Month: February 2025

That’s Amaury News and Commentary:Superbowl LIX — It’s also about the Commercials

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One of the Super Bowl LIX commercials featuring Coors Light will be shown on Super Sunday Feb 9, 2025 (Coors Light still)

Superbowl LIX — It’s also about the Commercials

That’s Amaury News and Commentary

By Amaury Pi-González

I have covered Superbowls out of town, as a sports reporter. In 1982, Superbowl XVI at the Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan, when the San Francisco 49ers beat the Cincinnati Bengals 26-21. In 1990, the Super Bowl XXIV at the Superdome in New Orleans was when the San Francisco 49ers beat the Denver Broncos 55-10.

And at home, I also overed the one in 1985 at Stanford. I am not in New Orleans for this next Superbowl on Sunday, but I will watch like you and millions of people. New Orleans is one of my favorite cities, as in 1980, I was also there at the New Orleans Superdome to cover the famous Roberto Durán vs. Sugar Ray Leonard when Sugar Ray Leonard won the title fight for the WBC Welterweight division after Roberto “Manos de Piedra” Durán ( Panamá) who quit in round eight, the famous “no más” fight. An incredible and unforgettable fight.

On Sunday, February 9, Superbowl 59th will take place in New Orleans, “The Big Easy.” The Philadelphia Eagles will face the Kansas City Chiefs. This has become an Event that Transcends Sports; it is pure American culture. Included are the always memorable or not-so-memorable commercials. This year, according to USA Today, these elaborate commercials that will air inside the game have cost $7-8 million per 30-second advertisement. Scoop:I hear the famous Clydesdale horses will be in a commercial.

Everything during the Super Bowl becomes a legend in the United States, including the National Anthem before the game, which on Sunday will be performed by New Orleans native Jon Batiste. Some artists who sing the National Anthem in the Superbowls are usually famous singers.

However, during the first few Superbowls, a musical band or orchestra played the National Anthem, or sometimes, ‘America the Beautiful’. The first time a singer got a job to sing the National Anthem in a Superbowl was Superbowl VII in 1974; it was Charley Pride, a real Country Music singer.

Among others who followed, from Barry Manilow to Vicki Carr to Diane Ross, Neil Diamond, Billy Joel to Mariah Carey, Christina Aguilera, Whitney Houston, Carrie Underwood, and Lady Gaga, The National Anthem is also rated by the media in our pop-culture just as much as the pregame an in-game commercials, as well during halftime (the halftime show), and even some leftovers after the game. In other words, ‘everything is game, in the big game’.

The Half Time Show has become an American tradition, not just the game. Some have suggested that the federal government declare the Monday after the Superbowl a national holiday because most people do not even bother coming to work the ‘day after’.

Kendrick Lamar will take the stage for the Half Time Show in New Orleans for the most significant performance of his life, as over 100 million people in the US will be watching, and many more worldwide. Excuse me, but I do not know much about Mr.Lamar or the rap sounds, but I hope he does well.

Although the main focus is the game, the commercials have become a tradition in American culture. Families gather in front of their vast television sets in their living rooms to watch the commercials, and some make bets (not only on the game) but also on which commercial will get the best commercial title in the country.

I know people who remember the commercials inside these Super Bowls much more than the final score—especially those who are not football fans. In Philadelphia and Kansas City, the only cars on the streets will probably be emergency vehicles or people who must work that Sunday.

USA TODAY created Ad Meter in 1989 to gauge consumers’ opinions about television’s most expensive commercials. The results have become the industry-leading tool for measuring public opinion surrounding Super Bowl ads.

Oh, sorry. The game? Well, I hope it is a good game that pleases everybody, especially all the real football fans. Everybody knows that we could make history because if Kansas City wins, they will be the first in the NFL’s history to win three consecutive Superbowls.

This game Sunday will be a rematch of Super Bowl LVII (2023) held at Glendale, Arizona when Kansas City beat Philadelphia 25-22. Chiefs Quarterback Patrict Mahomes was the Most Valuable Player.

Get ready for the big game, which is more significant than ever today, especially with the advent of social media.

My prediction for this Sunday. Kansas City 37, Philadelphia 34.

FOX KTVU CH 2 (Bay Area) coverage begins at 10 AM Kick Off 3:30 PM (West Coast Time)

Broadcasters: Kevin Burkhardt play-by-play and Tom Brady commentary (Booth) Tom Rinaldi and Erin Andrews (Sideline reporters)

Hasta la vista, baby!

Amaury Pi-Gonzalez – Cuban-born Pi-González is one of the pioneers of Spanish-language baseball play-by-play in America. Began as Oakland A’s Spanish-language voice in 1977, a role he continues to this day (interrupted by stops with the Giants, Mariners and Angels). Voice of the Golden State Warriors from 1992 through 1998. 2010 inducted in the Bay Area Radio Hall of fame.

Super Bowl LIX podcast with David Zizmor: Chiefs Mahomes can he get that threepeat?; Eagles will rely heavily on Barkley

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Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (15) will be slinging the football in Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans on Sun Feb 9, 2025 in his effort to get the Chiefs for their third Super Bowl win (AP News photo)

#1 Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes has some amazing stats going into this Super Bowl for the 2024-25 regular season Mahomes was 3928 yards, 26 touchdowns, only 11 interceptions thrown. He’s no doubt been the back bone of the Chiefs efforts to get a third straight Super Bowl.

#2 Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley is noted to be the best running back for the 2024 season and has been the key player to help the Eagles get to the Super Bowl with 345 carries, 2005 yards, 13 touchdowns, and averaging 5.8 yards a carry.

#3 NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell during his press conference at the Super Bowl told the media that there is no favoritism toward the Kanas Chiefs by the officials.

David Zizmor is an NFL analyst for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Guenther Lights The Lamp At Overtime Buzzer For Utah HC 3-2 Home Victory Against Philadelphia

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Dylan Guenther scored a overtime game winner for the Utah Hockey Club against the Philadelphia Flyers at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Tue Feb 4, 2025 (Utah Hockley Club X photo)

By Tom Walker

SALT LAKE CITY–Dylan Guenther made an immediate impact in his return to the lineup from injury with 2 goals and an assist including the overtime game winner with less than a second remaining on the clock.

Home ice has not been Utah Hockey Club’s friend for much of their inaugural season in Salt Lake City.  Coming into Tuesday night’s matchup with the Philadelphia Flyers, Utah’s home record was 8-12-6, so they hoped that the return of Dylan Guenther from injury would inject some energy into the team’s offense.  Entering the game, Guenther was tied for first in goals among NHL players 21 years old and under.

The Flyers quickly took the lead just two minutes into the first on a snap shot by Rodrigo Abols, his first NHL goal, assisted by Travis Sanheim.  Utah would put 13 shots on net in the frame, but Philadelphia goaltender Samuel Ersson stopped them all. 

Mikhail Sergachev evened the score at 3:32 of the 2nd period with his 10th goal, assisted by Guenther and Barrett Hayton.  Sergachev matched his career high for goals in a season, while Guenther registered his first point since January 2 at Calgary.  Less than a minute later, Tyson Foerster would tip in a shot by Sean Couturier to regain the lead for the Flyers.  Philadelphia seemed to make it 3-1 at 8:44 of the frame, but Utah successfully challenged for off sides, their third successful coaches challenge out of four attempts on the season.

At 8:40 of the 3rd period, Dylan Guenther scored his 17th goal, assisted by Barrett Hayton and Mikhail Sergachev, to even the score at 2 apiece.  At the end of 60 minutes, the score remained knotted up at 2.

With time expiring in overtime, Sergachev fed the puck to Guenther who drove to the net and fired the puck past Ersson with less than a second remaining on the clock to give Utah the home win as the fans erupted in cheers.  Both players factored into all 3 Utah goals on the night.  The Flyers challenged the game winner, hoping to negate it with an off side call, but Toronto confirmed a good goal and the locker room celebration was on. Utah registered 42 shots on goal, the most in the new franchise’s history.

First star of the game, Dylan Guenther, talked about his overtime goal.  “Just not a lot of time left. I was waiting for (Clayton Keller) to get off, and saw it go in and then I saw the clock was at zero, so it was just hoping that it got off in time and it did.” When asked about returning to the ice, the young forward said, “It feels good. I mean, it’s tough getting injured, and I’ve never really gone through that before, so it’s nice that the work that you put in paid off. Just have to keep it rolling here and try to get some more wins.” On the crowd reaction to the goal, Guenther beamed, “It was buzzing. The crowd was buzzing the whole game, even when they announced my name in the starting lineup. I think that feels really good as a player, and that makes you excited to play. It makes you excited to be here in Utah. The support of the crowd helps us win games. So it’s huge.”

Fan favorite Liam O’Brien, who dropped the gloves with Nicolas Deslauriers in the first for his 4th fighting major of the season, also addressed the media.  “I think there’s just so many different plays in a game that creates momentum, whether it’s a defensive play, drawing a penalty, big hit. Those are important plays. So I think we had a lot of those tonight throughout our whole team.” Asked about the fight, he said, “I try to fight at the right time. I felt like tonight was the right time. Sometimes you just want to get the energy going, and that’s what I tried to do tonight.”

Head coach André Tourigny was asked about the impact of Guenther’s return, but he was quick to credit the entire team.  “I think it was a team effort. We were happy about a lot of our games even if we didn’t get the result. We were not happy about our game against St. Louis. I loved the answer (tonight). Not just the score; obviously the score is huge (and) that’s what we’re playing for. But the intensity, the battle level, the number of battles we won, the way we reload, the way we went at the net, the drives to the net we had, I think everybody did their part.”  Talking about what the win does for momentum on the coming road trip heading into Four Nations, Tourigny said, “(Tonight’s win) was absolutely huge. We still very much believe. We don’t look at scores elsewhere, but we know Calgary lost. We know Vancouver is up by one after two. The point is…we know at this point we’ll need a bit of help (to make the playoffs). We didn’t take the straight line. But we can make it and we’ll fight for it. Now we’ll need to go on the road and have a helluva road trip.” Asked about what he told the team during the 30-second timeout near the end of overtime, Bear commented, “They were tired…That’s the only thing I wanted; I wanted to calm the pace a little bit and get a chance for (Mikhail Sergachev, Michael Kesselring and Dylan Guenther) to be at their best. There was 46 seconds left; there was no need to save the timeout for nothing. They were at the end of their gas tank. Just talking for 30 seconds was a welcome addition. Then (Kevin Stenlund) won the draw. That’s another thing; we had a really good overtime. We had a lot of possession, a lot of chances. It started with (Stenlund). He won every draw. You start with the puck 3-on-3, that helps a lot.”

Utah now hits the road for games against Columbus, Carolina, and Washington prior to the 4 Nations Faceoff break. Utah defensemen Olli Määttä and Juuso Välimäki will represent their native Finland in the tournament. The next game at Delta Center will take place January 23 against the Vancouver Canucks.

Sharks Let Another One Go Against the Habs 4-3

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Sharks players celebrate the tying goal over Montreal on Tuesday Feb 4 at SAP Center in San Jose (AP Photo)

As the rain pours heavily in the Bay, so does it for the Sharks in another Tuesday night action

A new month at the tank, and the San Jose Sharks could not get it done losing by a goal to the Montreal Canadiens 4-3 at SAP Center in San Jose on Tuesday night. The Sharks hosted the Montreal Canadiens, trying to start off the new month with a victory after a rather grey week for the team in teal following the horrible defeat in Seattle last week. The Sharks have been having recent activity with the departure of Grandlund and Ceci for Dallas, and now trying to find a win.

The Sharks started the game with a goal by Macklin Celebrini on a powerplay assisted by Tyler Toffoli, who would later also have his moment of glory, and William Eklund.

During the first 20 minutes it seemed that the path to a good night would be on the Sharks’ side.

In the second period, Montreal regained strength and its key character, Nick Suzuki, on a powerplay scored the first goal for the Habs who are also coming off a season full of setbacks in the Atlantic division.

That still wasn’t enough, Montreal made it 2-1 with a goal scored by Alex Newhook assisted by Dach and Carrier.

With that 2-1, the Sharks looked to recover before going to the second intermission, and that’s how they managed to tie it with a goal by Colin Graf to give some breath and life with a tie approaching the last 20 minutes of hockey.

For the third period, Montreal, like in the second period, was a different team and had a different dynamic and took the lead with a 3-2 goal scored by Brendan Gallagher.

Desperately, the Sharks team looked for ways to solve the problem. Tyler Toffoli solved it by tying the match again ten minutes before the end of the match.
Everything seemed to indicate that the match would go to overtime but things decided to take a different turn.

Joel Armia put the Canadiens ahead 4-3 on a powerplay and the night would end with that score, giving the Sharks another loss and again in a one-goal tie.

This Thursday, the Sharks will be hosting the Vancouver Canucks who are coming off a 3-0 win against Colorado.

Stanford Cardinal podcast with Michael Roberson: Cardinal host Wake Forest Wednesday night at Maples Pavilion

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Stanford Cardinal Oziyah Sellers (4) led Stanford in scoring against the SMU Mustangs on Sat Feb 1, 2025 in Dallas (Stanford-Rival photo)

Stanford Cardinal podcast with Michael Roberson:

#1 Michael, talk about that tough loss for the Stanford (15-7) last game to the SMU Mustangs (17-5) 85-61 in a game that was not even a contest last Sat Feb 1st.

#2 For the Mustangs four players in double digits SMU center Samet Yigitoglu led with 17 points and was a challenge for the Cardinal to keep him contained.

#3 Stanford guard Oziyah Sellers led with 19 points and the way he was shooting he was able to read the Mustangs defense but it wasn’t enough to get the Cardinal back from a 24 point deficit.

#4 Following up Sellers was Stanford number two shooter forward Maxime Raynaud who finished second in scoring with 18 points. Despite the loss Raynaud has been lights out all season.

#5 The Cardinal try it all over again against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons Wednesday night at Maples Pavilion in Palo Alto for an 8:00pm PST tip. Wake Forest is fifth in the ACC at 16-6 and have won three of their last seven games.

Michael Roberson does the Stanford Carinal podcasts Thursdays at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Sacramento Kings podcast with Jeremiah Salmonson: Kings host Magic Wednesday; Levine to make his first appearance

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Sacramento Kings Isaac Jones (17) drives the ball against the Minnesota Timberwolves guard Rob Dillingham (4) in the first half at the Target Center in Minneapolis on Tue Feb 4, 2025 (AP News photo)

On the Sacramento Kings podcast with Jeremiah:

#1 Jeremiah, how much of the decision to move De’Aaron Fox was a Kings decision or a Fox decision. After the firing of former Kings head coach Mike Brown thing took a different turn for Fox who like working with coach Brown and wasn’t exactly happy with the change.

#2 There was that period that Fox was on the trade block, Fox a long time King was a mainstay with the team but during that trade search were the Kings having internal problems was the trade rumors a distractions.

#3 Zach Levine is the anticipated King to come aboard and the Kings are hoping he make up for the loss of Fox. He didn’t play in the Kings last game against the Minnesota Timberwolves and is expected to be in the line up on Wednesday night in Sacramento against the Orlando Magic.

#4 What role, what expectations are expected from Levine once he does get on the floor and play his first game with the Kings?

#5 The Kings had struggled and after the Fox trade to San Antonio they were able to get back in the win column which they did against the Timberwolves on Monday night. Did dealing Fox pretty much smooth out the dressing room issues of the direction of the team?

Jeremiah Salmonson does the Sacramento Kings podcasts Fridays at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Super Bowl LIX podcast with Tony Renteria: Will Chiefs get special treatment from Super Bowl officials; Ravens Tucker faces expulsion from NFL; plus more news

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Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs is thrilled during the AFC Championship game against the Buffalo Bills at Arrowhead Stadium on Sun Jan 26, 2025 (AP News photo)

On Super Bowl LIX podcast with Tony Renteria:

#1 Were the Kansas City Chiefs victims or officials looked the other way on calls against them and could the officials give them special treatment as they enter Super Bowl LIX.

#2 Travis Kelce said during media week after being asked “People hate the Chiefs” with a big smile replaying “I didn’t know that” reports are the Chiefs are good with that.

#3 It wasn’t that long ago though that the Chiefs were a favorite when they were playing in their first Super Bowl and that young Patrick Mahomes was a fan favorite and people enjoyed watching him in commercials but now that’s all changed.

#4 Tony, talk about the job that Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley has done and what his impact will be for the Eagles in the Super Bowl?

#5 Tony, the NFL announced that it’s starting it’s investigation into the sexual misconduct of Baltimore Ravens kicker Justin Tucker who is accused of misconduct with several massage therapists. There are nine therapists who claim that Tucker committed acts of sexual misconduct in five different spas between 2012-16.

Join Tony each week for Sports Commentary at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Super Bowl LIX That’s Amaury News and Commentary podcast: Goodell says NFL officials are not favoring Chiefs; plus more news

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NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell addresses the media in New Orleans before Super Bowl LIX on Mon Feb 3, 2025 (AP News photo)

Super Bowl LIX That’s Amaury News and Commentary podcast:

#1 NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell during his press conference at the Super Bowl told the media that there is no favoritism toward the Kanas Chiefs by the officials.

#2 Goodell said he believes in the job that his officials are doing and that they called a well played game, ” I think the men and women officiating the NFL are outstanding. They have the highest possible standards. That’s a ridiculous theory for anyone who might take it seriously, but at the end of the day, it’s something we always have to continue to work on, how we make our officiating better at all times.”

#3 There is no doubt that the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs will improve their free agent inventory with a successful Super Bowl. Those players that are at the end of their contracts or have options might just exercise them and see what team will be the highest bidder.

#4 Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes has some amazing stats going into this Super Bowl for the 2024-25 regular season Mahomes was 3928 yards, 26 touchdowns, only 11 interceptions thrown. He’s no doubt been the back bone of the Chiefs efforts to get a third straight Super Bowl.

#5 Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley is noted to be the best running back for the 2024 season and has been the key player to help the Eagles get to the Super Bowl with 345 carries, 2005 yards, 13 touchdowns, and averaging 5.8 yards a carry.

Amaury Pi-Gonzalez – Cuban-born Pi-González is one of the pioneers of Spanish-language baseball play-by-play in America. Began as Oakland A’s Spanish-language voice in 1977, a role he continues to this day (interrupted by stops with the Giants, Mariners and Angels). Voice of the Golden State Warriors from 1992 through 1998. 2010 inducted in the Bay Area Radio Hall of fame.