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It was just after 5 p.m. on Sunday night, and I was sitting down to watch the biggest television broadcast of the year.

I was looking forward to watching the best in the world at what they do justifying the millions of dollars that somebody spent on them.

Some would succeed. Some would fail. And there would be memorable moments as well.

And at some point, I might enjoy a football game, too.

Yes, I was excited to watch the Super Bowl commercials. No matter if the game was a thriller or if it tanked like last year’s game, I expected to be entertained every quarter.

Even if the Super Bowl half-time show was a dud (it wasn’t), I knew I would see some great action during half-time.

You see, a few years ago, the CRTC actually did something right, and decreed that for this one special day of the year, an American broadcast feed could override a Canadian feed, allowing us to watch these vaunted commercials.

Instead of getting a few Super Bowl commercials, we could have all of them.

But at some point during the past 12 months, the Supreme Court, in its infinite wisdom, decreed that we couldn’t get the Super Bowl commercials any longer.

I missed that bulletin. It must have come at a very busy time in the office, when I had more important things to worry about than something in February 2020.

There was some pretty good movie trailers on at the start of the broadcast. I think we had a couple of Super Bowl commercials during the first ad break.

And then it happened.

We had a Turbo Tax commercial.

Nothing against the good folks at Turbo Tax, but I don’t think they could afford $5.6 million for a 30-second commercial spot. And if they could, and if that was their commercial for the Super Bowl on Fox, then somebody would have been fired. 

I reached for the remote, thinking I was on CTV. No, it was on Fox. I Googled Super Bowl commercials, and aghast, I find out that yes, there wouldn’t be all of these great $5.6 million ads that I’ve become accustomed to enjoying in the past couple of years.

I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again: damn Supreme Court. Thanks to them, my enjoyment of the Super Bowl would be based on the strength of the football game and the quality of the beer in my fridge.

The beer was never in doubt; that’s what happens when you’re a beer geek. Thankfully the football game was pretty good, with some big plays, good hits and a stirring comeback.

The Kansas City Chiefs won the Super Bowl for the first time since 1970, and their coach, Andy Reid, won his first title, and promised to chow down on one doozy of a cheeseburger to celebrate.

But I missed the commercials. Thankfully I could watch them on YouTube and laugh myself silly later.

Quick university story: when it came time for the big games, my folks would usually open up our house so that some friends and I could watch the game. After all, our house was only 15 minutes from the campus. And the TV was pretty good, a 32-inch rear projection beauty with picture in a picture that was all the rage when we bought it in 1994.

But in my junior year of 1999, the fellas decided we should invade the parents’ home of my sophomore year roommate, who lived just across the Canada-U.S. border in Lynden, Wash. We could watch the commercials. We could see if the Denver Broncos would defeat the Atlanta Falcons to win their second straight title.

After chasing his brother from his video games minutes before game time, we were ready. Until we flipped through the channels to find that his only feed of the game was Global in Vancouver, as he failed to tell us that they didn’t have the American feed, which meant we wouldn’t get the commercials.

(Yes, these problems occurred in the 20th century).

The game wasn’t a barn-burner, either, as the Broncos dominated the Falcons, and John Elway retired a champion.

But hey, at least I watched it with my buddies. All eight of them.

Now that I’ve spent all this time talking about the commercials, I don’t understand why companies spend so much money on them. I get that the Super Bowl is the biggest television event of the year in the world’s largest media market. But I can’t imagine why these companies feel the need to spend $5.6 million for a 30-second commercial spot. Do they really think it’s going to give them a competitive advantage?

And unless you come up with something truly memorable, people will forget that commercial a week later.

But at least they’re entertaining.

Fortunately, I have a plan for next year’s Super Bowl.

I’ll go watch it in North Dakota.

Hopefully the game will be worth watching, and the beer will be worth drinking.