Fourth and Long

Published 2:57 pm Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Since I began writing this column years ago it has become an annual tradition of sorts that the first column I write following the Super Bowl is dedicated to detailing my thoughts on the most important aspects of the big game.

This essentially entails my take on the funniest commercials and overall opinion of the halftime show. This year’s column will be no different. Green Bay won and in doing so proved me and the other Favre fanatics wrong by showing that they can in fact return the Lombardi trophy to title town without number 4 under center.

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If you want to read about Roger’s glory or the Packers Joy there are about a million columns written about it available across the globe. I suggest we move on to the important stuff instead.

My favorite commercial was definitely the Volkswagen commercial with the little boy dressed as Darth Vader.

The one-minute spot cost approximately 5.8 million for 60 seconds of airtime and made the most of it with what I believe was the funniest of all the commercials.

Second place goes to Chrysler for their Eminem’s Detroit commercial. This one certainly wasn’t funny like the Volkswagen commercial, but it did feature Eminem who I feel is a musical genius.

Detroit is as much Eminem (aka Marshal Mathers) as Eminem is Detroit and that makes him the perfect fit as a spokesman for Chrysler. Detroit is suffering more than most in a tough economy and its ability to persevere is what Chrysler hopes consumers associate with their company.

As for me, it was a pretty awesome car teamed with the most talented lyricist alive. That’s enough for me.

The Doritos commercial proved to be the most shocking. Maybe it was just me, but I couldn’t help but feel a little weirded out at the sight of one coworker consume the Dorito dust off another coworker. That’s just gross.

The Snickers ‘n Chainsaws commercial had the best recovery. It started a little slow, but Rosanne’s appearance at the end provided some comic relief and the comment regarding her front hurting was the best one-liner of the day.

The commercials were great, but I have to admit to be a bit disappointed with the halftime show. Maybe it’s just me but the Black Eyed Peas just aren’t that impressive. They make decent workout music, but not any that I would listen to.

The appearance of Slash from Guns N Roses earned a cheer from the crowd at the Super Bowl party I was at. For diehard GNR fans like me, his addition alone was almost enough to redeem the Black Eyed Peas for the rest of the performance, but only almost.

Maybe I have finally reached the age where I stop identifying with younger generation’s music. I’ll save that for another column on another day.

David Friedman is a long-time contributor to the Roanoke-Chowan News Herald. A Bertie High School graduate, he and his wife currently reside in Wilmington. David can be reached via e-mail at dave@gate811.net.