Super Sunday

Sunday was a great day for sports, only marred by a truly tacky afternoon. In the pre-dawn hours was the Australian Opens final with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. Luckily the Tennis Channel ran it again starting at 9am and even knowing who won I still couldn’t move until it finished more than four hours later. Federer, ranked 1st was gunning for his 14th grand slam win which would tie Pete Sampras for the most grand slam wins. He was also well rested after an easy three set semi-final on Thursday. His opponent, Rafael Nadal, however, had played only 42 hours earlier in a grueling 5 match set to win his semi-finals in the longest match ever played in Australian Open history (5+ hours).

This match went the full five sets and is being called one of the greatest final matches ever played. And it was. After more than four hours of them fighting for every point, it was the more rested Federer who visibly wilted allowing the younger Nadal to be the winner thus depriving Federer of his 14th grand slam win. Until that last set it was an exciting match with more break points than either had had through the whole tournament. The sheer power, stamina and speed of Nadal was truly impressive. And I am not sure if I have ever seen a greater display of sportsmanship than during the award ceremony. Federer, so disappointed in his loss and so exhausted physically, emotionally and mentally, could not stop crying as the crowds cheered him, shouting they loved him while Nadal comforted him with a hug. Wow.

After tennis I turned on the pre-game show. Was that Keith Olbermann I saw? It was only for a second but I wasn’t going to wait to see if it was him so I changed the channel. I tried again half hour later and what was Tina Fey doing there? Ugh, I switched again. A bit later I turned it on and saw Springsteen’s interview. Not impressed. Wait, there’s Olbermann again! What was a political commentator doing on a sports show? Luckily my phone rang so I put Olbermann on mute and didn’t have to listen to him although simply looking at that man was bad enough.

And then there was the interview with Obama. I thought he dropped the ball. I admit that I despise both Obama and Lauer but I still think they blew it. The Super Bowl game is no place for serious politics and I thought they were completely out of line. I also think Obama was a bit too relaxed for he said things he really shouldn’t have said. The worst, though, was when Obama said he had to support the Stealers because their owner supported him. What?! No wonder he won Pennsylvania with the Stealer’s iconic owner campaigning for him in steel mills! And if that wasn’t bad enough, it was made worse by the fact that the opposing team just happened to come from McCain’s home state. So to say he was cheering for Pittsburgh was simply tacky. That just isn’t done as the President should always appear to be above the fray and not have favorites, except maybe his home state team. Worst yet, he didn’t end the interview by wishing both teams good luck – something every President has done, until, well, Obama. This was very unpresidential and showed that beneath his veneer lies a pay to play Chicago politician who will only support those who support him, which is really no different than ex-governor Blago.

Then there was the game itself. Wow. People will be talking about this one for a long time. It was packed with outrageous plays from a 100 yard run back for a touchdown, the safety of all things and all of the excitement in the last quarter. The only downside was the many penalties earned by both teams. If the players had behaved themselves it might have been a very different game. And I hope the Steeler’s player shown punching the back of a downed Cardinal gets heavily fined for that kind of behavior cannot be tolerated. But all in all it was a terrific game.

Of course you can’t talk about Super Bowl Sunday without mentioning the commercials. Most were aimed at 15 year old boys and there was a lot of pratt falls, groin injuries and people getting hit. Worst ads for me were the talking flowers, GE’s scarecrow and H&R Block’s ad with the creepy dead man. On the other hand, I really liked the moose one, the Coke ad, the adopt a pet ads and of course the Clysdale commercials. But my favorite had to be the Cheetah’s ad. I will even admit that the trailers looked really good for some of the upcoming movies and piqued my interest. But most of all there was the game. I didn't think the Super Bowl was going to match the earlier tennis match in sheer excitement and intensity. I was wrong.

A great day for sports. Too bad NBC just couldn’t help advancing their liberal views and marred the day by bringing in politics. Shame on them.