Obligatory Super Bowl observations, etc.

I have not been much of a football fan since Jerry Jones usurped the Dallas Cowboys, moved his despicable self and his mouth to Texas, and proceeded to ruin the best football organization ever, including the summary dismissal and flagrantly disrespectful treatment of coach Tom Landry. Harsh, you say? A little bitter, still, perhaps? I know, it's bad to hold a grudge and I'm sure I'll get over it eventually. When I'm dead and gone to Heaven.

I do like hockey and was an avid Dallas Stars fan, for several years. That is one of the very best sports to see live and in person. But it's hard to keep a long-distance love alive, as they say. The closest NHL team to where I live now is the Columbus Bluejackets. And, I'm sorry, but that is simply too stupid a name for me to get excited about. I am not going to drive 2 hours, pay $200-plus, etc., to watch a team named after a monochromatic outerwear garment.

But, hey, that was a great football game yesterday. I've only been following the Colts since the playoffs began, and casually at that. But, with the game against the Patriots a couple of weeks ago and the Super Bowl yesterday…I think I’m becoming a fan. And yes, Hoosierland is partying like it was 1999.

Which brings me to Prince’s performance at half-time. To even attempt what he did in that downpour shows exemplary professionalism, first of all. The staging, the lighting, the pyrotechnics, and all of the technical stuff seemed to work flawlessly, as far as I could tell. And musically, it was so right on that it was shocking. Always a gifted composer, producer, and performer, Prince demonstrated why he remains at the top of his game after all these years. To the casual observer, it may have looked like just another super-cool Super Bowl rock show, but the focus, the intensity, the skill, and the resources necessary to make that happen in the middle of a football field in the rain are staggering. And I am referring not only to Prince, his band and his backline staff, but whoever the production company was that actually did the design, the engineering, and the grunt work to make that show work. Bravo! Those guys absolutely rock.

Most of the commercials were fun, too. Some were mind-numbingly stupid, like GoDaddy.com’s and the one where the guy got hit in the head with a rock. But the fan-produced Dorito’s commercial was great, I thought, and I liked the CareerBuilder.com commercial, too, with the business guys in the jungle.