The Supa Bow: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Ok, yes, it’s been a while.  Nobody reads this anyway…

Enjoyed the Supa Bow last night. 

The Good:

• OPERA, BABY!!!!  Renée Fleming, you NAILED IT, girl!  Thank you!  Fabulous!  What a diva!  If you missed Renée’s dazzling, goose-bump-inducing performance, here ya go:  Renee Fleming Super Bowl 2014 National Anthem
• “The 80’s called—they want their store back!”  My favorite of all the commercials:  Radio Shack, you rock.  I'm giving you another chance.
• General Mills and Coke—more in the main body of the post, see below.

The Bad:

• The Broncos.  Are you kidding me???  Well, unlike the Cowboys, Texans, and Saints, they were actually IN THE BUILDING.  At least guys who LOOKED like the Broncos were in the building….
• The NJ Transit Authority thinking they could get that many people to and from the games on the train.  REALLY?  REALLY?

The Ugly:

• All the Xenophobic, homophobic HATE that is spewing forth from all the usual suspects.  I always try to keep this blog a-political, but not this time.

General Mills:

The Cheerios family was insufferably adorable. As in all commercials, you have a handsome Dad, a lovely Mom, and an adorable moppet. Like my friend Jim Harrington over at Good Counsel, I'm a bit surprised that ad is "brave" and "daring" on the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act.

But wait--I'm not surprised. I live in the south (a liberal part of it, as that goes, but the south nonetheless). I also admit, I had seen the first ad (they've done this family before), and I had to watch it twice to figure out what was "wrong" with it...then I had to watch it again just to be sure. It literally didn't register....ok, let’s see, you’ve got Mom, Dad, and a kid.  Ok?  Umm….yeah, so?

The bigots are out in force opposing it. 

Coke: I take it all back. I was a bit offended by their "homophobic coke can" Sochi ad (was big in Africa...Coke made the Africans take it down when they realized it existed). Coca-Cola and Pepsi have both been in the forefront of LGBT rights. Not sure what the conservatives will have left to drink. Maybe water is homophobic?

I loved "I'd like to teach the world to sing". Still do (click the link). I loved this current ad, too. I love living in Houston, which is a melting pot if ever there was one. I've frequently said, when I walk into my friendly local H-E-B (grocery store), to get from the front of the store to the back, you hear Ebonics, Farsi, Mandarin, Hindi, English and of course Espanol (along with a goodly selection of "Spanglish"--the nice man who does my yard effectively speaks "Spanglish"--his college-student son sounds like every other teenager in Houston...Javier and I (same age) just stand there wisely, shaking our heads, while he talks to his budz in that language all the teens seem to speak these days....

One of my favorite things circulating facebook right now is the one about the irate caller demanding that the other person speak like a "real American!" She tells him, "I am, sir. I am speaking Navajo." How quickly the Prescotts, the O'Briens, the Olsons, the Beauchamps, the Schmidt's, and the Gonzalez's forget that their ancestors were once the "foreigners" here....

One more thing about “America the Beautiful”—it was written by Katherine Lee Bates.  Bates’ sexuality is basically not discussed, but she lived for many years with her “close friend”, another woman.  It is widely believed that they were a lesbian couple.  So, conservatives, stick THAT in your pipe and smoke it!

Favorite quote about the Supa Bow:  “There won’t be an ounce of “grass” left in Seattle!”

 

Personal note:  Yes, I am boycotting the Sochi Olympics.  I know it won’t make any difference, but it does to me.  F-you, Putin.