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Beyoncé seemed destined to break Madonna's record for the most-watched Super Bowl haltime show in history, based on the relentless hype alone. There were the behind-the-scenes photos. The rehearsal videos. The psuedo-controversies about whether she'd perform live. The terribly-kept rumors about a Destiny's Child reunion onstage. But it appears that Queen Bey has not yet dethroned the Queen of Pop.
According to Deadline, Beyoncé pulled in about 100 million U.S. viewers on Sunday evening — a considerable feat, to be sure. But the number looks a little less impressive when one considers that in 2012, 116 million tuned in to watch Madonna stalk around awkwardly in too-tall stilettos and a cheerleader outfit. There are, of course, other factors than Beyoncé's pull at play here: This year's game was slightly less popular than the last, and the way the first half went down (i.e. the Niners getting their tails handed to them) didn't help matters.
Football fans were taken aback during the Super Bowl on Sunday when Paul Harvey's voice brought some special magic to a commercial for the Dodge Ram. The two-minute commercial was a montage of mostly farming footage with no music, only Paul Harvey's voice running unaccompanied in his famous speech, "So God Made a Farmer," which was delivered at the 1978 FFA conference.
The spot was instantly well received, generating 1,000 likes on YouTube within a few minutes of airing with press outlets calling it the best commercial of the Super Bowl. Here's the full text of Paul Harvey's speech.
And on the eighth day, God looked down on his planned paradise and said, "I need a caretaker." So God made a farmer.
God said, "I need somebody willing to get up before dawn, milk cows, work all day in the field, milk cows again, eat supper, then go to town and stay past midnight at a meeting of the school board." So God made a farmer.
God said, "I need somebody willing to sit up all night with a newborn colt and watch it die, then dry his eyes and say,'Maybe next year,' I need somebody who can shape an ax handle from an ash tree, shoe a horse with hunk of car tire, who can make a harness out hay wire, feed sacks and shoe scraps. Who, during planting time and harvest season will finish his 40-hour week by Tuesday noon and then, paining from tractor back, put in another 72 hours." So God made the farmer.
God said, "I need somebody strong enough to clear trees and heave bales, yet gentle enough to yean lambs and wean pigs and tend the pink-comb pullets, who will stop his mower for an hour to splint the leg of a meadowlark."
It had to be somebody who'd plow deep and straight and not cut corners. Somebody to seed, weed, feed, breed, and brake, and disk, and plow, and plant, and tie the fleece and strain the milk, . Somebody who'd bale a family together with the soft, strong bonds of sharing, who would laugh, and then sigh and then reply with smiling eyes when his son says that he wants to spend his life doing what Dad does. "So God made a farmer."
Truly, after listening to this ad i was just touched. I really dont know what came over me, but it felt comforting.
