Monday, November 22

Vera, Chuck and John Madden

When I get older, losing my hair...
I bet Paul McCartney never thought, when he wrote "When I'm Sixty-Four", that he'd be head-lining the Pizza Hut Presents the Tostitos (Nothing Goes Better With Tostitos Than Pepsi) SuperBowl Fed-Ex Half-time Budweiser BudBowl Show, sponsored by The US Army (an army of One).   While I'm a huge Beatles fan, I am not such a fan that I am blinded by McCartney's lack of popular music relevance for the past twenty years, and, therefore, I'm pretty blase about his appearance.  I can pretty much imagine exactly how the performance will go.  It won't be exciting.  It may be fake-exciting, manufactured excitement.  But it won't be exciting.
Obviously, the decision is a result of Janet Jackson's boob job from last year.  They're going Super-Safe this year.  But I'd love it if Paul would reach back into that history of his and resurrect some of the balls and brashness he and the other Beatles have shown.  I'd love him to do something with some raw punk attitude -like stopping in mid-performance, flash a big boner - let's see if Paul Is Dead - to the whole world, flip a bird to the crowd and then walk off.
Actually, that would be awful.  Instead, let's have him sing a medley of his hits (the more 'rockier' ones, please), including the first single from his (I must imagine he has one coming out in January) newest album.
Yawn.



9 comments:

graham said...

That's eminem in 30 years.

Nils said...

Compare and contrast this with The Hip at Grey Cup. I tell ya .. real football brings real entertainment ...

dylan said...

The CFL may have the better entertainment this year but U2, Stevie Wonder, James Brown, and Ella Fitzgerald have played the halftime show of the Super Bowl. And the NFL is the real football the CFL is a fading league that features much inferior play and players. Even the Miami Dolphins would smash the Toronto Argos in a game.

Rob said...

Ouch.

Nils said...

I guess it depends on whether you like the game itself. I find NFL football boring, despite the larger and more skilled players. The CFL game is far more entertaining - but I realize that's a tough sell to kids who grew up being told that anything American is better.

dylan said...

I'm a kid who grew up watching the Edmonton Eskimos win a bunch of Grey Cup's in a row in the late '70's and early '80's. I was never told that the NFL was better because it was American. I came to that conclusion myself after I began watching the NFL in the mid '80's. For that matter the World League or NFL Europe is better than the CFL.
As far as the differences in the rules of the two leagues. I think the NFL's four downs make for a more interesting offence and makes a running game essential. The three downs of the CFL don't increase the offence or result in more exciting plays they basically make the kicking game more important. With all the amazing athletes in the NFL I can't see how you can become bored by it as compared to the CFL. There is no one in the CFL who can make catches like T.O. or Randy Moss, who can run like LaDainian Tomlinson or Priest Holmes, who can throw like Peyton Manning or Brett Favre.

graham said...

I think football should be called handball. The Euro's have it right with what we call soccer. They use their feet a lot. Is American (including Canadian) football named football because you move up the field foot by foot, yard by yard, inch by inch?
I like Ice cream

dylan said...

American Football should be called "stop-start rugby with padding".
I lick Ice Cream

Rob MacD said...

Of course, both Nils and Dylan are right when they say they prefer their stated design of football. "Exciting" or "entertaining" is in the eye of the beholder. I too, was brought up, in the 70's with a CFL only interest. Once I saw the big boys play in the NFL, though, there was no choice.
Personally, I find CFL football to be too pass and kick oriented. While that does increase the excitement of those aspects of the game, it pretty much ignores the running game. I can see where some would find the running aspect to be boring or tedious, gaining a yard here, two yards there. But to me, that is what makes football football.
Apart from the end of this year which saw a resurgance of interest, the tough sell on CFL games over the past 15 years has been quarter-filled stadiums, inept management of teams, a league that's been on life-support, a disparity between good teams and bad teams, a schedule that is inconsistent at best, and out of, what, 8 teams, two that were named The Roughriders.
My disliking of the CFL (and I assume Dylan's) has little to do with American versus Canadian.