Carol & I picked-up my mom and we went to Diane & Melinda's for our own private Super Bowl party.

They had made some home-made barbecue beef and slaw, not to mention a ton of munchies. Melinda also made a white chocolate bundt cake that they were calling a "punt cake" in honor of the game. We, of course, not only paid attention to the game (Mom was actually cheering during the 4th Quarter!), but paid attention to the commercials.

This was a great game and a tip of the hat to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for a great win! I liked what I saw during the season from their defense and they really stepped-up and showed Oakland who was boss on that field. Up until the 4th quarter, Oakland look shook and out of it. However, I was glad to see Jerry Rice get a touchdown. But Oakland, at every point-after opportunity in the game, went for a two-point conversion and failed each time. I don't get it. Quarterback Rich Gannon - a Super Bowl Record 5 interceptions (3 were touchdowns). Ouch, but that shows how well the Buc's pass defense works. However, I wasn't impressed with Brad Johnson's passing. It looks like he's got nothing on the ball. Does he always throw like that? the oddest or grossest thing of the game? How about Oakland's John Ritchie. At the beginning of the 2nd quarter, he's on a table on the sidelines getting 2 holes in his forehead butterflied shut. Later in the game, ABC uses a shot of him in a clip package, with his helmet off, blood gushing down his face from the two holes in his forehead. (Madden called them "calcium deposits" even though the location looks like they're right around where the two bolts attach the top of the face mask to the helmet. He also said he's usually bleeding "2 minutes into the first quarter".)

The grossest commercial? Well, that had to be the Dodge Truck Beef Jerky commercial (ew!). Favorite? I don't know. I think there were way too many movie trailers (and not of them stellar). I though that Budweiser/Anheuser-Busch packages were pretty good (like the Clydesdales Instant Replay and the Designated Driver with Tim McGraw). I loved Reebok's "Terry Tate: Office Linebacker" spot (wouldn't you love to see that at your office? I thought the FedEx Castaway was good, but... shouldn't have that been on last year? The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy commercials were a bit shocking, and did we have to see a dead parakeet in the Quizno's ad?

USA Today's Ad Meter rankings are here and actual streaming versions of all of the Super Bowl commercials are at IFILM.