The New Orleans Saints won the Super Bowl Sunday night, thanks in part to Tracy Porter's interception, which he ran back for a touchdown.
It's all over, and the New Orleans Saints — a team whose bags-over-the-head years I am not too old to remember — are the Super Bowl champions. Now that the big trophy has been handed out, let's distribute some of the smaller ones.
Best Ad: There were a few that weren't bad, but three stood out. The Snickers ad where Betty White gets pummeled — complete with a great Abe Vigoda kicker; the Letterman-Leno spot, which was the only one all night that I found legitimately surprising; and the adorable and minimalist Google spot that manages to tell a cute little story while highlighting a bunch of actual aspects of Google searching.
In the end, the title goes to Google, because of the powerful tie between the ad and the product, which is often what goes missing in amusing high-profile commercials.
Most Surprising Movie Resemblance: Did anyone else's Super Bowl party become obsessed with repeated shots of Peyton Manning in which he was working a surprising crazy-face and looked exactly like Vincent D'Onofrio in Full Metal Jacket? No? Just us?
Avoiding goat-hood, a very large celebration, and more, after the jump.
Most Surprising Television Resemblance: Roger Daltrey looks more like the Snow Miser every day.
Saying Most Likely To Be So Overused In The Next 48 Hours That It Will No Longer Be Endearing: "Who Dat?" Sigh.
Best Example Of Goat Status Barely Avoided: Saints coach Sean Payton, already in the position of potentially being beaten about the head by sports writers for the next year over a failed fourth down play late in the first half, nevertheless decided to start the second half with an onside kick (the first one ever in the Super Bowl outside the fourth quarter, the announcers were eager to point out). The Saints recovered the ball and went on to score a touchdown, but hoo boy, if that goes differently, that guy is going to be pelted with rotten apples when he gets home. It is a mighty fine line between heroes and goats, and Payton spent the evening playing a dangerous game of "Not touching you! I'm not touching you!" with a very painful future.
Worst Performance By Tattoos: Dear Jeremy Shockey: Know when to say when.
Drew Brees with his son Baylen after the Super Bowl.
Most Adorable Performance By A Baby: Who's wearing ear protection? Who's got the cutest little protected ears? Who does? YOU DO NOM NOM NOM. Drew Brees' son Baylen got some face time at the end of the game, wearing his giant protective gear, and he put all other football babies on notice that it's going to take some serious cuteness to compete with him. With the put-upon New Orleans fans and the pretty quarterback and the team that had been wretched for years finally redeeming itself, all that was missing from the celebration was for Brees to bring out a golden retriever that had recently recovered from arthroscopic surgery and had one of those cones on its head.
Best Example Of Turning On A Dime: One of the things that makes football different from baseball or basketball is how quickly it can change, in spite of not being one of those sports like hockey or soccer where practically nobody ever scores. (Uh, no offense, hockey and soccer.) When the Saints were up a touchdown with a little more than three minutes left and the (up until then) brutally efficient Peyton Manning was marching down the field, it felt like a tie was practically inevitable, and overtime might well favor the somewhat steadier Colts. And then Tracy Porter made the interception and ran 74 yards for a touchdown, and effectively, the game was over.
Most Hysterically Out-Of-Hand Two-Week Parade: That would be the one they're having, and many suspect they're going to have, for about another two weeks in New Orleans, where Super Bowl season and Mardi Gras season may well morph into one massive wave of nutbar enthusiasm. And good for them.
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