Super Bowl Party with the Boys

Today there was an open practice for Season Ticket Holders at the Nassau Coliseum. Between the freezing cold, the losing streak and it being Super Bowl Sunday, it was certainly an INTIMATE gathering of fans.

While the sentiment of the players was to keep things light, you could tell by the faces of some that the extended losing streak is taking a toll.

Marty Biron, the only Islander goalie with a recent win, was back on Long Island and sharing a net with Roloson and DiPietro for a final shoot out drill. On very little sleep today after last night’s dinner-dance, it was all just a blur to me.

I decided to leave the tough questions about the Islanders’ current slump to the Main Stream Media types in attendance. Katie Strang corner Garth Snow in the runway. Brad Kurtzberg grabbed Scott Gordon as soon as he left the ice. I hung back and asked questions about – The Super Bowl!

(Seriously, do you think I’m going to be able to garner valid answers about what’s going wrong and why they can’t score? Hardly.)

So the little survey I did about today’s big “day of stupid American fun”, as I heard it called on the news today, garnered me a few interesting answers.

“Are the Patriots in it? Then I have no interest in it. I’m gonna go see a movie.” That was Massachusetts native Scott Gordon’s response to me about today’s “big game.” That sort of shot me down real quick.

Sean Bergenheim told me that the team would be hanging together to watch the Super Bowl. When I asked him what his favorite football watching munchies is, he hesitated. “Oh, I try not to eat too much junk, but I would say maybe a hot dog.” That would certainly qualify as “junk.”

I wanted to see what everyone thought of the commercials that mean so much to Super Bowl Sunday, so when I asked Sean if there were any Super Bowl commercials that stood out for him over the years, “The commercial with the kid when he’s on the computer and there’s a clown. That one.”

Bruno Gervais, as big of a foodie as he is, favors wings. “Bar-b-cue or mild. That’s a classic. Everything though, hot dog, burgers. If you’re going to do it -- do it right.” He felt there are a lot of good commercials out there and did like all the Budweiser commercials. But wait, last year there was a baby commercial. You know, those Car insurance, the baby – with the clown. Yeah. That was a good one.“ When I asked if he felt that half time and the amount of promo spent on the commercials takes away from the actual game he said “No, the game is fun.”

Rick DiPietro will also be spending tonight with the team “Where ever they go, I go.” (Sorry Cassandra. Not sure if the wives are invited or not.) The man who spent his free time learning to cook said he’d have to go with Buffalo wings as his favorite game time munchie. When it came to commercials, Rick said there was a funny one that he liked, “No, there was one I really liked, but I totally forgot what it is. So obviously it wasn’t that good."

Rick didn’t think the half time show or the commercials are more important than the actual game. While he wasn’t really interested in seeing the Who at half time, he wouldn’t mind seeing Janet Jackson again. (Funny, I got that from a lot of the guys… Gee, I wonder why? Ha!)

Jeff Tambellini’s favorite munchie is Nachos and his favorite commercials were the Budweiser frogs. When I asked if the commercials and halftime spectacles took away from the game, Jeff had a well thought answer off the top of his head. “I think the event, as a whole, is so good, because it’s not just one thing. Instead of flipping the commercials off, you actually get to watch them. I just think it’s so much fun to watch through the whole day.”

We had another vote for Nachos from Jon Sim who ALSO voted for “those little baby commercials. I like the talking babies. They’re hilarious.” I think he was teasing me when he said the half time show and commercials were indeed the best part of the Super Bowl because he ended with “Unless it comes down to the fourth quarter.” Especially when you have money riding on the outcome.

Even the infamous Richard “Shakey” Krause, Islanders Equipment manager voted for Nachos as the favorite Super Bowl snack, but his favorite commercials are the Bud Bowls. He also looks forward to the half time show and commercials. (And also wanted to see Janet Jackson again…)

So what this all boils down to is that – E-TRADE HAS THE BEST COMMERCIALS AND NO BRAND RECOGNITION!!! Hey! Madison Avenue morons, while your commercials are hysterical, you are spending millions and millions of dollars and no one knows what your product is! There is no 100% brand recognition! I had to tell each of them what the product is!

Okay, enjoy the game and the commercials. My husband will be screaming “PETE!!!” at the top of his lungs as he is a Who-Head from way back while I will be digging into the --- drum roll please – Nachos, like everyone else!