The Followspot

Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa

Pope Benedict and Barack Obama are both saying "Sorry."

Well, the Pope actually says, "I didn't know," but gets points for making an effort to rectify his mistake. And the President tells the American people, "I’m here on television saying I screwed up and that’s part of the era of responsibility."

Barry Bonds, on the other hand...

Super Bowl XLIII

It's a good Super Bowl when the game is better than the ads. Tonight's game was the best kind -- the lead seesawed between the Steelers and the Cardinals literally until the final seconds. Who could say which play was more thrilling: Cardinals linebacker James Harrison's astonishing end zone interception and run back 100 yards for the touchdown or Roethlisberger's touchdown pass to Holmes in the end zone that turned the game around for the Steelers. Then there were the many penalties and personal fouls on both sides that threw the advantage back and forth. Great game.

A lot of the ads were meh or jes' plain dumb -- which is surprising when the sponsors are paying somewhere in the neighborhood of $2.7mil for 30 seconds of airtime. There will never be an ad as revolutionary as Apple's "1984" ad introducing the Macintosh. There were a few tonight, though, that I liked a lot. (Please note, this does not constitute an endorsement of any product, although I like Coke better than Pepsi and buy Pedigree kibble for my dog. I also prefer safe tires to baldies and free Hulu videos even though they're turning my brain to mush.)