We gathered at Mark and Katie’s new place (new enough that it doesn’t show up on Mapquest, at least) to watch the Super Bowl on their mongo wide-screen tv. All were pleased with the outcome, though we had to be quiet so as not to wake young Jack, who played with plastic cups and ate chips all night, as well as repeatedly saying my name, which was just great. Lucky he went to bed before half-time, though, so he missed the long-debated show during the annual extravaganza. Even more lucky that Mark had popped in a DVD to record the game, so we could go back and confirm that indeed the station that wouldn’t broadcast a mini-series that seemed to slight a former president and banned an ad that didn’t support the current one had just shown Janet Jackson’s bare breast to 140 million people. Nice work. Did anyone find Janet’s “Illiteracy! No!” breakdown during “Rhythm Nation” even a little more weird? The halftime show has become a showcase for the “World’s Worst Medley” contest in the past few years, so it’s a relief that the game itself was worth watching. As for the ads, I thought the most disappointing commercial was the promising Dodge Magnum spot featuring the man with the monkey on his back, which seemed like a good premise. The ad came crashing to the ground when they finally showed the car that supposedly got the monkey off his back, a “family car that was still cool,” or something to that extent. Whatever it ended up being was a sort of crushed version of an old Suburban, with uselessly short windows, another example of hideous Detroit “styling.” Wait till next year….