The LuLac Edition #2827, January 31st, 2015

MAYBE I'M AMAZED 

Our “Maybe I’m Amazed” logo.

SUPER BOWL EDITION

MAYBE I’M AMAZED….that I have been alive and aware for all the 49 Super Bowls! I remember the very first one when the Packers beat the Chiefs. Another memorable games was the ’69 Jets-Colts game where local Lou Michaels got into it with Joe Namath the week prior to the contest. There was the return of the Packers against the Patriots in 1997. I most likely could tell you every place I was on these fateful Sundays during the last 49 years. While that might not be amazing to you, it is downright terrifying to me!
MAYBE I’M AMAZED…….that Marshawn Lynch is getting so much attention for not wanting attention. If I were in the press corps, I’d turn my back on him. How can anyone have any interest in someone who has nothing to say? The man has a charity but do you think he will use this opportunity to promote it? He might be a great running back but he’s also a fool. Look for him to be one of the has beens on the 2032 Fall season edition of Eric Trump’s “The Apprentice”.
MAYBE I’M AMAZED…..that the last five Super Bowls have been the five most watched telecasts in U.S. television history, prior to that the most watched telecast was the M*A*S*H finale in February 1983 with 106 million viewers. But back then there were fewer cable choices. The spike in viewership started when the NFL decided to make this an entertainment event. Michael Jackson’s hair on fire and then Janet Jackson’s wardrobe meltdown later on only solidified the cross over to pop culture that was already starting.
MAYBE I’M AMAZED….or not that our friend and poster Joe B. sent me this idea. That this year there will be two Super Bowl Trophies ready. One for the Seahawks in its traditional size and the other one, slightly deflated for the Patriots. Love it!!
MAYBE I’M AMAZED…..that females accounted for 46.8% of the Super Bowl audience last year The median age of the average Super Bowl viewer is about 43.
MAYBE I’M AMAZED……that .the three most popular product categories that advertise in The Super Bowl have been 1. Automobiles 2. Motion Pictures 3. Food & Candy. Cars, flicks and snacks. I’ve never bought a car based on Super Bowl ad, and have never been moved to see a movie from an ad. As far as food, my tastes are so predictable and entrenched since childhood, (Hershey not Nestle, Coke not Pepsi, Goldfish not Doritos, local pizza, not chains) that I can honestly say if those entities are spending big bucks to reach me, well they are wasting their money. But then again I might be an atypical consumer.
MAYBE I’M AMAZED….but not that one short year ago Percy Harman got the most tweets during the game when he ran a kick off back 87 yards. That was amazing to see. But what is not amazing is that Harman is not on the Seahawks this year having been dealt to the Jets. The only running he’d do this Super Bowl Sunday is for beer and wings!
MAYBE I’M AMAZED…..that Tom Brady was drafted by the Montreal Expos out of high school. That team, now known as the Washington Nationals. selected him in the 18th round of the 1995 MLB draft as a catcher
MAYBE I’M AMAZED…that the Seahawks Russell “God are ya watching me??” Wilson was only 11 when Tom Brady played in his Super Bowl.
MAYBE I’M AMAZED…..that there were 5 other Quarterbacks picked before Tom Brady in the draft. They were Chad Pennington, Giovanni Carmazzi, Chris Redman, Tee Martin, Marc Bulger and Spergon Wynn were all selected before Brady in the draft. Of those six quarterbacks, only Pennington and Bulger started more than a dozen games in the NFL.
MAYBE I’M AMAZED……..that the idea of an organized Super Bowl party really did not take off (and readers correct me if I’m wrong here) until after the Iranian hostage crisis ended. The hostages were released on January 20th 1981 , on January 25th, 1981 the Oakland Raiders played the Philadelphia Eagles and America was celebrating the release as well as the game. To be sure there was a lot to celebrate but it seems to me (and I have no data here) that after that more people started to have Super bowl parties and more businesses started to focus in on that day as a big sales day. On January 25th I was at Genetti’s with the future Mrs. LuLac at an event hosted by WILK. It was a promotion with Allen’s Subs and Bobby Gunther Walsh and Frankie Warren were cutting this huge man made sub. I believe this was WILK’s second foray into a Super Bowl party but before that there wasn’t the organized media push to make this the big day.
MAYBE I’M AMAZED….that only four colleges have produced Super Bowl winning Quarterbacks and a President. Let’s start with the Naval Academy. Roger Staubach and President Jimmy Carter were graduates. The University of Michigan produced Tom Brady and President Gerald Ford who was an All American. Stanford graduated John Elway and Jim Plunkett and President Herbert Hoover received his degree there. Finally there was Miami University , settle down this isn’t the one in Florida, are you kidding me!!!??? Ohio’s Miami University produced Ben Roethlisberger as well as that storied leader President Benjamin Harrison.
MAYBE I’M AMAZED……..at the progression of congratulatory messages that have been part of Super Bowl lore concerning Presidents. When the big game started, the winning coach would get a phone call from the President on what most likely was a land line. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn’t. When Ronald Reagan became President the media hopped on his “Gipper” image and slowly Presidents made themselves available in and around game time. Presidents recently have used the Super Bowl as a way to be interviewed before the game. How many people eating wings, dip, salsa and Coors are listening to what the President is saying is open to debate. But journalists think it is a very BIG deal. Savannah Guthrie from The Today Show is set to interview President Obama Sunday.
MAYBE I’M AMAZED…..that it seems our 37th President Richard Nixon was a frustrated football coach. During the days before Super Bowl 6, Nixon called Dolphins coach Don Shula at home at 1:30 in the morning to give him a play he designed. Then there was the time that Nixon supposedly designed a play for the NFC Championship game between the Redskins and the 49ers in 1971. None of the coaches used it but thanked him, as you would a President offering a play, profusely.
MAYBE I’M AMAZED…..that the first Super Bowl ticket was 6 bucks. This year, around 5 grand. Maybe that’s why so many people started throwing parties.
MAYBE I’M AMAZED……that sometimes networks will do anything to promote themselves during the pre game shows. Some work, some don’t. Here in my estimation is a network promo from the last time NBC hosted the Super Bowl in 2012. This thing with its production values knocked it out of the park.