I hope you and your family enjoyed watching the Big Game over the weekend. This year’s face-off featured the Los Angeles Rams against the Cincinnati Bengals at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, California. Most local folks I talked to became Bengal fans for the game, especially with the hometown quarterback connection, Joe Burrow. For anyone just climbing out from under a rock, Joe was a high school superstar in Athens, Ohio, which happens to be the halfway point for us whenever Leo is traveling to Sistersville to visit his grandparents for the weekend. In other words, Athens is close.

Super Bowl Sunday is an unofficial national holiday in our country. “Super Sunday” has featured some great football games since 1967, but the game itself sometimes becomes lackluster compared to the excitement of the food served to your family and guests, and the commercials you eagerly watch together. And think about this. Many of us no longer have the patience for commercials when watching television. With so many streaming services around today, commercials could be going the same route as 8-track tapes and printed MapQuest directions.

While doing some research for this article, I was surprised to learn super Sunday is the biggest food production day of the year in food retail business. Snack companies step up production of potato chips in anticipation of higher sales. Pizza delivery shops hire more drivers and sell more pies than any other time. The big game causes sales of beer, soda, and snacks to skyrocket, while wedding vendors will tell you it is their slowest weekend of the year. Not too surprising.

This year’s batch of commercials had some good ones. Among the favorites at our house were the Flamin’ Hot Doritos with the “beat boxing” jungle animals, and the always emotional Budweiser Clydesdale horses. In all honesty, I didn’t know it was called “beat boxing,” and Budweiser should make Kleenex commercials.

Another one that made us laugh and deserves honorable mention was the OikosYogurt father-son dynamic staring Deion Sanders. These were ads I could remember after the game, for that reason I guess that says they accomplished their goal.

So, what are the makings of a good Super Bowl ad? Is it a catchy jingle?

A splashy entertainer?

Or is it something that makes you laugh or become emotional when viewing?

Seems advertisers have been trying to figure out the right formula for generations, but there is one iconic commercial that is a perpetual favorite year after year. It is the 1980 Super Bowl Coke “Hey, kid. Catch!” commercial starring “Mean” Joe Greene.

Penny Hawkey, the co-author of the beloved commercial, hardly ever watched sports at the time so she didn’t know the Steeler’s Mean Joe Greene from Joe DiMaggio.

Her firm had been hired to beef up Coco-Cola’s sales which were falling behind Pepsi.

One of the ideas she floated was the heartwarming story of a gruff injured football player and a timid little boy. The spot would open with the football player limping down a stadium tunnel during a game, too tired and hurt to make time for a young fan watching on. That is until the little guy offers his bottle of Coke. After a long refreshing drink, the player smiles and in a heartfelt display of thanks tosses the boy his game jersey as a souvenir.

Hawkey admits she only pushed for Greene to get the part over other contenders like Roger Staubach, Terry Bradshaw, Lynn Swann and Tony Dorsett because of his tough guy name. It fit the vision she had for her commercial. She admits she couldn’t pick Joe out of a line-up.

For most of Greene’s career he was known as a cornerstone of Pittsburgh’s famous and feared Steel Curtain. He was a hulking 6′ 4″, 275-pound giant with a reputation for crushing opponents and never backing down from a fight. But after he drank a Coca-Cola on a commercial during the 1980 Super Bowl, ironically in which the Steelers were playing, all of America realized Greene wasn’t so mean after all.

Coke knew the spot would be a hit with sport fans but was surprised at the reaction from ordinary people. Jeff Eisenberg of Yahoo Sports shares Hawkey’s view, “Moms, in particular, loved it. It had the right mix of contrasts – fame and anonymity, black and white, adult and child, shy and intimidating. This little boy ends up making this big bear of a man feel better.”

Whatever the recipe, this commercial continues to be voted in the “best of all time category” of Super Bowl commercials year after year. As my wife often reminds me, it is the simple act of kindness that can inspire others to pass along some goodness in the world as well. Thanks, Mean Joe.

As we near the end of winter sports season, all local area teams will be facing their own type of Super Bowl with tournament action starting soon. As the Super Bowl ends the 2021-2022 NFL season, so do the sectionals for high school basketball and regionals for wrestling. It comes down to lose and go home. Many dreams are made and dashed in the end of the season tournaments. To all area teams, especially our seniors, good luck and play like a champion. Win or lose leave it all on the floor or the mat. Here’s hoping I see you in Charleston or Huntington for the state finals.