I thought I'd dole out my Super Bowl 43 thoughts and other items you may have missed in short form.  I've gotten a lot of requests for more Random Thoughts pieces, especially from my easily bored in school or at work RW readers, which pretty much means all of you.

First, was that not one of the most poorly officiated Super Bowls ever?  It wasn't as bad as Super Bowl 40 where Seattle got hosed, but it was still pretty bad.  By the way, Pittsburgh was the beneficiary of every bad call in Super Bowl 40 too.  I was half expecting one of the refs to mistakenly pull out his Terrible Towel instead of a flag after that horrendous roughing the passer call against Arizona.  I'm pretty sure Pittsburgh engineered an entire drive with penalties in the third quarter.

If Pittsburgh doesn't score on that final drive then I would have nailed my Super Bowl 43 prediction.  It would have ended 23-20 Arizona instead of my 24-20 Arizona guess, but that's pretty good.  Pittsburgh didn't protect Big Ben.  They got a double digit lead and gave it up by being complacent.  Arizona wasn't very good but one thing led to another and they were winning the game with 2 and a half minutes left.  It went just as I had thought/blindly guessed.  Seriously, can you explain to me how Pittsburgh didn't win that game 31-10, especially after that Harrison pick-six to end the first half?  Why didn't Pittsburgh run the ball more?  I don't understand a lot of things but I do know that a ridiculous pick-six and a safety killed my Arizona to the under parlay.  Think about it.  If Pittsburgh doesn't give up a safety they're up 20-14.  Arizona goes up 21-20 with 2 and a half minutes left instead of 23-20.  Now, Pittsburgh takes a knee once they get to the Arizona 7 and kicks the game-winning field goal to win 23-21 and Arizona +6.5 and under 46.5 are in the green.  What you should learn from this:  Don't gamble.  You'll lose.  I'm pretty sure you know that, but in case you didn't, it begs repeating.

How did Harrison evade 15 people in an interception return that lasted a minute and a half, at least in the slow motion that my head watched that play in?  Kurt Warner thought it was two-hand touch.  The refs didn't realize that illegal block in the back is an acceptable penalty in football, and one that is called on 95% of long interception returns (either that or they were waving their Terrible Towels during the return and the televisions didn't show it).  I just don't get it.  Harrison had to be revived after that play Baywatch style.  It's a good thing, because otherwise he wouldn't have been able to have his own UFC fight with a helpless Cardinals player in the fourth quarter.

Is Mike Gandy the worst offensive lineman to ever play in a Super Bowl?  And that includes guys who had to be subbed in for injury.  I know the names of maybe 10 offensive linemen.  This guy is now one of them.  He's like Robert Gallery, only the Super Bowl version, and he doesn't look like the Undertaker.

That really was one of the best Super Bowls ever.  It was pretty much like last year's, only with more scoring, a great play in the middle of the game in an otherwise boring first three quarters, and two go-ahead touchdowns in the last few minutes.  Just subtract 19-0 and add "Hell's freezing over, the Cardinals might win the Super Bowl" and it was the same game.

Are we ignoring the fact that it was an incomplete pass to end the game and not a fumble.  I mean if the Tuck Rule fumble was an incomplete pass, then Warner's was too.  Yes, I'm still bitter about the Tuck Rule game.  Note to Warner:  You have to do a way better job of lobbying for that call than walking off the field with your tail between your legs.  You should have been ready to rip the official's head off after that.  You would have gotten the ball at Pitt's 35-yard line after steroid-induced rage penalty #2 on the Steelers and you have Larry Fitzgerald.  If nothing else you knew he would have gotten mauled in the endzone leading to a potential pass-interference penalty and an untimed play from the 1.  You HAVE to act like it was an incomplete pass, like you did about ten minutes earlier.  It's a simple rule in sports.  Always pretend like the right call is yours.  For instance, in basketball, if the refs are hesitating on a ball deflected out of bounds, go grab the ball and begin to take it out as if it was just assumed that it was your ball.  In all likelihood the refs will be sold, barring an argument, and you'll get the ball.  Always act like the ball should be awarded to you.  How does Kurt Warner not know that?  Maybe that's why he was always screwing up paper or plastic?

Has a guy gone from goat to hero in less time than Santonio Holmes?  He drops, yes drops, the game-winning TD on first down.  I'm sorry, but if you're a professional receiver, the ball should not go right through your hands, touching the inside of one of them.  Then, on the next play, he sees the ball through three guys, Larry Fitzgeralds the ball with his fingers and taps both feet for the game-winning score.  If I didn't dislike LeBron so much I would have even given style points for the solid celebration that didn't lead to a flag.  First down, 45 seconds left:  Santonio Holmes = Goat.  Second down, 35 seconds left:  Santonio Holmes = Super Bowl 43 MVP.  Pretty impressive swing.

Mike Tomlin is not a good coach.  Arizona should never have gotten the ball back and had a chance if he managed the clock right, but more than that, how on Earth do you not go for it on 4th and goal on that first drive?  I had Arizona and was beyond ecstatic that he settled for three points.  There's no doubt, in my mind at least, that Big Ben could have done a QB sneak for six inches and even if he misses, Arizona can't run the ball to create space and Pittsburgh has the best defense of the decade.  How do you not go for it, especially early when it won't change the game too much?

All in all, great Super Bowl.  I even liked seeing Silvio from the Sopranos on stage looking as un-Mafialike as possible next to the Boss.

As to the commercials, I liked the Doritos, Bud, Monster, Career Builder, Coke, and Pepsi ads (I feel like I'm missing another one or two).  The winners for me were the ETrade baby ads, but I'm easily won over by babies, monkeys, etc. (except that weird ad with the monkey kissing the guy).  The losers wasted 3 million dollars per 30 seconds.  Yes, I'm talking to pretty much every car company that purchased time.

In case you only watched football related television over the weekend, you missed some great tennis.  And I don't watch tennis.  I made an exception for the Aussie Open because it was perfect TV for 12:30 a.m. right before you're shutting your eyes to go to sleep.  If you get a chance, watch Nadal/Verdasco and Nadal/Federer if ESPN reshows them.  Just amazing momentum shifts.  I would absolutely watch them if they were on ESPN Classic this week.

The red card against Frank Lampard in the Chelsea-Liverpool debacle was almost as bad as the roughing the passer call in the Super Bowl. 

Billy Mayfair wearing the Tim Hightower jersey to play #16 at the PGA event in Scottsdale, AZ was great.

Barack Obama's thinking that his stimulus package is going through and trying to guilt Republicans is pretty funny.  It would be like my thinking that I'm going to win the state lottery and calling them up and trying to make them feel guilty for my coming up short.

How did I pick the one seat in this room with choppy internet connection? 

Whatever, I just bought my fantasy baseball magazine.  I'm happy.

A waiter at the Palm and I were talking about Manny.  The waiter's from New York and a huge Mets fan.  I heard him talking when I entered the restaurant about adjusting the Mets lineup, so without a prompt, I just yelled, "hey, you're not stealing Manny."  It turned out that he wasn't my waiter and just as my and my Dad's dinners were winding up, our waiter asked how everything was, then mumbled something about being in disbelief because Manny had just signed with the Mets.  I mumbled something like, "it was good . . . wait . . . WHAT?!"  He said, "yeah, it just flashed across ESPN" and he pointed to the television across the restaurant.  I started to hyperventilate and made a move for my scotch but then I noticed him smiling.  Yup, the other waiter from my entrance to the restaurant put him up to playing the joke on me and specifically told him to wait a while to do it.  Touché Jerry from the Palm.  Touché.

I don't know what was going through Kobe's mind after the Andrew Bynum injury play, but it was going through my mind too.  Some combination of "uh oh," "not again," "Pau's too soft, there's no way we win without Bynum.  We can't beat the Celtics without Bynum.  I can't believe this is happening again.  Shoot me now.  Shoot me now.  Oh my God, they're putting Chris Mihm in when we're not up by at least 20.  Shoot me now."  Some combination of that.

I hope the UCLA games against Cal and Stanford were a sign of things to come.  If we're not going to have a halfcourt offense, we can at least turn the game into a frenetic pace with stifling defense that leads to steals and transition buckets.

My girlfriend asked me about the Wrestler.  She had just seen it.  She sees a lot of movies with her family.  I had thought about seeing it but ultimately decided against it.  Here's how the discussion went.

RW:  How was the movie?  Depressing?  Mickey Rourke basically playing himself?
Ms. RW:  Yeah, but good.
RW:  Does he get hurt a lot?
Ms. RW:  Yeah.
RW:  Does he do a bunch of steroids?
Ms. RW:  Yeah.
RW:  Is he hooked on pain pills?
Ms. RW:  Yeah.
RW:  Is he estranged from his family because of the work schedule and after-effects of a life of wrestling?
Ms. RW:  Pretty much.
RW:  Does he die of some kind of heart condition around the age of 50?
Ms. RW:  Yeah.
RW:  Sounds about right.  I don't want to see it.  Can we see Defiance, which is pretty much Munich only better because Jews finally have roles in a war movie where we're the good guys plus we don't get slaughtered?

I think that's all you need to know about the Wrestler, and no that doesn't count as a spoiler because every wrestler in the past twenty years has had the same exact life and fall from grace.  It is an extremely unfortunate business with next to no regulation.

Moving onto a better subject, how great is that ad for Jim Beam (or some other Bourbon, it doesn't matter which) with the hot eastern-European looking girl?  You know, the one where she says she likes a guy who's a little bit fat, has some back hair, loves watching football, hangs out with the boys, and that she's ok with his going to something called the "strip tease."  Great ad.  It's like the "This is our country" ads only the exact opposite.

I'm already excited for 24 tonight.  Over/under on Jack's kill count:  4.  I would not want to be Col. Dubaku.  I'm not sure on spelling but it doesn't matter because he's on the wrong end of a Jack Bauer torture scene tonight.  At least I hope so.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad should be on 24.  His acting was almost as laughable as the 24 cast's when he asked Obama to apologize for American "crimes" against Iran.  Wait.  He wasn't acting?  He was serious?  Okay, he's on my wish list for people I want Jack Bauer to get a hold of right behind Turkey's President.

I know it's Monday, but I'm still happy for some reason.  Maybe it's my fantasy baseball magazine waiting for me at home and the day almost being over.  If you're reading this, congratuations, you're almost through Monday too.

The February Mailbag is coming up next.  As always, send in your questions to Eric.Rudin@gmail.com and I'll answer as many as possible.