Daily Loaf

On 1A of the St. Petersburg Times, sports columnist Gary Shelton trumpeted last night’s game as the greatest Super Bowl ever. It ranks high on my list, but I still have to give the overall nod to last year’s Giants/Patriots juggernaut. Admittedly, I liked the outcome of that game better than this one. I was surprised at how fervently I ended up rooting for the Cardinals, even though I’ve never been within a hundred miles of Phoenix. Something about them coming up short in their first chance for an NFL title since 1947 I found particularly poignant.

Larry Fitzgerald

For awhile, I thought the burgeoning recognition of otherworldly Cards receiver Larry Fitzgerald was going to flicker out like a spent candle. I’ve become a fan of his, and in the first half the Steelers bottled him up. But he busted out late with two touchdown catches and more than a hundred yards receiving. He would’ve been my MVP had the Cardinals won. Endorsements next?

Like the Springsteen halftime performance, I’ve been seeing raves about Jennifer Hudson’s rendition of the National Anthem. I thought it was too overheated and the tempo way too slow.

Was I the only one who thought the pregame on-field appearance of “Miracle on the Hudson” pilot Chesley B. Sullenberger III and his crew was inappropriate? Yeah, he did a heroic thing that shouldn’t be diminished, but his appearance came off like a blatant, out-of-left-field tug at the heartstrings.

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Maybe Will and Jada, Ashton and Demi, and Paris showed up later — a spokesman for The Good Life Experience, the three-day bash that culminated last night at the The Venue, said they were expected. But when I bailed media row (around 12:30) at the red carpet (actually it was white) they hadn’t shown yet, nor had many celebrities of particular renown.

To say that the red carpet is an absurd phenomenon would be stating the obvious, but until you’ve “worked” one, it doesn’t really sink in. I mean, I get the red carpet at the Oscar-type things, but at one of a dozen Super Bowl parties around Tampa Bay, the ritual just seems an unnecessary contrivance.

The only legitimate celebs I saw traipse down the other side of the velvet rope were Deion Sanders (one of the hosts with Diddy and Winky Wright) and Jordin Sparks, the bubbly singer and former American Idol winner. Winky is a celeb of sorts, but he lives in St. Pete.

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