"Man's Best Friend" seemed to be the consensus favorite of last night's Super Bowl ads.

Without a doubt, the Super Bowl is the biggest TV event of the year. Brand name companies and their advertisers mark the day on their calendars knowing they will be paying an arm and a leg, but the exposure will be tremendous. But with every company looking to stand out, they brought their “A” game.

The Doritos contest strategy paid off immensely. According to USA Today’s Ad-Meter it was the most popular ad to air last night. Brand Bowl 2012, said it was the most tweeted about generating 48,498 tweets. “Man’s Best Friend,” a finalist in the “Crash the Super Bowl” contest, had me cracking up. The commercial centers around a cat-murdering dog who bribes his owner with a bag of Doritos to shut him up.

Also earning a lot of laughs was the other finalist, “Sling Baby.” In this one, a kid taunts his grandmother because he has a bag of Doritos’. Grandma decides she will launch the kid’s baby brother using the bungee-cord jumper to snag it from him.

More on the side of controversy was David Beckham’s risque black and white ad commercial for clothing retailer H&M. The concept is simple. Closeups of Beckham in nothing, but their new man panties, zooming in on his chiseled chest and torso (as well as his tattoos), set to porn music, basically. Although, the women in my household, and presumably all across America, were hot and bothered, this wasn’t what incited an uproar. The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) demanded that CNN commentator Roland Martin be fired immediately regarding his tweet about the H&M commercial: “If a dude at your Super Bowl party is hyped about David Beckham’s H&M underwear ad, smack the ish out of him!” This angered the gay activist organization, causing them to respond: “@rolandsmartin Advocates of gay bashing have no place at @CNN #SuperBowl #LGBT.” Roland retorted, “Well you’re clearly out of touch and clueless with what I tweeted. Way to assume, but you’re way off base.” He later tried to justify his remarks to his over 94,000 followers tweeting, “It’s hilarious when idiots…see my Beckham tweet as homophobic and I rip on soccer all of the time.” Whether he meant it as a slight at soccer and his fans or as a denigration of homosexual behavior matters little. GLAAD is not letting up, still rousing supporters and gay bloggers to initiate a campaign for his termination. To get up close and personal with David, click here.

Lovers of women in lingerie were not neglected, however. Adriana Lima, Victoria’s Secret model, appeared as a spokeswoman for Teleflora, an online flower delivery service. Needless to say, it was every bit as sexy as Beckham’s. Lima seems to be getting dressed for a night on the town as we watch her hook her bra and pull on her tights. And unlike H&M’s, it included dialogue: “Guys, Valentine’s Day is not that complicated. Give, and you shall receive.” Message happily received. Pay your respects to Ms. Lima here

Brand Bowl’s third most popular was courtesy of Chrysler. Clint Eastwood waxed philosophic about the recovery of Detroit’s motor industry. Apparently, Eastwood’s rhetoric on “Halftime in America” and us rallying as a nation to “come from behind,” touched the hearts of Americans like Eminem’s ode to Detroit did (set to his “Lose Yourself”) last year.

My personal favorite was from Fiat, who equated the beauty of their new sleek and sporty model with being seduced by an Italian supermodel (picture below). The reveal that he was kissing the window of a car completely caught me off guard, and was probably the most inventive premise of the night, while still going for sex appeal. For a laugh riot, click.

Filling out the remaining contenders, I was underwhelmed by Budweiser’s contributions, but thought the dog named “Wego,” was clever. Hint: If you call the dog, you would say “Here, Wego.” “Here We Go” is the Bud slogan. Going for the nostalgia factor, Acura and Honda shelled out the big bucks for tributes to pop culture. For Acura, Jerry Seinfeld starred in a parody of his “Seinfeld” show and Matthew Broderick showed up in Honda’s homage to his 80s classic, “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.” Yeah, I got all the references, but it just didn’t tickle my funny bone like the others.

So, note to self: Wanna make millions on ads? Include babies, attractive and scantily clad women (but you can throw in a dude), and animal personification. Nostalgia is hit or miss, and involving your customers via contests can never hurt.

I won’t mention the game itself, because I know here in Boston it is a day of mourning, but I hope you at least enjoyed some of these crowd-pleasers up until the final whistle. Was one of your favorites not mentioned? Share links and your opinions of the ads mentioned in the comments section.

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In the end, it was one of the greatest Super Bowls of all time. If you are a Giants fan, it was probably the greatest.

It wasn’t just that they won but how they won. Facing “The Greatest Team Ever,” the New York Giants were forced to stare down the immortal Tom Brady. And they did.

Here are my thoughts from the game:

If Asante Samuel catches that ball on the Giants’ final drive, we aren’t talking about Eli Manning today.

I know they say cornerbacks are just wide receivers that can’t catch, but you have to make that play. Instead of 19 and 0, it is 19 and Uh Oh.

The Manning scramble out of trouble and toss to wide receiver/special teams ace David Tyree is one of the greatest plays in Super Bowl history.

It wasn’t the best decision to throw that ball up for grabs, because let’s be honest, Tyree isn’t Lynn Swann. But it worked. Tyree made a catch for the ages, clutching the ball between his hand and helmet as he was wrestled to the ground.

Memo to Giants General Manager Jerry Reese: Cut Jeremy Shockey.

It is painfully obvious that Manning relaxed and progressed as a quarterback after that guy broke his leg. Rookie Kevin Boss did an admirable job and the Giants have been more productive sans Shockey.

In the middle of the game, the Patriots had a drive stall on the Giants 31-yard line and faced 4th and 13. Send in kicker Stephen Gostkowski, right? Nope.

They passed up what would have been a 49-yard field goal to go for it on 4th and forever. This isn’t Bill Belichick being arrogant. This is Belichick not trusting his kicker.

Can we finally just come out and say that the Super Bowl commercials are no longer worth the hype?

I can’t believe the amount of money spent and that was the result. What a waste of time.
How good is the Giants defensive line?

Brady was harassed all day and never got comfortable. Sure, everyone says that you have to pressure Brady to win, but no one has been able to do it. The Giants did. Justin Tuck is a monster. Michael Strahan and Osi Umenyiora dominated a very talented Patriots’ offensive line. And it wasn’t just edge pressure, they were having jailbreaks up the middle. Pressure in the middle disrupts offenses completely.

An hour before the game, life was superb for Belichick.

He had an 18-0 team and was facing what was essentially an inferior opponent. Now, the perfect season is blown and he has some ‘splainin’ to do to Senator Arlen Specter. If it is determined that he has been cheating this whole time — as is alleged by an unknown source with knowledge of the situation — and that he really did tape walkthrough practices of the Rams before the Super Bowl in 2002, this guy’s life and legacy could go south very quickly.
Giants wide receiver Amani Toomer thought it was ironic that Tyree played so well in the Super Bowl considering his recent practice.

“It was funny because at practice on Friday, [Tyree] was dropping everything,” Toomer said. “He dropped every ball. It goes to show he’s a tough guy and he represents our team well. We fight until the end and that’s why we win.”

Randy Moss was virtually invisible for the first half of the game.

The Giants game plan was to take away Moss on the deep routes. So, why did the Patriots go to the dink and dunk and ignore the intermediate come-back routes?

Give Reese a ton of credit for his 2007 draft class.

Aaron Ross, Steve Smith, Zak DeOssie, Kevin Boss, Michael Johnson, Jay Alford and Ahmad Bradshaw all played key roles throughout the playoff run. That’s very, very impressive.

Can someone tell me why the Patriots left Ellis Hobbs in single coverage on Plaxico Burress on the deciding touchdown?

That area of the field is where Burress is most dangerous. That is not a one-man job.

Giants defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo just made himself some money.

Redskins owner Dan Snyder has been waiting to interview him for their vacant head-coaching position and you can better believe he watched Sunday’s game. Why even interview him? Spagnuolo should just mail him the Super Bowl game tape and wait for a contract offer.

The world looks to the Patriots and Giants as they do battle Sunday — will it be Michael Strahan or Junior Seau who takes home their first Super Bowl ring?

But while the focus is on sports and Mexican journalists proposing to Tom Brady, I decided to look at what some people below the radar are doing to prepare for football’s annual gluttony festival.

Here in Boston, RC SILK is waiting for the final gun to sound so they can flip the switch on either the Patriots or the Giants Super Bowl XLII championship “locker room” t-shirts. The Giants one is traditional, while the Pats shirt makes specific mention of the “Perfect Season — 19-0.”

Reps from Reebok, whose label will be on all the shirts, are standing by at RC’s 20,000 sq. ft. facility in South Boston to help get the shirts to dealers.

“RC Silk is proud to offer its full production capabilities to this event: three fully automated, pneumatic/servo, multi color industrial printing presses, feeding a gas powered, 800,000 btu, 72″ belt drier,” the company said in an email Friday. “RC SILK operates the largest production shop in Boston.”

Over in East Boston, Danilchuk Auto Body is no stranger to ripping apart cars and trucks, but these guys get creative with it!

Danilchuk has done their part to crush the Giants in Boston. Beingin Boston, this auto shop gets to do this almost every year — they made similar displays of the Red Sox against the Rockies in the World Series and the Patriots versus the Panthers a few years back.

Finally, my favorite, Amber, the Louisville Zoo’s 20-year-old orangutan made her pick known by sporting a Patriots t-shirt.

Zoo officials laid two shirts out for her — Giants and Pats — and she walked right up to the 18-0 team’s shirt and threw it on.

Amber is not only a sports fan, but she’s also quite the fashionista. Her t-shirt prediction was part of the zoo’s “animal enrichment program.”

“Animal enrichment is an important aspect of animal management at the Louisville Zoo,” said Animal Training Supervisor Jane Anne Franklin. “Amber and other animals at the Zoo are given regular enrichment that provides them with mental and physical stimulation.”

Playing with T-shirts and other items of clothing is one of Amber’s favorite activities.

“When she is given a shirt, she often likes to take it and rub it across her face and feel the texture before she puts it on. Oh, and she really likes handbags!” Franklin laughed. “If she had to choose between two handbags that might have been hard for her, because I bet she would have carried both of them around and not let them out of her sight.”

Let us be thankful that there are no Super Bowl locker room handbags.