WHAT THE HELL BELL?!! - Super Bowl 51 has now come and gone with the Patriots winning it in overtime It means no football now until CFL training camps start. I'll talk about the game in a moment, but first.
If I am Jeffrey Orridge or anyone of the suits in the CFL office, I hope they have issued their disgust with Bell over the Super Bowl promotion that ran across our TV screens over the past couple of weeks.
The "Watch To Win" contest meant significant cash prizes to some lucky viewers. Ummmmmm, where was that for the Grey Cup?!
There is an argument to be made about the fact the Grey Cup isn't shown on CTV and it is a valid one considering TSN and CTV are owned by the same group. Why wouldn't this kind of promotion, or any game day related promotion have been held back in November?
If I'm the CFL, I am asking "What about us?" to the property that carries their games. Sorry Bell, I know you were trying to lure people to stay with CTV because of the whole ads fiasco, but that is a huge slap in the face to a league you are partnered with.
PATRIOTS DAY - I saw this act two years ago when the Patriots came back to beat the Seahawks-----or did I? At half-time, Tom Brady looked like a deer in the headlights while Matt Ryan looked like a seasoned vet. The Atlanta Falcons were leading Super Bowl 51, and it appeared they would go on to take their first ever Vince with 15 minutes to go. You know the rest!
Tom Brady took the Patriots on his shoulders again and won them their 5th Super Bowl. He probably has cemented his legacy as the best quarterback in the history of pro football. How did he do it? Three plays and he only had a role--albeit minor in all three.
With 4:40 to go and Atlanta leading by 8, Matt Ryan hit Julio Jones on what was a fantastic catch at the New England 23. Run the ball, kick a field goal, go up 11, game over! NOPE!
On 2nd and 11, Ryan gets sacked and then a holding call takes them out of field goal range. It leads to a David Tyree-like catch by Julian Edelman which leads to the game-tying touchdown. When New England won the toss to start overtime, you knew it was over. Brady wasn't going to be denied. He wasn't. Is it the best Super Bowl game ever? I still give that to the Patriots win over Seattle on the Malcolm Butler interception. It was a comeback for the ages. Out of Brady's Super Bowl, this one may be the greatest because of the mountain he had to climb. The Falcons let it slip away from them. They had it and they couldn't seal the deal. As I said, it was like watching what happened two years ago again only this time the knife ran a little deeper into the hearts of Falcons fans because once Number 12 started rolling, he couldn't be stopped. End of story!
The game in a way was like the Grey Cup. It was settled in overtime and it saw a big comeback. What game was better? I put a poll up on Twitter after the game and it was about 50/50 as I write this.
As for the halftime show, Lady Gaga killed it, and she is fortunate she didn't kill herself. All I could think of as she jumped off the roof of NRG Stadium was the late Owen Hart. WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING GAGA?? In the end, that might be the halftime performance of halftime performances----but there weren't any snowmobiles.
Falcons fans will be walking around in a daze for a couple of days, while Patriots fans will be saying "We had it in the bag". Yeah, OK.
Best commercial----Cam Newton playing minor football in the Buick ad. My god, that was funny!
THE STATE OF THE JAYS - Are the Toronto Blue Jays still a playoff team? That question was asked on the weekend and I have to say at this time---NO! I thought the team that got beaten by Kansas City in the American League Championship Series in 2015 was better than the Toronto team that got beat by Cleveland in this year's ALCS. That team in 2015 was deeper.
The starting rotation is OK, but are we really expecting J-A Happ to win 20 again? Do you really think Kendry Morales is a replacement for Edwin Encarnacion? Yes, guys like Tulowitzki, Donaldson, Pillar and Osuna are going to be reliable, but I think its a stretch to talk about Toronto as a playoff team as we inch closer to spring training. Yes, believe it or not as you look outside, the time has almost come for a new baseball season to get underway.
NEW KING OF THE CASTLE - There's a new name on the Saskatchewan curling scene, and his name is Adam Casey. The former PEI skip who made his way to the wheat province calling the Highland Club home knocked Steve Laycock off the throne Sunday in Tisdale as he preventd the Saskatoon rink from winning its 4th straight Sask-Tel Tankard with an 11-3 win in the final. Casey admitted he didn't even know where Tisdale was before he got there, but he knows about Saskatchewan's drought at the Brier. For those saying he isn't a real Saskie, that's fine, but did you complain when Michelle Englot won the Manitoba womens title? The hometown means nothing anymore in the world of curling, and until the powers that be make that change, it won't go away. Good luck at the Brier Adam!
That's all I got. Have a good week and for the love of god, don't ask any Falcons fans how their weekend went!
13 comments:
Good grief, way to compare Apples to Oranges with the Superbowl Vs Grey Cup.
I would love for CTV to air the Grey Cup, and I still haven't heard a good reason for why they don't. HOWEVER,
Here's why you there is no WATCH TO WIN contest for the Grey Cup.
This year, the CRTC ruled that CTV had to stop replacing the American Commercials on the American Stations in a practice called ad-substitution. That meant prior to this year, even if you were watching on Fox, CBS, or NBC, you'd still be force fed the CDN Commericals from CTV.
For the first time, the CRTC told CTV to stop with that practice.
That meant, CTV needed to make an extra effort to entice people to watch their stations, rather than Fox.
Cue the first ever CTV Watch TO Win contest, A (lame) attempt get people to watch the game on the Canadian Feed as those who watched the Superbowl on Fox wouldn't get the cues opportunities to enter to win. For me, the lure of watching American Commercials, was more attractive than a 1 in 10,000 shot of winning $150,000.
So why doesn't the GREY CUP get a similar contest? Because it doesn't matter to BELL if you're watching the game on TSN1, TSN3, TSN4, or TSN5. They have the exclusive rights to the game and the ads. They don't need to bring you in, by some hokey pokey contest.
The Super Bowl is one of the most watched shows per year. The Grey Cup isn't. The fact CTV/Bell/TSN had to promote the Super Bowl to get people to watch was just a joke. Did you know why the grand prize was 150-thousand? Its because Canada is 150. When you think Canadiana, you think Super Bowl.
You're right Scruffy, this is something that should piss off Orridge and the CFL. They likely don't care though.
Matt
The age old question now is "Did New England comeback or did Atlanta choke?"
Best halftime show ever. Lady Gaga was amazing!
Jerry P:
I agree on your comments about why the contest was run, but I still think it was a mistake to do what they did considering they are the CFL's TV sponsor.
What I am confused about is your apples to oranges comments. Are you an NFL hater? A CFL hater? The similarities are the same as Scruffy points out. Please elaborate!
Richard
Best ad--the buff Mr. Clean! OMG that was funny!
Money or no money, was anyone really going to give up the chance to watch some of the US ads in place of Gary the Canadian Tire guy, a car commercial we see 20 times a day and maybe one for the Vonage. Was there a Houston Pizza ad?
There's a sucker born every minute is the saying and unless you were one of three people to win the big money, you lost.
Jerry is right when he says the CRTC and Bell had to do something, but they knew this was coming. Doing something for the Grey Cup and the CFL would have been nice too. Maybe the 2017 GC.
As far as the game goes, Brady does it again. He is the GOAT!
I don't disagree with what you say about why the Falcons lost, but back it up a little Scruff. I think it was 2nd and 1 when Ryan fumbled after being sacked. Ryan wasn't trying to dump one off, he was looking to go deep.
No need for that. It got NE back in the game and gave them great momentum.
You have Freeman and Coleman in the backfield, hand it off!
I think TSN/Bell/CTV does a pretty good job in promoting their property. You might be stretching it a little on this one.
I'm with you Scruff. THe CFL should be pissed with this promotion. I'm guessing Orridge likely doesn't care though or else we'd have heard something already.
Scott
I couldn't agree with you more on this Scruff!
We know why it was done, but does Bell really believe that throwing some cash out there will stop people from watching the American feed. That is ridiculous.
It is also time to start getting more CFL games on CTV. Friday night football? Playoffs? Grey Cup?
Bell is letting down the CFL and this proves it.
Miles
Yeah, I want to see those two dumb f*****s hawking Burger King chicken nuggets in hopes of winning 50-grand over Bradshaw stain, Newton playing minor football, Timberlake and Walken and some of the other ads that were shown.
When it comes to Gaga at the half, I am glad I wasn't the only one thinking about an Owen Hart disaster. Can you imagine what would have happened if there was a malfunction? I shudder to think.
perry
This could be the last year that Bell/CTV have the Super Bowl. They could run those amazing USA commercials but they don't get paid for them. As Canadians we are inferior to Americans. Americans have incredible commercials,half time entertainment and the athletes are far superior to anything we have. Once Trump sucker punches Trudeau in trade talks we will become part of the USA and we will finally be a great country.
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