Thoughts

The New England Patriots are too damn good. They are the '96-'00 Yankees, impossible to beat when it comes to the playoffs, no matter what adversity you feel they may have, no matter what team you may feel can beat them for any given reason. Too damn good. I feel sorry for the Eagles, because there's no chance in hell they're going to win the Super Bowl. Sure, I didn't think Carolina had a chance either, and they gave the Pats a good run last year, but Carolina was way more solid than I gave them credit for--I think Philly has too many holes.

Do you want to know something that bugs me about media coverage? When the NFC Championship pairs Donovan McNabb against Michael Vick, and the statistic is mentioned that it's the first championship game ever between two black quarterbacks. Isn't that a little racist? Just a smidgen? I mean, this modern society is supposedly evolving towards color-blindness, and yet we must make a big deal about this--focusing on skin color as a basis for a statistic that says absolutely nothing and everything at the same time. It says nothing to what you're about to see in the game. It says everything in that it conjures up bad racial juju, from slavery to the struggles of the civil rights movement, to racial divides in sports history. Personally, I never once thought about the black-versus-black angle. Sure, with many more white quarterbacks in the league, the chances of it happening were small, but these are good QBs surrounded by good teams, so the chance of it happening was actually pretty high. It should be treated as if it has happened before--but watch, the second time it happens will be a big deal, too. And the third. There will be a graphic the sixth time it happens, showing all the dates and respective QBs, and the average person will say, "Wow, how great," when it's something that's not all that fantastic.

Another thing about media. You guys were talking about beer commercials and how we've got "the coldest tasting beer," which is a ridiculous claim, because yes, we can't taste cold. My beef with beer commercials, and I believe Budweiser does this the most, is the suggestion that the beer in the fridge is the absolute last beer on the planet. Every commercial involving a guy living with another guy has something to do with one guy getting hurt if they touch the other guy's beer. There are many references to, "Hey--that's the last beer!" as if there are not stores stocked full of beer everywhere, like we live in Prohibition. Budweiser has a whole fleet of ad campaigns based on the beer that's in the fridge, and what happens to someone if they touch the beer. The guy getting shocked when he goes near the beer--one of the unfunniest things I've ever seen, but we all know beer-swillers around the country think that's so hilarious--proving again stupidity wins, and the lack of brain-cell counts is rising among men 18-35.

Other commercials involving stupid guys, and ridiculous attraction to beer: the one that aired yesterday where the guy is taunting the monkey in his cage by waving a banana in his face, to the delight of a man and woman sitting down also enjoying beer, and when the taunter becomes the taunted, the monkey starts waving a Bud in front of the guy's face and the guy runs smack into the cage to try to get it--that's another "last beer on Earth" joke. It goes right along with the one where the guy's washing windows and the guys go running smack into the window displaying beer. Guys are so stupid, aren't they? And beer is so attractive! Ha ha ha! Man, I'm insulted. First, by being a man, then second, by being told that this is supposed to be funny.