• Bueller … Bueller … So, question for you all — is it awesome that Matthew Broderick’s reliving his faux-childhood memories, or just sad? “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” came out a solid 25 and a half years ago, and is arguably his crowning achievement (though “The Producers” on Broadway comes close). This early Super Bowl ad, which openly references “Bueller,” albeit with some modern touches, should remind you of two things: Matthew Broderick is going to be 50 in a little over a month, and a Honda CR-V is not a Ferrari. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? (By the way, when you’re done with this, Jerry Seinfeld also has a past-referencing car ad.) source

• 3:16 Tim Tebow's favorite Bible verse, from the book of John (it's many peoples' favorite)
• 316 number of passing yards Tebow had in Sunday's playoff win against the Pittsburgh Steelers
• 31.6 number of yards per completion the noted evangelical had; your mind is blown source

• 107,903 the number of people that paid to see the game, the largest crowd at Beaver Stadium this year
• $22,000 the amount raised during the game by charity groups that support the prevention of child abuse source

• » “Therapy” for a battered school: Why did the game, the team’s first in 46 years without Joe Paterno, draw such huge crowds? Simply put, it was a bit of a release after a trying week, despite the discomfort around the game. “It’s therapy,” said one fan, Dave Young. “I love Penn State football, always will love Penn State football. Tough week, cried in my office a couple times when I had moments to myself. But now it’s time to release and watch the football game and enjoy it.” Penn State lost to Nebraska, 17–14, which, despite a late rally, was not to be.

• A misplaced memorial: The man you see above is Mohammed Al Fayed, the owner of the Fulham FC soccer team (or football, as everybody else calls it). The fellow immortalized in statue form behind him is clearly the late Michael Jackson, who was a friend of Al Fayed’s– the owner commissioned the statue after MJ’s death, and ultimately placed it just outside his team’s stadium. Some fans have claimed that the statue is inappropriate, or at best a bizarre display for an athletic stadium, to which Al Fayed responds thusly: “If some stupid fans don’t understand and appreciate such a gift they can go to hell. I don’t want them to be fans. If they don’t understand and don’t believe in things I believe in they can go to Chelsea, they can go to anywhere else.” source

• So now, they’re down to three. Green Bay Packers fan Robert Cook, who up until now has been to every Super Bowl, won’t make it this year after getting hospitalized on Thursday. The guy, who was immortalized in the above commercial, is depressed about it but will be watching the game from his hospital bed. “To have the Packers go to the Super Bowl, we were just over the moon about it,” said his wife, Sarah. Now, he can’t go. Sigh. source

• We’ve become a nation of wusses. The Chinese are kicking our butt in everything. If this was in China do you think the Chinese would have called off the game? People would have been marching down to the stadium, they would have walked and they would have been doing calculus on the way down.
• Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell • Complaining about a football game cancelled because of snow. Wait … comprehend that a second. The governor of Pennsylvania is really annoyed because a football game was cancelled because of snow. And as a result, he’s bringing up the industrial fight the U.S. is losing with China. He’s thinking of a fairly smart concept, but trying to apply it to football. We can’t get behind Ed Rendell on this, not because his overarching point isn’t fair, but because he’s bringing it up over a delayed football game. source

• If you want to fight, why don’t you attack soldiers or military installations instead of fighting innocent people watching football?
• Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni • On the attacks that killed at least 74 people, including one American. One of the attacks – which had multiple blasts – occurred in the capitol, Kampala, while people were watching the World Cup final yesterday on a big-screen TV at a rugby center. The other took place 50 minutes earlier in a popular restaurant district. Another 71 were hospitalized in the attacks. source

• The Dallas Cowboys left this stadium a couple of years ago, but this iconic piece of football history will be missed. That said, it’s pretty awesome to see it torn down in a matter of seconds. Our society will not be judged on how quickly it builds something, but how quickly it tears that something down. So, we’re doing pretty good. source

• Four years ago, who ever would’ve thought this would happen?
• New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees • Regarding the Saints’ own fate, along with the more general fate of New Orleans, post-Katrina. The Saints won 31–17, the victors of a symbolic win for a franchise and a city that needed one. It definitely goes a long way to making those awful memories of a damaged Superdome a faded memory. Congrats, scrappy kids of New Orleans. You earned it. source

• The Super Bowl is an American phenomenon. Despite its completely unavoidable presence in the U.S., Super Bowl Sunday is pretty much a nonentity outside of North America, where soccer is king. Even so, it’s still a much bigger moneymaker than any other single sporting event. Here’s a breakdown of how this works out.

Not-so-super viewership

• 106
  million people watched all of last year's Super Bowl telecast, almost entirely in the U.S. and Canada
• 109
  million people watched all of last year's UEFA Champions League final, a hugely popular soccer match

Super brand value

• $420M the Super Bowl's value as an brand, making it the largest brand of all
• $230M the Olympics' value, despite the fact it's a much larger event
• $120M the World Cup's value; it routinely tops the Super Bowl in total viewers

Super ad rates

• $312 million in Anheuser-Busch ads alone since 1990

• $3
  million the amount NBC charged for 69 ad spots last year
• $2.8
  million the amount CBS is able to charge per ad this year source

• Big game, big profits. Despite the fact that it’s just a single game, it often can top the advertising value of both the the World Series and the NCAA Men’s Basketball Final Four, which each take place over multiple games.

So why isn’t it spreading?

• complication American football is a much more complicated sport than soccer and basketball, which both have easily and quickly spread into China, for example. Blame the penalties.
• mediocrity The NFL had been trying to tap the European market for years with a secondary league which folded in 2007. Now the NFL has real games in Europe, a better strategy. source