The Ads of Super Bowl XLII

Let's be honest: Super Bowl XLII was never going to be a huge opportunity for advertisers in the UK anyway. Don't get me wrong — we Brits are massive sports fans. Our best athletes are lauded with our highest honors, and major tournaments frequently cause the country to come to an absolute standstill. It's just that "American" football (the adjective is important over here) has rarely, if ever, set Limey hearts alight. For us, while soccer enjoys a status roughly that of a major religion, football is ranked somewhere nearer to Scientology. Sure, it seems interesting enough, and we're even familiar with some of the key players, but for some reason, we still don't get it.

Add to that the somewhat inconvenient time problem — the seven-hour time difference meant that many Brits were preparing for their beds even before Ronnie Lott's coin hit the floor — and you're faced with something that feels like little more than the biggest minority interest sport on the planet.

But the Super Bowl is still the Super Bowl. So while UK sports fans still had the option of tuning in to specialist sports broadcaster Sky Sports 1, (relaying the live feed from their sister channel Fox) this year live coverage of the game was broadcast on the BBC for the first time.

One problem. The BBC is forbidden from showing commercials. While this is fine for shows like The Office, you can't deny that ads are much a part of Super Bowl culture as the half-time show and calling in sick on Monday morning. So, what to do with the spare air time? Well, while millions were being urged to part with their hard earned bucks, we Brits were treated to a little education…

Remembering that most Brits think that a wide receiver is a piece of stereo equipment, the BBC laid on all the help it could to make us understand just what was going on in Arizona. Digital Interactive services were deployed (press the Red Button now to read the rules). And every possible British connection was exploited to the full.

Now, I still don't know what roles Lawrence Tynes and Osi Umenyiora fill for the Giants, but I can tell you that they respectively hail from Greenock and Golders Green. Viewers even got to see a snippet of an interview with Usmenyiora on the reassuringly non-sporty topic of fish 'n' chips.

But there was still something to learn about actual football here. The BBC recognised that the medium of instruction should be soccer. Breaks in play were useful opportunities to mention The Giants' detour to the mighty Wembley Stadium, while the Patriots' 18 game unbeaten run is helpfully compared to Arsenal's similar exploits in the English Premier League. Though, according to Mike Carlson, the Pats' run was the more impressive — many soccer matches still finish tied.

So, what did we learn? Football is essentially Rugby League with fewer players, fewer tackles and more referees. Sunday night was pretty sweet in the Manning household. And in America, pitch invasions are actually encouraged.

The NFL returns to London in October, and while most people here are still looking forward to a different kind of football game, we may yet get to grips with Gridiron. Now, remind me, what does the quarterback do again?