Grampa Bay
Tom Brady is a senior citizen by NFL standards, but young Patrick Mahomes was the one who kept falling (even though, to his credit, he kept getting back up). For those who had been craving normalcy, this year’s Super Bowl delivered. There’s nothing more normal than Tom Brady throwing touchdown passes to Gronk, while benefiting from a remarkable performance from his team’s defense; a crew that delivered Mahomes his worst day ever, and proved that football and social media have one thing in common: It’s all about the offensive lines. Brady became the first QB ever to beat two State Farm spokespeople back to back. Plus, he was on a new team in a year with no preseason and 43 years old. To turn that into a seventh Super Bowl win is among the greatest achievements in professional sports. Life isn’t a simulation. Tom Brady is. GQ: Tom Brady Isn’t Supposed to Be Able to Do This.
+ SI: Once Again, Tom Brady Did Exactly What He Had to Do. (If Brady’s going to Disneyland, I think I’ll go to Gisele.)
+ Many watch for the ads. Vulture provides a look at almost all of them. I’d say that Alaska Airlines and Guinness were the best because they acknowledged the pandemic and this moment. GM and Will Ferrell had one of the funnier ads that ended with the line “We’re coming Norway. (Meanwhile, Norway was like, “You’re not coming here until you get Covid under control.”). Amazon’s ad featuring Michael B Jordan as an Alexa assistant was also pretty awesome. Bruce Springsteen’s Jeep ad had the best message (Reuniting America) and the best overall quality. But it’s just too weird seeing the Boss in a commercial (and equally weird seeing him in a Cowboy hat). And though it was pretty good, the most unrealistic commercial featured John Travolta making a Tik Tok with his daughter…no daughter with a dad that age would ever agree to be seen in public with him. What’s next: asking him if she can wear his denim jacket from is days playing Barbarino? People can’t seem to decide if the Oatly ad was the best or worst thing ever. (Hint: Everyone knows what Oatly is now.) And someone noticed that two of the Super Bowl ads used the same stock footage. (I’m not pointing fingers. I plan to use the exact same intro when Brady wins the Super Bowl next year.)
+ I wasn’t a big fan of The Weeknd’s halftime show; and since it was sponsored by Pepsi, I was surprised that he was dressed as a Coke. (After the performance, The Wknd, as he’s now known, was mugged by the masked men and robbed of two more vowels.)
+ All of the pregame performances were solid, including H.E.R. jamming America the Beautiful and Jazmine Sullivan and Eric Church on the National Anthem.
+ Kevin Harlan was good calling the action when a streaker took the field. (There’s probably no achievement less impressive than streaking with your clothes on and then sliding just before reaching the end zone.)
