Mark’s Musings – February 5, 2014

Mark Fortune

Super Bowl, super dud. Unless you are a Seattle Seahawks fan. Even then, I think we all expected the game to be much closer than it really was. I have to admit I was rooting for Peyton Manning and the Broncos – more for Manning than for any other reason. The Broncos just never seemed to get in sync – especially after the fumbled first snap of the game. Not a good way to start any game let alone the biggest game of the year on the largest stage. But you have to give credit to the Seahawks and their stifling defense that never quite seemed to give the Broncos much opportunity to get anything going on the offensive side of the ball. As we say in Cleveland, there is always next year. It will be interesting to see what Manning does.

So what do most of us turn to when the game is so lopsided? The commercials of course. My personal favorite – that’s a tough one. I thought there were several good ones – the M&M commercial, Budweiser, Radio Shack, VW and a couple others. Doritos always seems to pull something comical and memorable out as they did with the time machine. For four million – or eight million in the case of Budweiser – you better get some mileage out of that thirty or sixty seconds. And that does not include the cost of actually making the commercial. Regardless, the commercials have become as much a part of the big game as the half time show, who sings the National Anthem and more.

Let’s go there for a moment. Opera singer Renee Fleming gave, in my opinion, one of the most captivating renditions of the National Anthem in recent memory. Not only is she a Grammy winner, but she was awarded with the 2012 National Medal of Arts by President Obama in July, 2013. And if you want more you can visit her website at www.reneefleming.com.  She will be in Pittsburgh this month.

Halftime show – thought it was decent. There have been worse halftime shows and there have been better. At least there were no wardrobe mishaps.

The city is working hard to fill the potholes that dot the landscape of our city. The lights on Main Street are working. The bridge needs some work both in regard to lighting and paving. Cities across the nation are struggling to meet the demands on infrastructure with reduced funding and years of service. Keep in mind as you travel that our northern cities endure a much harsher climate that damages road surfaces, wiring and underground pipes with the freezing and thawing that our part of the country enjoys. It is probably a good winter to be in the tire and alignment business. But if you think our part of the country suffers, I would say Cleveland or a large metropolitan city on the east coast would be worse.

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Category: Mark's Musings