Oh yeah, that was this weekend, wasn't it?

I just realized that I haven't yet mentioned the Super Bowl in this space, so just a few thoughts:

:: Lots of folks left due to the rain, which meant that by the middle of the third quarter, Dolphins Stadium looked about like it always does for regular season Dolphins home games.

:: Worst halftime show ever? Nope -- I still remember the Michael Jackson one at Super Bowl XXVII, and the "Rockin' to the Oldies in 3D" thing they had for Super Bowl XXIII (you had to get the 3D glassed out of TVGuide or something like that).

:: Commercials: I don't watch them much, really. During Super Bowls, I use commercials for their intended purpose (to go to the bathroom, get more chips, refill my glass, et cetera). There was one with a couple of gorillas that was mildly amusing.

:: Is the NFL trying to raise the Vince Lombardi Trophy to the status of the Stanley Cup or something? This business of having it marched in to a giant trumpet fanfare at the end of the game is just weird.

:: Why the Bears Lost, in a nutshell: despite the game being close for most of the way, they ran the ball less than half as many times as the Colts did. Sure, Grossman's picks didn't help, but surely rushing the ball more would have helped keep Peyton Manning off the field.

:: The whole game was weird, between the opening kickoff return, the constant turnovers, the rain and whatnot. Even though the score at halftime was only 16-14, the guys on CBS were saying things like "If Chicago's gonna get back in this game, they gotta..." That struck me as an odd way to put it when the differential in the score was only two points, but it was true: this game was either the closest blowout I've ever seen, or the most lopsided close game I've ever seen.

:: One final shot at the New England franchise: surely we can stipulate that losing the Super Bowl is several orders of magnitude more disappointing than losing the conference championship game. And yet, compare and contrast the behavior of Lovie Smith and Rex Grossman after the Super Bowl with that of Bill Belichick and Tom Brady after the AFC Championship.

And now, into the offseason we ride. Go Sabres!