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43 Observations on the Super BowlThe cute puppies, Al Michaels, Obama's fireside chat, and other moments you might have missed.

By Troy PattersonPosted Monday, Feb. 2, 2009, at 4:00 PM ET

(Continued from page 1)

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XXIII. Matt Lauer of NBC News interviewed Will Ferrell, but this time it was in a commercial for the movie that Al Roker of NBC News had interviewed Ferrell about earlier.

XXIV. By the way, Ferrell correctly predicted that there would be a safety in the game, though he had firmly said that the final score would be 2-0 after double overtime.

XXV. Jennifer Hudson, wounded but resilient like America herself, performed an excellent "Star-Spangled Banner."

XXVI. She reportedly lip-synced? So what? There are all sorts of authenticity. You wanna make something of it?

XXVII. By the way, I want to hear the good gossip about Ben Silverman's Super Bowl party behavior.

XXVIII. I watched the game at home alone, so when I spontaneously shouted "OH MY GOD!!!" at the end of the first half, no one heard me except the neighbors in a 100-yard radius.

XXIX. What a run! What fun to watch replays, replays, replaaays of James Harrison heroically skipping and then skidding into the end zone on his neck.

XXX. In further branding news, Brian Williams of NBC News brought a sensitive reading to what could have been a stale line in a local promo: "I'm 4 New York. You got a problem with that?"

XXXI. At halftime, Bruce Springsteen told me to turn the television all the way up, and I did.

XXXII. Max Weinberg of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band began the set by laying down a martial beat, Larry Mullen Jr.-style.

XXXIII. Springsteen—who at times evoked Johnny Cash, James Brown, and Jerry Lee Lewis in his righteous cool—was sexier than Janet Jackson will ever be. Now I want to see a battle of the bands between the Boss and Prince, the only artists in the same class as half-time performers.

XXXIV. (Two years ago, playing in the heart-rending purple rain in Miami, Prince converted "All Along the Watchtower" into an epic squall, among other majestic tricks.)

XXXV. Politically active Springsteen was performing as a kind of co-president. When he lunged into the crowd, I found myself scanning the screen for his Secret Service detail.

XXXVI. Up in the booth, Al Michaels was magnificent. He turned the word alacrity into onomatopoeia.

XXXVII. Best Al Michaels filler: When the camera spotted Cuba Gooding Jr. in the crowd, Michaels spoke of getting a Jerry Maguire residual check for $28 in the mail.

XXXVIII. I wonder how many degenerates switched promptly at 10 p.m. to Wipeout Bowl 1: Cheerleaders vs. Couch Potatoes (ABC), which was either an astonishingly crass Japanese-game-show-type reality special or a devastating satirical critique of American culture ghostwritten by George Saunders.

XXXIX. Either way, it was hilarious. The cheerleaders were 13 young women in microminiskirts ("I'm 20, but everyone tells me I look 16"). The couch potatoes were 13 flabby guys. They fell in mud and bounced off foam-padded pillars and were pelted with paint-soaked Nerf footballs and that sort of thing.

XL. The knee socks on the Wipeout cheerleaders were an essential touch. Sadly, they switched into wet suits by the grand finale, which culminated in contestants braving a "1,000-gallon sports-drink tidal wave."

XLI. How perfect was the footage of Santonio Holmes in his No. 10 jersey? (Personal to NBC Sports and NFL Films: Let's sit down on the record some time and discuss the debts that you owe to Leni Riefenstahl. It'll be fun, and everyone will understand that you do not intend any cross-branding with Nazis.)

XLII. How perfect was Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt in accepting defeat with grace? Forget all the macho posturing on and off the field on Sunday. The way Whisenhunt said, of his team, "This is a group of men ..." made you thrilled to be a man.

XLIII. STEELERS WIN!