"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.

The Pats have selected the 2011 cheerleading squad after several rounds of competitive tryouts that brought out hundreds of hopeful women.

One of the new members of Alexa Flutie, daughter of legendary Boston College and former Patriots quarterback Doug Flutie.

According to Boston.com, the New England Patriots will introduce the members tomorrow at CBS Scene at Patriot Place at 7 p.m.

The roster:
Jessica Aiello, Waltham
Ashley Baldwin, Andover
Asia Barnes, Braintree
Britni Baron, Gilford, NH
Sara Caldeira, Taunton
Alexa Flutie, Natick
Kelsey Fournier, Pawtucket, RI
Patricia Fox, Westford
Cassie Go, Oakdale, Conn
Kathryn Hamilton Dalton
Brianna Kounelas, Bedford, NH
Athena Lazo, Southbridge
Lauren Marchetti, Cranston, RI
Brianna Munoz, Worcester
Michelle Nigro, Swampscott
Siobhan O’Keefe, Salem
Stephanie Petronelli, West Bridgewater
Randi Pittman, Dorchester
Jodi Ricci, Lincoln, RI
Amanda Riddle, Tiverton, RI
Stephanie Sanchez, Cumberland, RI
Heather Santoro, Cranston, RI
Amber Smith, Norwood
Amanda Soucy, North Reading
Alexandra Sova, Gloucester
Brittney Stanley, Nashua, NH
Casey Sullivan, East Windsor, Conn.
Jessica Thompson, Hopedale
Kayla Vernaglia, Norton
Sallie Werst, Merrimack, NH
Sarah Wiewel, El Reno, Okla.

It was December 2003. Brian Kinchen hadn’t played in the NFL in three years. He was teaching middle schoolers — bible classes.

Then the phone rang.

It was the call.

The hot, streaking, eventual champion New England Patriots needed a long snapper. Two months later, Kinchen was snapping the ball for the winning field goal in the Super Bowl.

Pulitzer Prize winner Jeffrey Marx tells this story in intricate, witty detail as only a true journalist can.

In sports today, we’re too often inundated with bad news. We see too much of players cheating and doping or violently breaking the law. With Paul Byrd’s epic comeback performance Sunday night for the Red Sox, these are the kinds of stories that keep us believing in sports. So go read “The Long Snapper: A Second Chance, a Super Bowl, a Lesson for Life.”

New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady threw a football in front of his team and the media at Gillette Stadium yesterday afternoon. It was his first time in front of an audience since tearing his ACL and MCL during the first game of the 2008 season.

Brady, wearing a brace on his surgically-repaired knee, threw five passes in a drill for two completions. He was careful not to give definitive answers about his preparedness for next season.

“Life doesn’t always go how you plan it, and it’s a matter of dealing with it and understanding ‘what do I have to do to get on the right track?’,” Brady told the media. “Talk is cheap. I could sit here and tell you guys I’m going to play until I’m 80, but that doesn’t matter. I’m going to go do the best I can do, and I’m going to try to be the best leader and the best teammate and supporter of the guys on my team.”

Brady developed an infection in his knee a week after undergoing surgery on Oct. 6 of last year. He was treated aggressively for the “very treatable” staph infection and it won’t cause him any long-term problems.

“Part of surgery and rehab is you have setbacks, and you just deal with them,” he said.

The Patriots open their season on Sept. 14 against the Buffalo Bills.

Us Magazine is reporting that New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and supermodel Gisele Bundchen have said “I do.”

Bundchen and Brady, according to the celebrity magazine, got married Thursday in a Catholic wedding mass in Los Angeles.

The bride, 28, donned a form-fitting ivory lace strapless gown with a trumpet skirt, scalloped edges, long train and a floor-length veil with attached handmade satin roses and attached satin headband, all by Dolce & Gabbana. Her three dogs also wore matching Dolce & Gabbana floral lace collars.

Us said the ceremony began ad dusk and was “very small and intimate,” according to a source.

Immediate family was there but so were Tom’s ex-girlfriend Bridget Moynahan and their son.

Bundchen, 28, with Brady, 31 since 2006. She had previously been linked to Leonardo DiCaprio.

Bundchen is a Brazilian-born supermodel who grew to American fame for her Victoria’s Secret ads.

Just a quick one for y’all that are looking for holiday gifts:

Fossil has a series of NFL and college watches out there under their Kaleido collection.

You push the button, and the watch animates and goes from your team’s logo to a mirrored finish and back again.

We got the chance to wear the Steelers and Patriots watches, and they really are cool, because it’s not just a static logo on the watch face. There’s some life to it.

Iomega, a company under the wing of local tech and storage giant EMC Corporation, announced Wednesday that they have released a New England Patriots-themed portable hard drive.

The Iomega eGo Patriots edition is decked out with the team logo above a 2.5″ 250 GB hard drive.

The tiny drive is a USB 2.0 product and retails for $129.99 at local retailers including Staples, the Patriots ProShop, and online at Patriots.com.

The eGo also comes with EMC’s Retrospect Express HD backup software, which allows automatic and on-demand backups of your files and drives. It works with Windows and Mac computers.

The Pats won last night. Everyone seemed to think that the team was destined to go 1-1. Why? I never really understood it.

New England Patriots quarterback and cornerstone Tom Brady will be out for the rest of the NFL season after the team announced he will have knee surgery after being injured Sunday in the first quarter of the Patriots opener against the Kansas City Chiefs.

“After extensive tests this morning, it was revealed that New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady’s left knee, which was injured in the first quarter of yesterday’s game, will require surgery. He will be placed on injured reserve and will miss the remainder of the 2008 season,” the team said in a statement released Monday.

Brady dropped back from the Kansas City 43-yard-line halfway through the first quarter when Chiefs safety Bernard Pollard blitzed. Despite the fact that the blitz was blocked and Brady completed a nearly 30-yard pass to star Randy Moss, Pollard made a last second dive at the quarterback and caught him in the left knee.

Brady was the 2007 NFL Most Valuable Player, and this is a devastating blow not only to his team but the the league in general.

Patriots head coach Bill Belichick sat down recently with Armen Keteyian to talk about the whole Spygate mess. Check it out here:

There are so many stories and reports and theories and opinions out there about this Patriots videotaping scandal that I can’t make heads or tails of it. Did they do something wrong? You bet. Does the NFL have every reason to want this to go away as soon as possible? Same answer.

But, I have refrained from adding another useless opinion because very few people have any clue what really happened, what was really said to Roger Goodell and what the real effect has been on the league.

So, I won’t bore anyone with more speculation. But, I will post this link to Senator Arlen Specter’s conclusions from his meeting with Matt Walsh. If you don’t know who Matt Walsh is, you didn’t care enough to keep reading this article.

This whole situation isn’t over, but for now, you can read on your own and decide.

UPDATE: The Eagles signed Asante Samuel Friday to a six year deal after BLAST broke the story Thursday.

According to a source inside the Eagles with knowledge of the situation, former Patriots cornerback Asante Samuel has reached a deal to play in Philadelphia next year.

There are no specific details on the terms, years or compensation. Sports Illustrated’s Peter King reported Monday that the Eagles could offer the cornerback a five year deal worth up to $55 million, but cautioned that it might not be a great move for the team.

“This is a dangerous, dangerous move if the Eagles do it. I’ve been a Samuel guy for the last couple of years, because he’s a fearless competitor, but his play late last season, particularly when the Patriots couldn’t generate a consistent pass-rush on Eli Manning, was poor,” King wrote.

Samuel played in all 16 games in 2007 and recorded six interceptions, one for a TD — against the Eagles. There had been many rumors involving his eventual landing place in free agency, including the possibility of New Orleans and Tampa Bay.

For the full story, check out our Off the Record Sports Blog!

Patriots have informed wide receiver Donte Stallworth that they will not be picking up his $6 million option bonus due on February 25th, or his $2 million roster bonus due on the 29th.

For the whole article, see our Off the Record blog with sports editor Micah Warren!

Yes, it could happen. Remember the Super Bowl of the 2001 season? The underdog Patriots came in with no shot against The Greatest Show on Turf. They were lucky to be there and had no chance against the offensive superpower that was the St. Louis Rams. Well, whether they cheated or not, they won (and by the way, cheating only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. Wait…do I have that right?). [...]

See our Sports Blog for more!

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.

Blast Magazine starts its brand new sports section and introduces its new sports editor, Micah Warren, with a story about reports of dating violence charge against Patriots star Randy Moss in Florida.

Polish off your old Randy Moss Vikings jersey, because that guy is back.

The Patriots star has been hit with a temporary injunction for protection against alleged dating violence. A restraining order is in place that will not allow him to come within 500 feet of accuser Rachelle Washington.

Moss allegedly hit the victim, seriously injuring her and then refused to allow her to seek medical attention.

WDBO-AM 580 Radio initially reported this story last night, but has since taken it down off of their website. Initially, we didn’t think it was true, but now WDBO has a new report on their website that indicates otherwise.

Florida court documents filed January 14 allege dating violence against Randy G. Moss. Moss has a home in Boca Raton, FL.

Moss responded to the allegations Wednesday telling reporters, “all I want to say is that they are false allegations.”

“It’s something I’ve been battling for the last couple days, threats of going public if I didn’t pay X amount of dollars,” Moss aid. “Before people rush quick to judgment, I think you need to find out the facts about really what is really going on. This young lady, by no means, is hurt. I didn’t hurt her.”

The Patriots don’t let much distract them, but with two games left before history is made, this couldn’t come at a worse time. This is about the worst time for a screw up.

This is not the first time Moss has had legal trouble, but even given his past escapades, what we do know about Randy is that he is a choirboy when he’s winning. In 1998, he dispelled the myth that he was a problem child coming out of college by putting up huge numbers and helping Minnesota to a 15-1 record and NFC Championship game appearance. But stay tuned as this develops.

So, if we want to have fun with Randy today, we’ll just have to watch this great music video about his time in Oakland. This is worth watching: