Super Bowl Commercials: Horses aplenty, but no High Life

Maybe it was just me, but I thought Sunday's Super Bowl commercials weren't up to par. Maybe it seemed that way because the game was so good. It took the luster off the $3 million ad spots. The Pittsburgh Steelers won their sixth title in a classic, but the laughs during time-outs were few and far between.

Sure, there were some great individual commercials. My favorite was the Doritos crystal ball spot, followed by the CareerBuilder.com "Tips" commercial and the "Swedish" Budweiser ad featuring Conan O'Brien. The Bud Clydesdales have pretty much run their course, in my opinion, although I did like the closing scene of the "Stick" spot that had the horse drop a tree limb at the owners feet, outdoing the measly stick brought back by the Dalmatian.

It's high time the creative folks at Budweiser cool it with the horse emotions. (Neigh? I say “nay.”) Come on, guys, who really cares that the big hairy guy is dating a circus horse? It didn't induce me to rush out for a cold Bud. Think they were playing to the predrinking crowd, a la Joe Camel? Nah. They wouldn't stoop to that, would they?

I missed seeing the one-second spot from Miller High Life. I was watching intently for it, but must've been high-fiving my Steeler mates when the Miller delivery man made his pitch. Either that, or we were complaining about the overuse of the replay machine that didn't always deliver convincing evidence that officials’ calls on the field should be overturned.

Click over to www.1secondad.com to see the spot that ran and many others produced by Miller.

You can see all the Super Bowl ads at www.hulu.com, including one for hulu, which was also pretty decent. There's still time to vote for your favorite spot, with the winner announced Tuesday.