1. Commercials: No, I don’t have a problem with Nationwide and their dead boy commercial. It was jarring, it was a buzzkill, and it may have pissed people off. But it’s Nationwide’s money, and — for all the negative feedback it’s getting as perhaps the worst SuperBowl ad in history — it has people talking, and most of them are only pretending to talk about how horrible and inappropriate it was. But trust me: it’ll stick. And all the vitriol it has spawned will reinforce it as a kind of cultural touchstone. That’s a win for Nationwide — whose clients aren’t likely to drop coverage because the company warned against the dangers to kids in and around the home. And I suspect they’ll pick up more clients as people sober up and equate the company with one raising awareness about accidental deaths in the childhood demographic, certain images (the dancing cooties, the little mop-headed boy in his wedding tux, the smashed erstwhile wall-mounted TV and overflowing bathtub) sure to stick in our minds despite our current “outrage” and cynicism.

[question: Chances of reading the headline “JEFF GOLDSTEIN SUPPORTS TELEVISING FICTIONAL CHILD DEATHS” from some sanctimonious moral scold? Elevated]

Also, this: the best way to curb Fergusonesque-like mob violence is for police tactical units to set up giant speakers and pipe in Chapin’s “Cat’s in the Cradle.” Taking steady aim with a Molotov cocktail is likely problematized by one’s bawling over lost time with a father / child.

And as a father? I loved the Dove commercial.

So yeah, the general theme was that of tear-jerking sentimentality last evening. But that’s because many of us are secret saps. And Madison Avenue knows it.

Still, there are worse things to do in between football plays than grab your kids and squeeze them like the precious things they are.

2. A local sportscaster in Denver pointed out this fact while the national media pundits were rushing to put Pete Carroll’s head on a pike: This season, Marshawn Lynch had 5 rushing attempts from the 1 yard line and scored on only one of them. New England’s defense is stout, and with the heavy goal line unit in — Wilfork clogging up the middle and Ninkovich and Hightower so good and coming down the line to stop a runner in the backfield — the pass play was not, in my opinion, “the worst call in SuperBowl history.” In fact, that reaction is just another example of the media and the herd of repeater donkeys who follow them believing overblown hyperbole. With 20-seconds and one time out left, an incomplete pass doesn’t hurt you, a TD pass likely wins the game, and Wilson had the defense he was looking for on the field: NE was stacking up to stop the run, There’s simply no way on a pass play like that for Wilson to see Butler’s reaction to the route and adjust on the fly: it’s a timing play consisting of snap, slant, and ball release on the receiver’s inside break. Butler did his homework and broke on the ball. He did this because he recognized the formation and knew the Seahawk’s tendency on that personnel package. He was prepared, and he made a great play at the perfect time by jumping the route. If anything, the receiver must do everything at that point to break up the INT — though again, the quick nature of the play makes even that extraordinarily difficult.

It’s a risky play in general not because of the frequency of route jumping but rather because the ball has to be thrown hard and quick, and deflections can and do happen if the throw isn’t perfect. Wilson’s throw was where it should be; it’s just that Butler ran the route better than the receiver, who didn’t block him off with his body. In Denver, we’re used to seeing Julius Thomas make that catch by boxing out the defender; maybe that throw needs to go to a tight end, but I have no problem with the thinking behind it.

In fact, throwing on an undrafted rookie when everyone in the stadium — including the NE defense — is expecting you to hand the ball off to Lynch is not even a bad play, much less the worst play call in SuperBowl history. The result, however, was of course disastrous for the Seahawks. But that outcome is less on Carroll, Wilson, and the Offensive Coordinator than it is on a well-prepared defensive back trusting what he saw on film and making a gutsy break on the ball. You may not like New England or its head coach, but he has his teams ready and well trained. Which is why the Pats been able to put together great defenses even after injury year in and year out.

3. I spent most of the day yesterday sleeping. That’s what old people do on their birthdays, I guess. The night before, however, we had a nice party at our place with an eclectic group of people — from my liberal pal who is fighting for adjunct recognition and her electrician husband to a bunch of wrestling coaches to my catch wrestling training partner to a Marine, an Army special forces pal (who showed off a kick-ass new pistol that looks and acts like an AR-15) and tradespeople of all kinds. Families brought their kids, who — depending on their ages — either played some sort of COPs game with Satch (after taking turns working out on the treadmill; most of the kids were wrestlers from his time), or played with Tanner, building lego “robots” and other slapped together visions from their imaginations.

A great time, I have to say.

4. I’m tired. Still. Because of being old.

It’s a thing.