Here's to you, Real Men of Genius

I watched the 2011 Super Bowl for one reason -- the commercials. This year, I didn't know anything about either team, but if the game dragged, the commercials would more than make up for the lackluster action on the field.

When I first tuned in, I saw Terry Bradshaw behind the announcer's desk. A little heftier but still an "aw-shucks" fella, Bradshaw reminded me of those football glory days back in the 1970s when the Pittsburgh Steelers and "Mean" Joe Green and Lynn Swann ruled the field.

I remembered watching the 1970's commercial featuring Green as a limping, tired player and a young, tentative boy who hands him a Coke to drink. That sentimental ad made me a TV commercial fan, and I especially love the ones from my teen days.

One of the best is Coke's "I'd like to teach the world to sing." Watching those idealistic young faces is still inspiring, even if it's just a ploy to motivate consumers to purchase carbonated beverages.

The old Alka Seltzer commercials remain wonderful, especially the "that's some meatball" ad where the guy finally gets the script right on the last take only to have the oven door pop open.

Alka Seltzer also produced the "I Can't Believe I Ate That Whole Thing" commercial and the ad where the husband tries to sneak some Alka Seltzer to cope with his wife's impossible-to-digest dumpling.

Some commercials are revolutionary in that they either introduce a new product or take commercials to a new level of creativity. The commercial that accomplished both is one from 1984 with a woman running with a sledgehammer through a gray, robotic future.

Like everyone, I was blown away by the creativity shown when introducing a new computer, the Apple Macintosh, to the world.

With the availability of YouTube, viewers can take a stroll down memory lane and watch their favorite commercials from the 1950s all the way to the present day. Number one on my YouTube commercial list is "Terry Tate: Office Linebacker" from the 2003 Super Bowl.

The pro linebacker is hired to increase productivity in an office, and what he does to slacker co-workers will have you rolling in the aisles, especially his treatment of the person who doesn't refill the coffee pot.

Budweiser has fabulous commercials, and my favorites are the "Real Men of Genius" commercials. It's impossible not to chuckle through Bud's salute to "Mr. Pro Wrestler Wardrobe Designer" and "Mr. Really, Really, Really Bad Dancer."

During the Super Bowl, Budweiser consistently comes up with creative ads, from their croaking frogs to the donkey wanting to be a on the Clydesdale team to this year's old West salute to Elton John's "Tiny Dancer."

But my 2011 Super Bowl favorite, like 22 million other YouTube watchers, was the Darth Vader kid who tries to manipulate the washing machine, a doll and finally his father's car using only the force inside himself. Luckily dad plays along, and the reaction from young Anakin is amazingly funny.

I suppose advertisers have to reach for the creative stars when most people have devices that can whiz past commercials with ease.

But by zipping past those ads, it's possible to miss some funny and inspiring ads like Volkswagen's "The Force" commercial.

There's a little of the costumed kid inside all of us, just waiting for the chance to make magic, just as we'd love to give the world a Coke, have Terry Tate intimidate the person who leaves paper jams in the copier for you to fix and salute the Man of Genius who invented the taco salad.

Here's to you, Mr. Super Bowl Funny Commercial Man and Woman.

Touchdown.

This column was originally published in The Fort Bend Herald.