Pratfalls at Super Bowl 2012

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Sunday's Super Bowl had a couple of moments of unintentional physical comedy, which of course is the best kind, at least if it's happening to someone else. First we had Madonna's near-pratfall, as she stumbles during her half-time show extravaganza:



To her credit, she did recover smoothly and — performing alongside acrobats from the Cirque du Soleil — did execute three partner acrobatic tricks; relatively easy moves, but then she is 53.

Far more amusing was running back Ahmad Bradshaw trying not to score the winning touchdown for the Giants. I was watching this with a large gathering of clown types on the Waterfront Museum barge who found his ass-first drop into the end zone hysterical. This one was funny on two counts. It looked funny, as if he were doing it that way on purpose, which if you didn't understand the intricacies of the game (and some clowns don't!) that's exactly what you would think. After all, no one was near him, so why suddenly come to a screeching halt, turn around, and sit on your prat in the end zone?

The answer — and I think it's much funnier if you understand what he was trying to do —was that the Giants wanted to run out the clock. Since they were pretty assured of scoring at least a field goal, enough of a winning margin, it was more important to use up time before doing so rather than give the Patriots almost a full minute to come back. So Bradshaw barrels full-throttle up the middle, only to discover the defense has no interest in tackling him. He's not dumb, he knows what's going on, but he's a big guy with a lot of momentum, and try though he does, he can't quite stop short. Pratfall!

The good news is that though Tom Brady did get his chance, the Patriots failed to score and the Giants won. Had the Patriots pulled it out, we Giants fans might be finding this more tragic than comic, eh?

You can read more about it here.