Some thoughts on the Super Bowl
(Not a liveblog, see, because there are no timestamps.)

Pre-Game (starting at about 6:00; just imagine how much I'd have had to make fun of if I had started watching at 2:00, when the pre-game coverage kicked off)

• You know what was really weird? That segment in which assorted football personalities (often supplemented by groups of sailors, firefighters, or pathetically bad historical reenactors) did a dramatic reading of the Declaration of Independence.
  
• But you know what was funny? Seeing Michael Strahan say "rethilienthy" during FOX's preposterous team-theme introductions.
  
• Also funny: the fact that Randy Moss wasn't included in the "teamwork" introduction that FOX did for the Patriots (which included pretty much every other recognizable Patriot).
  
• FOXiest moment: the gratuitous shot of a few dozen members of the "Multinational Corps Iraq" (who were all, shockingly, from the United States), standing at attention in their fatigues, having apparently been directed to "make your best 'dignified' face."
• Unexpected postscript: Jason Taylor is the NFL's Man of the Year.

In-Game

• Oughtn't Belichick to have worried about jinxing himself by wearing a red cutoff sweatshirt instead of a gray one? [Or has he been doing that throughout the playoffs?]
• Troy Aikman -- who's clearly been taking "How to Be a Good Color Guy" lessons from one John Earl Madden -- on a Patriots 3rd-and-ten at the Giants' 17: "These are the areas of the field, these are the downs that become critical." Well-observed, sir.
• I'm sure there was a lot of stuff worth making fun of during that halftime show, but in order to find out, I'd have had to watch it, and no way was I going to do that.
  
• The randomly-selected grand prize for the NFL Play 60 Fitness Challenge [or whatever it was called] was that you got to... hand the ball to the official before kickoff. Because nothing motivates the world's children like the chance to meet an honest-to-goodness NFL backjudge.
  
• Pam Oliver, on Tom Coughlin's halftime comments: "Offensively, he wasn't so complimentary. He said he liked the tempo, but they can't get in the green zone and come away with no points." Isn't that adorable? She thinks she's a real reporter.
• Aikman, speculating: "That shot of Peyton Manning... as much as that win last year for the Colts, and him winning his first Super Bowl a year ago [was great for him], I get the feeling he's a little happier tonight than what he might have been even then." Yes, I'm sure you're right.

Commercials

• The long Diet Pepsi Max commercial was tedious, but it was pretty funny to imagine the conversation in which L Cool JJ's agent explained that he would have to do that ridiculous head-twitching dance.
  
• The Barkley/D-Wade commercial was predictable, but it made me chuckle in spite of myself (mostly because I imagine that is exactly how Charles Barkley actually acts).
• On the whole, though, nothing particularly memorable. Except for the James Carville/Bill Frist Coke spot, which might be one of the worst commercials ever. (Remember how some people used to think Bill Frist would be president one day?)

In sum: it's really kind of hard to believe that Eli Manning just won a Super Bowl.