Sporting Event Featuring Commercials

Yes folks some sort of sporting event is occuring later today. Super something or other. And while I don't know what teams are playing, I believe that trailers for X-Men 2, and the first Matrix sequel are both supposed to air during the 2 million dollar 30 second ad spots. So this time around, you can tivo in reverse!

$2m for 30 secs?

[Big Mark]

That's a bit foolish. Go make an hour-and-a-half long, ahem, "adult feature" for $100k.

Much more fun, and so much cheaper!

-Mark

Re:$2m for 30 secs?

[grondu]

Go make an hour-and-a-half long, ahem, "adult feature" for $100k.

That's not a sporting event; it's a spurting event.

Re:$2m for 30 secs?

[Rend Flesh]

What Really Pisses me off, is that my government will pay over 4 million dollars to air National Drug Policy ads. These are the ads (I should say propaganda) that infer that If I buy pot from someone I am supporting a terrorist. If I buy pot from someone, I am killing people; the fact of the matter is prohibition supports terrorism against our own citizens and the terrorists can be labeled with cute little acronyms like DEA, ATF, and CIA. Let's not forget who trained and supported Osama while he was fighting against the Soviet Union back in the 80's. As most people don't realize, the majority of pot is grown right here in America, and purchased from friends and family or gown in their own basements and attics. So the ads should actually go something like this: Fight terrorism, grow your own pot! It's time we catch up with the rest of the world and realize that Medical Marijuana provides the ability to relieve the pain of many sufferers with debilitating illnesses such as Multiple Sclerosis and Parkinson's disease.

OT - Re:$2m for 30 secs?

[rewster]

It's time we catch up with the rest of the world and realize that Medical Marijuana provides the ability to relieve the pain of many sufferers with debilitating illnesses such as Multiple Sclerosis and Parkinson's disease.

And which of these do you have?

Re:OT - Re:$2m for 30 secs?

[elvum]

Ah yes, "proof by attacking the person [intrepidsoftware.com]".

So...

[abulafia]

Are you asserting that because people who don't medically need pot will use it, it should be denied to people who medically need it? You seem to be.

Seriously, everybody assumes that since someone is - coincidentally - furthering the interests of people who are in pain, they're doing the world a big favor, when they're probably in it for themselves.
I'm running a business hoping to make money. Does that mean that when I open source things, I'm not doing something good? Think before answering.

By the way, can you explain in clear, concise terms why pot _should_ be illegal?

Re:So...

[dytin]

By the way, can you explain in clear, concise terms why pot _should_ be illegal?

Explain to me first why it should. Studies have shown the kind of damage it does to the human brain - so tell me how that's beneficial to anyone? And why people with certain diseases should be allowed to use it, then?

Yes, I'm sure that there have been plenty of studies that show that an excess of pot is bad for you in some way. But there have also been plenty of studies that show that an excess of alcohol is bad for you. Should we go back to the days of the alcohol prohibition? In fact there have been studies that show that an excess of food, exercise, sex and even water can be bad for you. Should we ban those too? I'm sorry, but the burden of proof is on your side.

Re:So...

[abulafia]

Me: Are you asserting that because people who don't medically need pot will use it, it should be denied to people who medically need it? You seem to be.

rewster: I have yet to see a reasonable argument why anyone "needs" it.

Pot has been shown numerous times to be beneficial for a number of maladies not addressed by other medication. I'm not going to cite links becuase I'm sure you're aware of them. If not, Google is your pal.

Me: By the way, can you explain in clear, concise terms why pot _should_ be illegal?

rewster: Explain to me first why it should. Studies have shown the kind of damage it does to the human brain - so tell me how that's beneficial to anyone? And why people with certain diseases should be allowed to use it, then?

Ok, here is why is should be legal. I'm holding you to your side of the bargain - you have to explain in clear, concise terms why pot should be illegal.

It should be legal because we live in a country based on the concept that the individual knows best what is good for them. Roughly, one should be able to go to hell in thier own way, so long as they don't take others with them. We allow people do drive motorcycles, have dangerous sex, climb rocks, drink too much, and drop out of school. Even if pot were so harmful that it was worse that alcohol or cigarettes, it should still be legal. That the drug trade is dangerous to others is a self-referential argument - if it were legal, there wouldn't be crime surrounding the trade.

So, now it is your turn - please explain in clear, concise turms why pot should be illegal. I accepted your turn around, and answered you. Please pay me the same respect.

-j

Re:OT - Re:$2m for 30 secs?

[kmellis]

Well, I don't smoke pot and haven't since I tried it 25 years ago when I was in junior high. And that's the only illegal drug I've ever used in my entire life. But not only do I support medical marijuana, I also support legalized marijuana and the legalization of some other recreational drugs.

So, maybe most people who advocate some sort of controversial political position are doing so in self interest, but not all of them. In this case, and others, I'm certainly not.

Re:OT - Re:$2m for 30 secs?

[kmellis]

"This might sound like a stupid question.. but.. why would you fight for a right that you don't intend to use?"

Because I want to live in a just and rational society? The fact that most people only fight for rights that they have a vested interest in protecting is, well, very sad.

"If you want to worry about rights that are disappearing then join the EFF and tell companies to stop telling us how to use the media we buy from them. Or even better, go to a third world country and observe those that can't afford food much dream of pot."

Well, I am a member of the EFF. That one happens to be in my self interest. But I'm also a member of the NARAL, and I don't have a uterus. Let's see, I'm also in the ACLU, but I'm an American so that makes selfish sense. Hmm, I'm also a member of GLAAD, but I'm heterosexual. Weird. I'm a member of Amnesty International, too, although I've never been a political prisoner. I've been outspoken against the Taliban since the beginning of their regime, and I was never forced to wear a burka or stop going to school (or get medical care). I have always supported NAFTA primarily because it transfers desperately needed capital to Mexico, and only secondarily because I believe that it eventually increases wealth north of the border.

I am informed and outspoken about the starving people in Ethiopa and Zimbabwe, and about the millions of people who have died of AIDS in Africa. But I'm neither African, nor starving, nor HIV-positive.

I can go on.

I don't just want to live in a just and rational society, I want to live in a just and rational world. Why?

At the beginning of Aristotle's "Nichomachean Ethics", he begins an argument by pointing out that at some basic level doing what is most in the interests of encouraging our own "well-being" is what is self-evidently the "right" thing to do. He then goes on to show how "well-being" cannot be restricted to merely immediate gratification and health. He asks, all things being equal, would you prefer that your descendents be healthy and happy? And if you prefer that, then isn't that part of the telos of "well-being"? Philosophers for thousands of years have reiterated or amplified and improved this argument. Quite simply, I don't perceive my well-being to be independent of everyone else's.

Re:$2m for 30 secs?

[Saeger]

If you want to fight the terr-arr-ists, make sure you buy your crack cocaine [guerrillanews.com] from the CIA [pbs.org]. They need all the funding they can get above-and-beyond their normal daily pork allowance. :-)

--

Re:$2m for 30 secs?

[Alsee]

So the ads should actually go something like this: Fight terrorism, grow your own pot!

That's a pretty cool idea! I'll scrounge up a video camera and the proper contract to air a commercial during the superbowl. You scrounge up $2 million and we're all set! :)

-

Re:$2m for 30 secs?

[BigJimSlade]

That's a bit foolish. Go make an hour-and-a-half long, ahem, "adult feature" for $100k.

Of course, you only need about 30 seconds of that...

Mind you, the game will be good!

[MtViewGuy]

Fortunately, unlike many past Super Bowls, the game will be good. =)

Expect a slugfest with the Raiders finally winning 24-21 on a late TD.

And yes, I will be watching the ads, too. ;-) I for one am definitely wanting to see what the previews for the upcoming summer movies will be like.

Re:Mind you, the game will be good!

[drunkmonk]

You've got to admit that Titans - Rams was about the best Super Bowl ever. I've never, ever, been on the edge of my seat at the end of the big game.

Wow, talking about football on Slashdot. *tilt*

Re:Mind you, the game will be good!

[jgerman]

Hell it was... '91 Giants/Bills is considered the best super bowl ever. Thanks to Scott Norwood's nail biting wide right field goal miss to lose the game. I think the guys is a car salesman somewhere now. Second only to Ryan Leaf as NFL fuckup of all time. ;)

Re:Mind you, the game will be good!

[dmorin]

Expect a slugfest with the Raiders finally winning 24-21 on a late TD.

Nonono, you see, it'll be a field goal in overtime, and the Patriots win.

Duane, living in the past....:)

Re:Mind you, the game will be good!

[the eric conspiracy]

It is sort of odd though that the field goal kicker wears number 4.

Re:Mind you, the game will be good!

[smnolde]

Qualify for bragging and boasting rights on irc.freenode.net #superbowl

Re:Mind you, the game will be good!

[sielwolf]

True. Although you got the score wrong: 17-14 Bucs.

Re:Mind you, the game will be good!

[SonicBurst]

Actually, I saw a blurb on fark.com the other day mentioning that someone set a Raiders vs. Bucs game in Gameday 2003 on a PS2, and (I'm assuming both teams were computer played) the computer predicted a 28-8 Bucs victory.

The scary part is that in the previous 7 times they've done this, they were right every time! Which thoroughly sucks for us Raiders fans! Go Raiders!

Re:Mind you, the game will be good!

[leviramsey]

In fact I beleive two players (one from each team) play the game against each other two days or so before the actual SB. It's called "the game before the game" and it has predicted the winners 6 out of the last 7 times I beleive. This year it was Keenan McCardell vs. Ronde Barber and McCardell won.

Both McCardell and Barber are Buccaneers.

I hear the authorities are worried about terrorism

[Space Coyote]

... But I'd be much more worried about Raiders fans.

Dupe...

[Anonymous Coward]

Wasn't this posted last year?

"Sporting Event"

[benb]

Is that the political correct term for Superbowl, to not offend fans of other sports?

Superbowl

[pommiekiwifruit]

What sport is that then? Ten-pin bowling? We have a lot of superbowls in london (it is a chain) but I can't remember them getting much television coverage.

"Super Bowl" is trademarked

[Motherfucking Shit]

"Super Bowl" is a trademark [uspto.gov] of the National Football League [nfl.com]. This is why most radio and TV ads you hear and see relating to the Super Bowl don't use the official name, but instead call it something like the "Big Game."

Re:"Super Bowl" is trademarked

[leviramsey]

However, it is legal to use "Super Bowl" in news coverage of the event. However, even if you are a media outlet doing news coverage, you can't use "Super Bowl" in, say, your advertising, unless you are an NFL sponsor. Thus, CBS, ABC, and FOX can use the phrase "Super Bowl" in their ads, but the other networks cannot (I'm not sure how cable nets, like TNN, ESPN, and Fox Sports Net are handled), Coors Light can but Budweiser cannot, Reebok can but Nike cannot, Cadillac can but Toyota cannot, Pepsi can but Coke can't and so forth.

Re:"Super Bowl" is trademarked

[Blimey85]

ESPN has a contract with the NFL (and pretty much every other sports association). They can talk about it, disseminate information, record it for their own personal use, yadda yadda yadda.

Not sure about TNN or Fox Sports Net.

The Dallas Cowboys a few years back, cut a deal with Nike even though the league had a deal with Reebok... I wonder if Nike would have been able to advertise using the Super Bowl name had the Cowboys been in the Super Bowl that year... Not sure how that would have worked.

Anyways, to the topic at hand:

Unfortunately I won't get to enjoy the commercials live this year. I'm gonna be outside working on some MTB trails but I'll tape it and watch them tonight when I get back. Since I don't particularly like either team, I'm not very excited about watching the game... which sucks because I usually really enjoy football. I did see some great college games this past season though so I'm good for another however many months until next season starts.

Re:"Sporting Event"

[benb]

You can always *refer* to something using the trademarked game. All the trademark prevents is you calling a *similar* thing (not from the company owning the trademark) with that trademarked name.

"Ford Explorer" is most likely trademarked. Of course I can call Ford Explorers that way. I may not sell my own car under the name "Ford Explorer".

Re:"Sporting Event"

[Anonymous Coward]

Since they don't use a ball and don't play with their feet, I wonder what compelled them to highjack the name "football" for it.
What's wrong with more accurately descriptive terms, like "Hand-oval-thingy", or "Gay Rugby"?

How the use of the term football should be decided

[red-beard's]

Ouch ... "Gay Rugby" Thats a bit harsh . How about we take a soccer team and pit them up against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in a game of real american football (no pads) . Then we see who is standing at the end . The winner gets the official use of football for their sport and the looser has to use "The fanciful fairy ball ballet" . Sounds fair to me .

Re:"Sporting Event"

[leviramsey]

American Football has as much right to the name "football" as Association Football, Rugby Football, or Aussie Rules Football: they all stem from a common game that evolved over the centuries. Think of this proto-game as the original Unix, which gave rise to different OS's like Linux, the BSD family, and bizarro ones like AIX.

Re:"Sporting Event"

[Graff]

Since they don't use a ball and don't play with their feet

First of all, from the American Heritage Dictionary (by way of Dictionary.com [reference.com]):

Ball

2. Sports.

a. Any of various rounded, movable objects used in various athletic activities and games.

So a football is indeed, a ball.

Secondly you can use your feet at pretty much any time during play to move the football. Many times you can also use your hands or really any part of your body to move it. Given the choice between holding the ball and kicking it you will probably rather hold the ball rather than kick it but that doesn't stop you from doing either. In fact there are some times when you have to use your feet, such as kickoffs.

So the sport does have some right to be called football. It could more accurately be called "Foot and Hand Prolate Spheroid [unitmath.com]", but that's a lot more cumbersome and I don't think it will catch on. :)

T-3

[GMontag]

On FoxNews [foxnews.com] this AM they mentioned the commercials for Terminator 3 and The Hulk are going to be fetured too!

Re:T-3

[digidave]

I hate doing "me too" posts, but gawd was that T-3 trailer horrible. The new Terminator is a woman and my favourite line from Arnie is, "She'll be back". Talk about lame.

Re:T-3

[GMontag]

A woman? Yes?

Is it Ann Coulter (always referred to on my website as "the hottest chick on earth")? Or maybe the chick from "Species" and "Species II"?

Speaking of movies, I just ordered the 1956 release of "1984" (check my website, there is a link to it, can't remember the affiliate program at this writing and it did take a lot of hunting to find an outlet that carries this version). It was my first exposure to Orwell, was in the 1960's when I saw it. Has Donald Plesance as the dippy neighbor of Winston Smith that will rat out anybody when given a cross look.

The 1956 version obliterates the 1984 release of "1984", which was not all that bad, just was not that good either.

I should have a fresh review of it in my Journal shortly after arrival.

I'm sure all the good commercials

[jcurious]

will find thier way online during/after the superbowl.. why waste my tivo hours with this?

some are even online right now:
http://www.superbowl-ads.com/

wtf! tv commercials in internet

[Fuzzums]

We're fighting spam, bannerads and god knows what more and now there are sites devoted only to tv-commercials?

What a world...

Re:wtf! tv commercials in internet

[handsomepete]

"We're fighting spam, bannerads and god knows what more and now there are sites devoted only to tv-commercials?"

I think that's a Good Thing. The sooner that advertisers realize that we enjoy and watch/discuss *good* ads, the more likely it is that we'll be able to avoid even more invasive forms of advertising (i.e. TV popups/in-show product advertising). I'll gladly host a commercials FTP site if it'll keep me from getting a TV popup for Cheerios over some PG lesbian scene on Fox. Of course, the gravy is getting to see entertaining commercials instead of the drab look-at-this-SUV-climbing-an-incline sort of crap. That's just me, though...

Sporting events

[ndnet]

Sadly, I have to work today especially because of this event, so I won't get the chance to see the Ads. Now, as soon as there is the standard internet archive up, just point me at it.

This is the first I've heard of it...

[sm.arson]

Honestly, I didn't even know that it was football season.

After I stopped watching TV about 2 years ago, I've been increasingly out of sync with popular culture. I just don't have time for all that extra information that is extraneous to my work.

More and more of my "news" comes from /., and I'm not sure if that's good or bad...

I heard about it too.

[Fat Casper]

A group of east coast buccaneers is going to be fighting a group of western raiders. Arrrrr!

Re:I heard about it too.

[gilroy]

Blockquoth the poster:

A group of east coast buccaneers is going to be fighting a group of western raiders. Arrrrr!

Wait... Is this some sort of RIAA-sponsored documentary?

Re:I heard about it too.

[Alsee]

The RIAA lobbyists are storming Washington at this very moment demanding something be done about the rampant piracy situation.

-

Re:Gangs of... East and West??

[Tim Browse]

Oh and heaven help me but who wouldn't spend whatever amount time is necessary to get the chance to see Leonardo DiCaprio get creamed by large angry men...

It's just possible that you may want to rephrase that :-)

Tim

I have all of you nerds beaten -

[Omkar]

I'm from Ohio and I don't even know how the game is played!

Re:I have all of you nerds beaten -

[AKnightCowboy]

I'm from Ohio and I don't even know how the game is played!

Don't feel so bad, neither do the Browns or the Bengals. (I'm from Cleveland so I can say that. :-)

Re:I have all of you nerds beaten -

[Deagol]

Don't feel so bad, neither do the Browns or the Bengals.

"They're shitty!"

Ooops! wrong team. :) I was born in columbus, so I can dis on Ohio teams, too.

Re:I have all of you nerds beaten -

[edmo]

" I'm from Ohio and I don't even know how the game is played!"

You know the funny thing about that? Most of the fans don't know the rules either.
I was never one for watching sports, but I have asked my roommates about football, mostly to understand how they can waste their time watching it(no offense intended to any fans)... what I learned suprised me, namely that they didn't know the rules and simply watched it because that's what they always have done...

Re:I have all of you nerds beaten -

[buckeyeguy]

That is pretty pathetic, unless you're female. You are hereby exiled to Kentucky.

Football Vs. Baseball ??

[handy_vandal]

How about a football team versus a baseball team?

Football players are big hulking guys wearing body armor and helmets -- baseball players are smaller and unarmored, but they've got bats.

Should be an interesting match ....

Re:Football Vs. Baseball ??

[doug]

I imagine the the sport he had in mind was either "mass melee" or "drunken brawl". The only other thing I can think of where shoulder pads and bats would be useful is "calvin ball" and I don't think most pro athletes have the imagination to handle that one.

drink, fight, repeat as necessary

[handy_vandal]

First "drunken brawl" ... then "mass melee".

Re:Football Vs. Baseball ??

[The FooMiester]

How about having them play something like this! [pennsic.net]

It's not scripted, and neither side would have a real advantage. And I'm sure the unarmed football players could find some swords or polearms laying around to use.

What the...

[Rhinobird]

I heard it was the buccaneers vs. the raiders...suddenly I have in my head this picture of Blackbeard the Pirate fighting Atilla the Hun.

The advertisers win again!

[Motherfucking Shit]

I'm a pasty-white geek type, so I don't typically watch sporting events. OK, maybe some hockey now and then in the hopes that someone gets his teeth knocked out by a puck moving at 90mph or his jugular severed by an errant ice skate on live TV, resulting in copious amounts of blood. OK, so I watch NASCAR, too, for the wrecks. I don't normally watch football, though, it just never interested me.

But... A commercial for X-Men 2? Will the lovely Anna Paquin be in the sequel? Will she be in the commercial? Sigh, now I'll have to watch in order to find out. Damn advertisers, they figured out how to make a geek watch football!!

What's next, they'll start having the Olsen Twins host golf?

Re:The advertisers win again!

[Graff]

A commercial for X-Men 2? Will the lovely Anna Paquin be in the sequel? Will she be in the commercial?

Yes, she will be in X-Men 2. Take a look at the IMDB information [imdb.com]. She will probably also be in the commercial, as she was in the trailer [apple.com].

And now for something completely relevant...

[Tyreth]

From the hacker's portrait [catb.org], "Many (perhaps even most) hackers don't follow or do sports at all and are determinedly anti-physical. Among those who do, interest in spectator sports is low to non-existent; sports are something one does, not something one watches on TV."

This is exactly what I used to say. Sports is something you do, not something you watch.

So while you "hackers" watch the super bowl I'll be surfing!

Wooo!!!

(not saying I _can_ surf, but I'm going to try)

Go Bucs, Sorta...

[E-Rock-23]

I'm probably one of the few /. readers who gives a crap about football (I dig hockey and soccer, too). But this year, my team, the Steelers, isn't in it (we got screwed by some shoddy officiating). So, I'm gonna go with my fallback "team to root for" system. When it comes to College Football, I'm a Penn State fan. And for years, I sat in the upper deck of Beaver Stadium watching many future NFL heroes play for the love of the game and school pride.

So how does this factor into me rooting for the Bucs? Well, one of the Bucs' wide recievers is former Penn State wide out Joe Jurevicius, who just celebrated the birth of his child last week. I wish Joe the best of luck, and I'm sure that everyone here in Happy Valley is pulling for him to get his first Super Bowl ring.

Then, after the big game (which I'm not watching due to (rock, not high school) Band Practice), I'm headed out to my local bar for post-game karaoke. Sure beats sitting at home playing gToons [cartoonnetwork.com]...

Re:Go Bucs, Sorta...

[leviramsey]

But this year, my team, the Steelers, isn't in it (we got screwed by some shoddy officiating)

What "shoddy officiating"?

I don't know if you were watching the same game as I was, but, if anything, the vast majority of questionable calls went the Steelers' way (the George fumble with the missed personal foul comes to mind, the questionable incomplete pass for the Titans early on). The end of the game was a textbook example of running into the kicker (not roughing, running into). As for the question of the timeouts, what you should do in that situation is tell the nearest official, "we're planning to call a timeout as close to the snap as we can cut it, so keep an eye out."

If you're going to blame anybody for the Steelers' losses in the past several trips to the postseason, it has to start with Bill Cowher. The simple fact is that this guy doesn't know football, at least at the chess-game level that modern NFL head coaching requires. It's the same every season: Cowher (who's a master motivator) gets his team up during the regular season to get them through a weak division and into the playoffs, where his inability to gameplan eventually does the team in when he's faced with a decent coach, be it Shanahan, Belichick, or even Fisher. I'm amazed I'm putting Fisher in that category, as he's closer to Cowher than the evil geniuses.

Cowher should be a special teams coach somewhere. No gameplanning needed, just the ability to moivate guys. Cowher may be the best coach at getting guys to come play the game in recent memory.

Re:Go Bucs, Sorta...

[zzyzx]

What annoyed me so much about the faux timeout is that the plan seemed to be to try to call it at the last second to force the Titans to kick it twice. If you're going to play that kind of game, it will backfire occasionally.

Icing the kicker is just a stupid thing to do anyway. Other than the previous kick (after all of the fireworks went off) I've never seen it work.

And yes, the helmet to helmet hit that caused the fumble should have been penalized.

Re:Go Bucs, Sorta...

[leviramsey]

Icing the kicker is just a stupid thing to do anyway

That's true, and I think everybody in football knows it. Most kickers love it when the other team tries to ice them, it gives them more time to make sure that the holder and snapper are on the same page, get a feel for the wind, and so forth. The only reason, it seems, that coaches continue to do it is because if they don't and the guy kicks the game-winning field goal, the fans will yell and scream that he should have. It's another ritual in the Kabuki that is the NFL.

Re:Go Bucs, Sorta...

[schlach]

Wow, who would have thought that there'd be a moderated discussion of football on slashdot... What's next? Maxim magazine reviewing computer games?

Seriously though, I was at a hockey game last week and witnessed the same phenemenon - "There are no good calls that don't go in your favor." Every time your guys trip, you're glad when the ref doesn't call it. Every time one of their guys trips your guys, you scream bloody murder, and if the ref doesn't see it then you invite him to join the game, or offer to buy his seeing-eye dog ice-skates, etc.

Their goalie blocked one of our shots, and one of the guys with me, an Aussie watching his first game, cheered. I said, "Don't cheer, that was their play." And he said, "It was a good play. Hockey was the winner." And that blew my mind, it sounded so foreign. Hard to imagine an American fan cheering for Hockey rather than a specific team.

So I was thinking about this, after the game. If we Americans have such an 'Us vs. Them' mindset in our sports, is it a condition of our cultural environment, or is our enjoyment of the sports conditioning us to perceive other conflicts in the same 'Us vs. Them' mindset? Or is it just part of the same mix of people->culture->people?

Specifically, why don't we have any sports/games with more than two teams? Does anyone else, for that matter? What is it that prevents us from being able to invent interesting games that perceive conflict in more than an 'Us vs. Them' fashion?

I remember WoTC back in the day (dating myself) publishing different variants for their Magic card game that were quite interesting, the best of which was the 'Five Color' game. I've never heard the mechanics of a good 5-team game described anywhere else, so I will describe it as the Five Color game.

5 teams are logically arranged in a pentagon. From the top, clockwise, we find White, Blue, Black, Red, and Green. The object of the game is to destroy the teams positioned 'across' from you, ie not next to you on the pentagon. The teams next to you are potentially your allies, not for any high reason, just because you happen to share an enemy. Additionally, your other ally is your ally's other enemy. Tricky.

The additional level of depth and strategy required adds an entirely new enjoyment to the game. You know every alliance is going to be betrayed at some point, it's in calculating the exact moment of betrayal that rewards the winner. It forces the player to be aware of conflicts happening between entirely other teams, and how to use those conflicts to perhaps set your enemies against themselves, or gain an ally. It forces strategy to become sophisticated in ways that calling a football game a chess-match doesn't even come close to.

And the interesting question would be, if America's favorite sports became 5-color games, would we see a corresponding increase in the sophistication with which we perceive international affairs?

I throw it out for conversation. (And secretly I hope that a few mod-makers (or budding sport-inventors) are inspired. I'd love to go hack WarCraft2 to make it support larger maps and a 5-color match up, or making a TF mod for such a game (maybe when TF2 comes out *chuckle*). Or maybe someday my internationally-savvy children will teach their old man how to play '5-color ball'... )

Re:Go Bucs, Sorta...

[jgerman]

You got screwed! I'm a Giants fan. My team got the shaft and the NFL ADMITTED it the following day. Don't know if that makes me feel better or worse. But it certainly made me angry.

Hulk Trailer out now

[thatguywhoiam]

Just noticed that the Hulk commercial is available at Movie-List [movie-list.com].

Anyone else think that the Hulk looks like Shrek?

Superbowl HDTV This Year BABY!!!!

[BRock97]

Forget TIVO, this is the year that HD will be widespread enough so that here in Omaha, NE USA we will have it for the first time broadcast over the air. ABC has announced that the broadcast will be HD and in Dolby Digital 5.1. The post game will also be that way as well! Plus, if that wasn't enough, Alias [imdb.com] (with Jennifer Garner [imdb.com], yowza) will be on right afterwards, which has been in HD since its beginning.

I am pretty excited as this will be my first taste of the 21st century broadcasting technology for a live sporting event and it will only get better!

Re:Superbowl HDTV This Year BABY!!!!

[Chris Carollo]

hd over cable would be a lot better. but hd over airwaves? it doesent even get the range that normal uhf gets

I know you're trolling, but I can't resist...

I'm getting HD (CBS and ABC) over Time Warner cable. I can also get CBS, NBC, and WB digitally over-the-air. All of the digital signals are crystal-clear, even when broadcasting in SD, and I can receive CBS OTA even though it's low-power and low-antenna (for now), which would have resulted in a grainy, fuzzy picture were it analog.

I will enjoy my $6000 TV, thankyouverylittle.

Blithe ignorance of football

[Creosote]

Back in the mid 1970s, Swarthmore College was one game away from breaking some NCAA record for consecutive losses in football. Their upcoming game was against one of the teams that would annually tromp them--Franklin & Marshall, if I remember. Or maybe Muhlenberg. (Hey, I didn't go to the games...) So one of the TV networks thought it would be good fun to do a feature on the nerd-school-where-nobody-gives-a-shit-about-footba ll, and they sent a crew to cover the game and interview students about it.

One of the interviews was with an archetypal Geek of Classics (GC dpu s++:++ a-- C-- !tv b++++ r--), a roundish undergrad who looked like a cheerful Polish maiden aunt. She allowed as how she didn't know anything about the upcoming game: "I don't pay much attention to football, I guess--I spend most of my time reading Herodotus."

(Swarthmore went on, unbelievably, to win the game on a last-second goal-line play. Thirty-five years later, Herodotus would prevail when the college dissolved its intercollegiate football program.)

Re:Blithe ignorance of football

[Creosote]

Thirty-five years later, Herodotus would prevail when the college dissolved its intercollegiate football program.)

Er, make that "twenty-five years later".

last year's superbowl

[dubiousmike]

Ther is an article [digitalspy.co.uk] about Tivo releasing commercial viewing habits from last year's superbowl. Though the winning kick by the Patriots was the most Replayed event, The ritney commercial cam in second. In fact a number of comercials were Replayed by more viewers than any other actual part of the game, including an amazing trick play.

This is a perfect example of additional creativity in the production of commercials resulting in great ratings and even repeat viewings.

I know I can watch the Bud Light commercial with the two chicks wrestling in water and then mud every single time it comes on. :P

Re:last year's superbowl

[murphj]

I know I can watch the Bud Light commercial with the two chicks wrestling in water and then mud every single time it comes on. :P

Clearly that Miller Lite ad is not particulary effective!

Apple Ad

[Johnny Mnemonic]

The Apple PowerBook ad [apple.com] is rumored to be showing today, too. Although I'm admittedly partisan, I think it's pretty funny. Even if you dont see the game, you might like to check out the commercial.

Ad schedule

[RedX]

SUPER BOWL XXXVII ADVERTISERS - SPORTS BUSINESS DAILY

1ST QTR ADVERTISERS
Anheuser-Busch*
Columbia Pictures: 30-seconds
DaimlerChrysler: 30-seconds
DaimlerChrysler: 30-seconds
FedEx: 45-seconds
Gatorade: 30-seconds
H & R Block: 30-seconds
PepsiCo: 45-seconds
Quizno's: 30-seconds
Universal Pictures: 30-seconds
Warner Bros.: 60-seconds

2ND QTR ADVERTISERS
Anheuser-Busch*
Hanes 30-seconds
Levi Strauss: 30-seconds
Monster: 30-seconds
PepsiCo: 30-seconds
PepsiCo: 45-seconds
Philip Morris: 30-seconds
Subway: 30-seconds
Touchstone/Disney: 30-seconds
Trident Gum: 15-seconds
20th Century Fox: 30-seconds
Universal Pictures: 30-seconds
Visa: 30-seconds
Visa: 30-seconds

3RD QTR ADVERTISERS
Anheuser-Busch*
AT&T Wireless: 30-seconds
Cadillac: 90-seconds
Columbia Pictures: 30-seconds
Nat'l Drug Control: 30-seconds
PepsiCo: 30-seconds
Reebok: 60-seconds
Salton: 30-seconds
Yahoo's HotJobs: 30-seconds

4TH QTR ADVERTISERS
Anheuser-Busch*
Columbia Pictures: 30-seconds
myfico.com 30-seconds
Nat'l Drug Control: 30-seconds
Sony Electronics: 60-seconds

Anheuser-Busch has bought five-and-a-half minutes of time on ABC's broadcast and will advertise in all quarters. The Bud, Bud Light and Michelob Ultra brands will all be touted.

Re:Ad schedule

[sean23007]

$104 million in advertising over the course of 1 football game. Does anybody else envy ABC's position?

Re:Ad schedule

[leviramsey]

They're paying, between ABC and ESPN, $2.4 billion over eight years for the rights to televise three of these fuckers. On the whole, they're losing money on this deal, though it could be argued that the program promotion aspects of having the football make up for a lot of the losses.

The US Govt Bought 2 Ads

[iluvpr0n]

Thankfully, the White House Drug Czar's office has seen fit to, again, buy *two* of these overpriced ad slots to propagandize about the evils of marijuana. What a perfect way to spend my tax dollars, thanks guys!

NORML.org has a page up [norml.org] about this huge waste.

iluvpr0n.

Re:The US Govt Bought 2 Ads

[/dev/trash]

You did see he latest study that suggests that marijuana is a gateway drug?

Re:The US Govt Bought 2 Ads

[spun]

In other news, scientists have determined that 100% of IV drug users used Coca Cola before moving on to the harder stuff.

People who never used Coca Cola (Mormons, Quakers, etc.) are much less likely to move on to harder drugs.

Coca Cola is a gateway drug!

Re:The US Govt Bought 2 Ads

[Thing 1]

Thankfully, the White House Drug Czar's office has seen fit to, again, buy *two* of these overpriced ad slots to propagandize about the evils of marijuana. What a perfect way to spend my tax dollars, thanks guys!

Ah, the irony: right above your post is a post [slashdot.org] saying that Anheuser-Busch bought five-and-a-half minutes of commercial time.

"Use only government-approved poisons!"

Speaking of TiVo

[1stflight]

I remember it being said that if you watched a show and skipped the commercials you were essentially "stealing" it (don't look at me, I try to keep my stupid comments to a minimum), but what happens if you're watching a show JUST for the commercials? Seeing as though neither of my teams made it to the Superbowl. All I'm interested in are the commercials, what then, should the cable networks pay me for my time?

Hurray for Canada

[TheTomcat]

I won't get to see the $2mil commercials. I'll see local commercials for "Guy's Used Cars"

)-:

S

Websites for Ads

[kilonad]

Does anybody know of any websites that will be hosting copies of the superbowl ads? In years past, I've relied on AdCritic.com, but it seems they now require you to sign up for a $70/year subscription just to watch ads. They don't even have a cheaper monthly subscription, nor do I really want to pay to watch ads in the first place.

So, any sites?

At least for once...

[eXtro]

CmdrTaco won't be able to ruin the season finale for people in different time zones.

Who's playing.

[mcgroarty]

On Friday, one of our secretaries asked me who was playing in this year's Super Bowl.

"Shirts versus Skins this year."

She bounced, smiled and thanked me.

WTF is the SuperBowl?

[Boss, Pointy Haired]

I mean seriously.

What is it the culmination of? How is it decided who plays?

www.superbowl.com doesn't help.

Just curious.

Re:WTF is the SuperBowl?

[SideshowBob]

The league is divided into two conferences, the NFC and the AFC. Each of those conferences is divided into 4 divisions. The team with the best record from each division, plus 4 "wildcard" teams, 2 from each conference, go to the playoffs.

The playoffs are a single elimination system; the division winner with the overall best record having the top seed, then so on down the line. The top two seeds get a "bye" in the first week of the playoffs, i.e. don't have to play to advance to the next round. Then single elimination progresses as you would expect.

Each conference has its own playoffs, and the winner of the two conference championships advances to the Superbowl. So in that sense the Superbowl is a game between the year's best AFC team and the year's best NFC team.

This system was developed because the AFC used to be the AFL and was a completely independant league. Then it merged with the NFL to become the AFC.

The divisions are more or less geographic (this year was the first year after 'realignment' when, after decades of expansion teams and relocations the divisions no longer bore much relationship to the geographical locations of the teams, so teams were moved to different divisions to more accurately reflect their geography, and in one case - the Seattle Seahawks - a team was moved to a different conference to balance the number of teams in each). So for instance the Superbowl this year is between the Tampa Bay Bucaneers of the NFC South division, and the Oakland Raiders of the AFC West division.

This is all from the recollection of a football afficionado (I hate the term 'fan') on his first cup of coffee, so pardon any errors. Hope it helps.

I thought things seemed longer...

[gilroy]

Blockquoth the main page:

both supposed to air during the 2 million dollar 30 second ad spots

Wow. I know that TV needs to expand its revenue stream, but should they really be playing two million ads during the game, even at a dollar a piece?

Ah, the lovely lack of verbal parentheses! You gotta love English.

2 to watch out for

[GMontag]

Lookout for the Monster.com truck commercial (literally) and the Ozzie/Osmonds/Pepsi commercial. Both are a hoot!

Just seen clips of 'em on FOX.

haha

[drinkypoo]

Tivo should offer an option to record only the commercials during the superbowl. I can't imagine that advertisers would get pissed off about that one...

Re:You've been able too

[agentZ]

There's a second trailer for the Superbowl. After the game it will be posted to the official web site [warnerbros.com]. (Right now it's just a little movie saying the real trailer isn't available until January 26th.)

Re:You've been able too

[e12532]

Here's [warnerbros.com] the address for the hi-res trailer, need quicktime installed to view.

Re:You've been able too

[oogoliegoogolie]

And the original X-men movie sucked,
Hey bub, you don't know what your talking about.

Hulk looks good though
Listen Gumbo, you can't tell a thing from trailers. Can you name a movie that looked BAD from its' trailer? RollerBall, Rollerblade, or whatever it was called, even had a great trailer.

Hey Rookie, even if you could, there is NOTHING in the Hulk trailer yet to determine if it looks good or not. A guy standing in front of a sink saying "I feel him inside wanting to come out, I can't control him", then a house getting smashed from the inside, then a big green eye? I mean that looks neat, but that's a far, far cry from what the movie will be like.

Re:You've been able too

[Soulslayer]

Wait till you see the Hulk trailer during the Superbowl.

It has already been leaked as well.

Some stills and a link to where you can see the 45 second teaser can be found here:

http://www.aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=14285

Re:You've been able too

[Pxtl]

Yep, I know who power pack is. I still think Silver Surfer would be a good movie. Or Adam Warlock. Something really big and epic and spacey. Marvel is getting away from its roots with these movies: overdone oversized universe-crushing clash of the titans style space gods plotlines.

As long as they don't do fantastic 4 I'm happy.

Re:Fixed

[ndnet]

Exactly. I set up a radio transmitter rig near a recent Super Bowl and good grief - you would think they would use the radio controlled football sparingly, but no - every single play!

Re:Fixed

[ndnet]

Of, course, it was a transmitter as well, so I *played* a bit too. That's why the Steelers lost to the Cowboys.

Honestly, though, after that they upgraded it with 1024-bit encryption. Using more than one ball eacdh with it's own key, I can't touch it. Drat.

Special Request

[kryonD]

For those of us in the military overseas, we will be watching the game on the Armed Forces Network (AFN). Due to a variety of issues, no commercials are aired on AFN which means we miss out on what could potentially be the more entertaining part of the game.

If someone with a really kind heart could encode the commercials and post them on the internet, we would be very appreciative. Last year wasn't so bad as we do get Fox, although tape delayed by two weeks, so we could watch the commercials when it re-aired. This year, there will be no avenue for us to see the game as we would in America.

Thanks in advance.

Re:Also today...

[LinuxPunk]

ummm.. ya actually there were [apple-history.com].. u dumbshit... obviously someone needs to learn something about computer history. And the very top parent of this thread isn't offtopic! The ad introducing the first Mac was aired during the superbowl in 1984...

Re:Ovit?

[stereoroid]

This sounds like that scene in Demolition Man [imdb.com], where Stallone's character is shocked to discover that, in the future, radio stations play nothing but commercials. There's even an oldies station that plays vintage... commercials. Aaargh!