February 04, 2009

Upon Further Review

I've recovered sufficiently from the Super Bowl to offer a few observations. Please indulge me, or not, as you please.

1. Anhedonia. I'm not that kind of doctor, but it seems to me that if you run an interception back one hundred yards for a touchdown--essentially a fourteen-point play--you might be expected to be smiling once you've recovered your breath. Not James Harrison. Nor did he smile while being interviewed after the game. He is an emotionless force of nature. Unless you count rage as an emotion, which I guess it is.

2. One-Yard Personal Foul. If you're going to beat somebody--literally beat him--on the football field, a good time to do it is when you're buried deep, when "half the distance" is measurable in feet, not yards. I'm a charitable soul and am willing to assume that that guy had it coming.

3. The "O Line." Nice of Ben to give a shout out in his post game comments, but I still don't see how "porous" is an effective strategy. They didn't protect you that well, Ben, but yeah, stay on their good side, if they have one. Hint: it's not behind them.

I wonder if they watched the way the defense blocked for Harrison on his 100-yard journey?

4. Fast Willie Parker. Trade bait. Somewhere out there a team can use his considerable talent, but it's not a good match for the Steelers.

5. Bruce Arians. Finally we see some imagination in the offense, aside from the third-and-long strategy that dragged them through the regular season. Apparently the ban on passing the ball prior to third down has been lifted! Let us rejoice. I think the Steelers could do better, though, as do others, apparently. That guy the Steelers used to have was pretty good. Ken something? Does the Rooney Rule allow for the hiring of "arians"?

6. Bruce Springsteen. Pretty good, but anything beats the atonal cryptkeeper debacle of Super Bowl Forty.

7. Santonio Holmes. His post-game interview was a little self-centered and arrogant, but he is a wide receiver, after all, and a little later he spoke at some length about Hines Ward's mentoring. He had a great game and managed to avoid shooting himself in the leg.

4 comments:

Rosemary said...

Regarding Bruce: his crotch-slide into the camera made that the Best. Superbowl. Halftime. Show. Ever. So funny! But I'm glad *that* wasn't in 3D, as were the commercials beforehand.

JB said...

I always glance away during the most scandalous moments of the halftime show. I missed the Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction too, alas. Caught them both on the internet afterward.

Though I've always wondered, why the fascination with the nipple rather than the surrounding territory? After all, the nipple is the part most of us *have*.

Rosemary said...

Alas, I missed *that* Superbowl gaffe. There was some much-hyped thing on another network that we watched during halftime, and of course, now I have no memory of *that*.

Tom said...

I'm really just writing to say that the "word verification" word is "goring." Not "boring," but "goring," but all too likely to be the computer's editorial comment, all the same.