Although I didn’t care about the Philadelphia Eagles or Kansas City Eagles, having four squares in a square pool kept me interested in last Sunday’s Super Bowl.
When emotions don’t sway you, looking at both teams and the keys to the game is much easier. Having covered college and the NFL for nearly 20 years, I’ve always believed in two essential factors: teams with dominant defenses and offensive lines will always have the advantage.
The Eagles had the checkmarks on both accounts. While I didn’t make a bet, I did win a square in my square pool. You take your wins when you get them.
While we're talking Super Bowl, I was delighted by the tone of this year’s game. The national pride and support for first responders and the military was incredible. Nobody was burning flags, throwing water bottles at police officers or taking a knee during the National Anthem.
This year’s commercials were well done, except for the Snoop Dogg-Tom Brady “hate” spot. Compared to the upbeat, patriotic theme of the other commercials, it just didn’t fit.
A lot was made of the roaring ovation for President Donald J. Trump during the “Star-Spangled Banner” and the boos for pop star Taylor Swift. In fairness, a Super Bowl isn’t Swift’s crowd. I suspect many fans are tired of the Swift-Travis Kelce relationship constantly interjected into our football coverage. In fairness, if that were a Swift concert, the 14-year-old girls would have loudly cheered her and booed Trump.
And finally, the halftime show was horrible. And that’s being nice. I enjoyed last year’s show featuring Usher, Lil Jon, Alicia Keys, will.i.am, Ludicris, H.E.R. and Sonic Boom of the South. This year’s show was the biggest swing and miss I can remember.
Here’s a thought: try a band or singer who captures a broader swath of the population. Forgive me, but what about Taylor Swift? Or Jelly Roll, George Strait, Garth Brooks, Metallica, AC/DC or Lainey Wilson? If you want to see what great Super Bowl halftimes looked like, YouTube Prince (Feb. 4, 2007, at Miami), Bruce Springsteen (Feb. 1, 2009, at Tampa), U2 (Feb. 3, 2002, at New Orleans) and last year’s show featuring Usher (Feb. 11, 2024, at Las Vegas).
Just think, training camp opens at 4 p.m. on July 14 …
Changing subjects, have you ever noticed when someone asks how you’re doing, you usually respond, “Not bad,” instead of “Good.” Such negativity … It’s amazing, if not scary, to see how some of the far-left Democrats are reacting to the cost-cutting efforts by Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency office. On Tuesday, they resorted to screaming profane insults at Trump in a city park and acting like idiots. What they aren’t saying is which cut, like FEMA sending $59 million to New York City to pay for lodging, security and food for illegal migrants two weeks ago instead of Western Carolina for disaster relief like it was budgeted, $8 million to pay for Politico subscriptions and $2 million for sex changes and “LGBT activism” in Guatemala, they oppose. A Democrat-appointed judge blocked Trump’s attempt to offer federal government employees a buyout to trim the workforce, and the Democrats rejoiced by saying Trump couldn’t go against a judge’s order. They apparently forget when Joe Biden flagrantly ignored the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling against forgiving student loans when he vowed he’d find a different way around it. The old legal saying still holds: when the law is on your side, argue the law; when the facts are on your side, argue the facts; if neither are on your side, pound the table. Or curse in a city park.
