Super Bowl LV

With all the talk about the age difference between the quarterbacks, it turns out the old man still has what it takes. Forty three year old Tom Brady lead the Tampa Bay Buccaneers past 25-year-old Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs 31 to 9.

I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know.

What you may not know, though, is just how important Tom Brady is to this Tampa Bay team. His leadership. “We will win” mentality. That’s actually what Brady would text his teammates all week before the Super Bowl.

Sports Illustrated reported that Bucs running back Leonard Fournette and the rest of the team got that text every night at 11pm. Clearly, it worked.

What was predicted to be a close game wasn’t. It was a blowout. As games go, though, it was kinda boring. Not much excitement. I wonder how many people actually stayed with it. Curious to see the final raitings.

The commercials were interesting. The Scott’s Miracle-Gro ad made made me laugh. It showed Travolta dancing and Martha Stewart gardening. The CEO told CNBC that his company’s first-ever Super Bowl ad was meant to grow their market. The pandemic quarantine caused a lot of folks to try gardening. Twenty million new customers.

The Jeep/Springsteen ad got to me. Bruce Springsteen in the exact middle of the country calling for unity. Beautifully done.

However, my favorite ad never actually played. It was banned. The Tom Brady/ Rob Gronkowski T-Mobile commercial. If you haven’t seen it, go watch it. It has to do with spotty cell service. Brilliant. “Football pants.”

So, why was it banned? Adweek says the commercial was rejected because of a protected rights deal with Verizon. But… the very similar Adam Levine, Gwen Stefani, Blake Shelton ad did run during the game. Doesn’t matter. The Brady/Gronk ad lives all over the internet. “Football pants.”

The big winner of the night? Tampa. The town looked so good. So proud of all the folks that put this event together. In a pandemic, they made it work.

Now, the parade. Speculation is it will be a boat parade like the Lightning had when they won the Stanley Cup. Should be fun.

Now, let’s all get some sleep. And put on our “football pants.”

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