Winners:
• City of Los Angeles: As host city, LA did it right, holding the Big Game in a beautiful $5 billion stadium.
• NBC broadcaster Al Michaels called his final Super Bowl. He’s as good as it gets and nobody has done it better.
• Pregame singers: Jhene Aiko sang “America The Beautiful” and Mickey Guyton bolted a laser sharp “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
• Halftime show: Some loved it, others hated it, but Dr. Dre and crew were electric for the mood. A hit!
• Evan McPherson: The Bengals kicker stayed on the field to watch the halftime show. The rookie didn’t need to hear about adjustments. McPherson kicked well on Sunday after watching the entire show.
• Eric Weddle: Former San Diego Chargers safety who came out of retirement to play for the Los Angeles Rams. The onetime Escondido resident got his ring and took a shot at the Bolts GM Tom Telesco. Bonus: During the game, Weddle tore his pectoral muscle but played all 61 defensive snaps.
• Rams defense: The Rams defense, led by Aaron Donald and Von Miller, were All-World on Sunday at SoFi, perhaps even All-Universe. This group won the game for Los Angeles.
• Odell Beckham Jr.: The receiver caught the Rams’ first touchdown pass and made his time in LA a masterpiece. This season, OBJ had seven touchdowns in 12 games this season but none bigger than this one. Bonus: Beckham Jr. caught as many touchdowns in 12 games for the Rams as he caught in 29 games with the Cleveland Browns.
• Commercials: Toyota, Lays potato chips and Chevrolet (“The Sopranos”).
• Cooper Kupp: MVP and the biggest name in LA today. Kupp took home more hardware and a ring to go with it.
• Samaria Jefferson: The wife of Rams safety Van Jefferson who gave birth during the game — from SoFi to the hospital to real life. Talk about delivering in the clutch.
• Matthew Stafford: Stafford wins his first Super Bowl in his debut season with the Rams. By all accounts, he’s a great husband and “Girl Dad.” It’s hard not to root for this guy who took care of his wife Kelly when she had a brain tumor —even his old fans in Detroit were happy for him.
• Viewers: 101.1 million tuned in to watch this classic game on NBC, 11.3 million watched it live stream and 1.9 million Spanish speakers watched the game on Telemundo.
• Super Bowl LVI: The biggest betting in NFL history with 30 million bettors for Sunday’s game (totals not yet available). By comparison, just 7.6 billion bet in last year’s Super Bowl LV.
Losers:
• City of St. Louis: But they did win their lawsuit against the NFL.
• NBC: Misidentified graphics of both female pregame singers. Jhene Aiko sang “America the Beautiful” and country artist Mickey Guyton sang the national anthem. Hey NBC? Who’s on first? Just a horrible mistake. Both performers were A+!
• Los Angeles Chargers watching the Rams win the Super Bowl in their shared stadium.
• Officiating: The biggest game of the year and these zebras missed more than one call or penalty.
• Bengals O-Line: Bad is being nice. These guys were horrible, allowing QB Joe Burrow to get sacked seven times. Bonus: Burrows was sacked 19 times in the postseason.
• 90% of the commercials. For real.
• Odell Beckham Jr. injured himself and never returned after scoring the game’s first touchdown.
• The nearby residents of Inglewood who were blasted all week with Bon Jovi’s “Living on a Prayer” during rehearsals for the halftime show to preserve the order of music and playlists.
• The NFL fans who are priced out of Super Bowl tickets. And we won’t even talk about parking prices.
• Injured Bengals cornerback Vernon Hargreaves, who ran onto the field in his street clothes to celebrate a first-half interception, a move that cost his team a penalty.
• The other 30 NFL teams who didn’t make it.
• The Rock’s “Delay of Game.” Who at NBC thought this was a grand idea? Felt like the WWF… putrid.
• Kanye and Antonio Brown are simply two peas out of touch.
• The bouncing QR code in a cryptocurrency commercial. $5.5 million for 60 seconds. What is this?
• Mattress Mack losing $9.5 million dollars on Super Bowl bets. Mack should have tuned into our radio show.
• Chickens … 1.4 billion chicken wings consumed.
• Dean Spanos: But you knew that. Now the Chargers will never win over Los Angeles. Look for him to sell soon.
