Of Super Bowl’s and Presidential Perks

This weekend is one of the great gathering days on the calendar in the United States.  Families and friends come together and congregate around the television to watch four-plus hours of advertisements, football and halftime shows.

Come Sunday the American public will fret over which number they have in the five-dollar-per-square house pool, how many cocktail franks to put in the oven, and which beer to stock the fridge with.  The very same thing is also happening over at the White House.  (Okay, maybe not the pool)  The guest list is set, the invites out, and even the beer is picked.

According to reports, the President has chosen a few cases of a Wisconsin beer.   Both the Pale Ale and Amber Ale from the Hinterland Brewery in Green Bay have been shipped from the brewhouse directly to the White House.  Let’s be honest, being able to have a “few cases” shipped straight from a brewery half-way across the nation to your Super Bowl Party must be high on the list of great presidential perks.

Just in case you care, and there is no reason you should, I am going with the President’s apparent pick and taking the Packers.  Enjoy the game!

By Dave McBride

 

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A sincere “thank you” from this sports fan goes to the Cardinals and Steelers for a job well done

The Super Bowl is one of the few sporting events that I grudgingly watch every year.  I am not one who is at all interested in commercials, halftime shows or what former American Idol contestant is singing the national anthem this year.  I am a sports fan, and the fact that most people who watch the game go to the bathroom or get a beer during the actual game itself so they don’t miss the advertisements drives me nuts.

I like football and often times the Super Bowl is a bore, and not only because it usually doesn’t involve my team.  But there I sit with my cocktail weenies, nachos and beer hoping against hope for at least an exciting game so my memories of the event are not reduced to throwing a snowglobe at some poor guy’s crotch or dancing 3-D lizards.

For most of last evening, I was bored.  It was certainly a strange game.  For 3 quarters it was marred by silly penalties and chippy play, and with the exception of an interception return for a touchdown, there wasn’t much to be excited about.  But then all of a sudden, when Larry Fitzgerald broke downfield to cap a terrific comeback by the Arizona Cardinals and give them a very late lead, my attention was captured again and I knew we were in for a wild and fun finish.  As he released the pass headed towards the end zone for victory; Ben Roethlisberger must have thought he was surely going to be the MYP.  That was until Holmes made an acrobatic catch to give the Steelers the championship.

So in the end, after two weeks of hearing about how the Steelers were going to win this easily, we got a nail biter filled some real football heroics.  It may not have been the best played game, as it was certainly filled with a lot of lousy and cheap penalties.  But in the end it was a classic nonetheless.  This may be the one time people remember who lost the Super Bowl as much as they remember who won.  I was rooting for the Steelers at the get-go, but the Cardinals almost turned me around.  It was a tough way to lose, but those guys deserves some serious credit.

Oh, and while we are at it, let us talk about those famous commercials.  I don’t fine people get hit in the groin with heavy objects or going through near death skiing accidents to be at all humorous.  Usually the Budweiser Clydesdales are at the top of my list, and they had a solid showing this year.  But the one that stuck in my mind was this one from Pedigree.

by Dave McBride

What day of the year would you guess sees the highest beer sales?

One of the many great benefits of this thing we call the internet is that if you look around a bit you will find a wealth of fascinating, if perhaps somewhat less then earth shattering, nuggets of information.  And you don’t even have to look that hard. 

Take for example this little piece from Tampa Bay Online, the city hosting this year’s Super Bowl.  Did you know what yearly event brings the highest beer sales?  No, it is not football’s championship game with its parties full of salty snacks and aluminum cans of beer.  It’s not New Years Eve or even my guess, Saint Patrick’s Day with its day long drink fest full of corned beef, whiskey and lots of Guinness.

Actually, according to the Nielsen Company, it is Easter Week?  Now, can anyone reading tell me how this could be?  Do you drink lots of beer on Easter?  Do you know anyone who makes Easter into a holiday filled with drunken fun?  Well, the source of this statistic has obviously looked into this more than I have so I won’t dispute it too much, but it does make me wonder what other people are doing on Easter???

Rare Canadian Floppy Ear

Posted by: David McBride