Jimmy Johnson

Jimmy Johnson

Super Bowl Quiz: Only 5 players have rushed for 150 yards or

more in a Super Bowl. How many can you name? Answer

below.

Super Bowl Commercials

Last year, more than 800 million people around the globe

watched the Super Bowl, some 127 million in America – nearly

half the population. The top five most-watched television

programs of all time are Super Bowls.

Some have questioned whether the $3 million price tag (the rate

for the last few available slots) for a 30-second spot is worth it.

But as one ad exec said, “There”s no other way – on TV or any

other medium – in which you can reach a bigger audience. In

one day you can make a giant imprint on the nation.”

The Super Bowl has become even more important in the ”90s.

As the Big Three networks have been challenged by FOX, UPN,

and about 500 cable channels, the TV audience is being chopped

up and the Super Bowl is one of the few events that retains the

power to glue it back together.

David Hill, chairman of the FOX network said, “I see football as

vitally important. In the year 2005, it”s going to look like a giant

in a sea of pygmies.”

52 percent of viewers reported that they discussed Super Bowl

XXXIII commercials the day after the game. 7 percent watch the

game just for them.

Last year First Union chose to run a 60-second commercial

during the game because, as a spokeswoman explained, the

company wanted to get its message in front of corporate

executives and other decision-makers. Part of the message is

implied: “We”ve got enough money to advertise during the Super

Bowl.”

The biggest impact for a single commercial was in 1984, Super

Bowl XVIII, a 38-9 victory for Oakland over Washington.

During the telecast, Apple Computer ran its only commercial for

the full year, “1984.” Apple”s timing was impeccable.

Commented one agency, the next decade would witness financial

explosions in two industries: sports marketing and new

technology. The commercial was probably the ad of the decade.

At the time, Apple was reeling from the massive failure of its

$10,000 Lisa computer. “1984” promoted the new Macintosh

model and in the 100 days following the Super Bowl spot,

50,000 units were sold.

Following is the breakdown for spots on last year”s telecast on

FOX:

2 p.m. to 5 p.m. (ET) $120,000-$175,000

5 p.m. to 6:23 p.m. (kickoff) $375,000-$1,000,000

During game (on average) $1,600,000

Postgame $750,000-$800,000

Family Guy and The Simpsons $700,000-$800,000

[Source: Phil Barber]

Jimmy Johnson

Coach Johnson resigned, retired, after the Miami Dolphins

humiliating 62-7 drubbing at the hands of the Jacksonville

Jaguars in the current playoffs. Of course, Johnson had quit last

year, too, but this year it”s for real. Geoffrey Norman (an author

who has written a book that might be a good read, “Alabama

Showdown: The Football Rivalry Between Auburn and

Alabama”) wrote a piece in the January 31 issue of “The Weekly

Standard.”

Norman writes of the “elegiac” treatment his latest resignation

received in the press. “You would have thought, if you knew no

history, that this was a case of a man stepping down after long,

arduous, and honorable service. And you almost expected

someone to start reading from Yeats.”

But when Johnson”s career is viewed more clearly, “He will be

properly remembered as football”s first gangsta coach.” I can”t

improve on Norman”s own writing so, in detail, here it is.

“What made Johnson different, made him a pioneer when he was

rolling up a big record with the Miami Hurricanes in the ”80s,

was that he put together a team of many thugs and some felons

and made no apologies. He avidly recruited the hard cases. The

Hurricanes liked to think of themselves as ”outlaws,” and they

once showed up for a bowl game, with the national

championship at stake, dressed in combat fatigues to symbolize,

one supposes, the fact that they were ”on a mission.” They lost

the game.”

“But the rot went deeper than the tasteless clothes off the field or

taunting and strutting on it. Several of Johnson”s players had

serious run-ins with the law and were involved in various

scandals. The football program was considered by many to be

out of control. However, the year after the combat fatigue

incident, the team had another chance to win the national

championship and, this time, delivered. After one more year,

Johnson left Miami and the college game, with its fussy, if

indifferently enforced, standards and went to the pros. The

Dallas Cowboys were not required to attend classes or graduate.”

At Dallas, Johnson”s players were frequently in trouble with the

law and often suspended for violation of the league”s drug

policies. But he won two Super Bowl”s and, after leaving Dallas

for the television booth for a few years, he accepted the call to go

to Miami.

Promising to get Miami a ground game to complement Dan

Marino, Johnson went out and brought in his kind of players.

Norman writes, “These included Lawrence Phillips, a running

back best known for dragging his girlfriend down a flight of

stairs while he was a player at the University of Nebraska.

Phillips was suspended for a few games and given the usual

classes in ”anger management,” which, typically, he seems to

have flunked.”

Johnson”s experiment with Phillips, however, failed as Phillips

got in more trouble with the law. Undeterred, Johnson last year

drafted running back Cecil Collins who had been convicted twice

of breaking into women”s rooms and fondling them. By the end

of the season he was in jail for the same offense.

Again, Norman. “The surprise was not that (Johnson) left – but

the mood of his departure. The tears and honorifics seemed out

of place, at first. But, on reflection, perhaps not. Johnson, like

other coaching legends, left his mark. Because of him, the game

will never be the same. The gangsta act has become an accepted

part of football, less controversial than instant replay. Fans

expect taunting and strutting and trash-talking. Players routinely

get into trouble with the law for a variety of offenses, including

knocking their girlfriends around. (Or, in the case of Rae

Carruth, murdering them.)”

“So in the end, maybe this was another take on the old

melancholy tale. Jimmy Johnson looked around and realized that

the other guys were signing actual killers. He was no longer an

innovator. The game had passed him by.”

Top 3 songs for the week of 1/30/61: #1 “Will You Love Me

Tomorrow” (The Shirelles) #2 “Calcutta” (Lawrence Welk.

Amazing) #3 “Exodus” (Ferrante & Teicher.one interesting

Top 3!)

Quiz Answers: Franco Harris, 158 yards, Super Bowl IX;

John Riggins, 166, XVII; Marcus Allen, 191, XVIII; Timmy

Smith, 204 (78 more than he gained the entire regular season),

XXII; Terrell Davis, 157, XXXII.

Next Bar Chat, Monday…Led Zeppelin.