one seed would have the advantage. To the delight of certain other sixth-seeders (cough), the Packers proved that seed number means nothing. They did not defeat the Falcons. They all-out POUNDED the Falcons. The score was pretty close at halftime, but the Packers all but exploded after that. This sixth seed brought the upset, big time, defeating the Falcons 48-21.