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I freely confess that I didn’t spend much time watching the Super Bowl Sunday night. I think, all in all, I may have watched America’s No. 1 media event for maybe 20 or 30 minutes.

The truth is, during the years my interest in most professional sports has waned to almost nothing.

About the only exception I make is that I like to take my grandson to see the Royals once in a while. Given the Royals’ lack of success in recent years, that is pretty much an exercise in nostalgia. It’s nice to settle back in the stands on a warm summer evening with a beer and a bag of peanuts and watch the game unfold at its steady, measured pace.

I have, in the past, watched the Super Bowl as much to see the new ads as for any interest in the game. But this year, even that would have been a disappointment, based on the few I saw Sunday night plus what I saw in a few minutes browsing the next morning on the Web. There, from the literate pen of James Poniewozik, who writes about the media for Time, one can read and watch “The Best and Worst Super Bowl Commercials 2009” on time.com.

The major players seemed to be there. Budweiser, despite its recent takeover by Belgian brewing giant InBev, was well-represented, with a Bud Light ad in which a worker gets thrown out the window for suggesting that his co-workers give up their Bud Light at their meetings. The Budweiser Clydesdales also featured in a couple of nostalgic spots.

None of the Budweiser ads quite hit the funny bone like in past years, however. One of my favorites was last year’s ad in which Bud Light gave a suitor the ability to breathe fire. That was fine with his date when he was lighting the candles at her dinner table, but it sort of went over the top when his cat allergy kicked in.

For my money, the best of the lot was the Doritos “Magic Chip” ad. A young man munching a bag of Doritos discovers that his chips have the power to strip women’s clothes, empty ATM’s and neutralize the police, only to get run over by a bus when he eats the last chip.

Coca-Cola was in the hunt with several spots, including one in which Pittsburgh Steeler Troy Polamalu reprises the classic Mean Joe Greene ad from the 1970s. In “Avatar,” a boy walks through a cityscape composed of people who are so engrossed in their laptops or cell phones they change into their online avatars. He walks up to a counter and encounters an ogre, who changes into a girl as they bond over a Coke. Another charmer, “Heist,“ features a host of insects that snatched a bottle from a young man taking a nap after a picnic.

In keeping with the fairness doctrine, Pepsi had a couple of good ads, too. “Forever Young” teams images of rapper will.i.am and Bob Dylan with Dylan’s song of the same name. Another, “I’m Good,” features 25 seconds of dumb-and-dumber violence (guys walking into golf swings, getting bowling balls dropped on their heads, etc.) to advance the message that Pepsi’s new diet drink is one men will like.

I should make the point that I’m not gauging the ads on their effectiveness but just on whether they entertained me. For advertising, that’s not always the best yardstick. Years ago, Alka-Seltzer ran a series of wildly popular “I Can’t Believe I Ate the Whole Thing” ads that the company finally pulled after researchers discovered they made people uncomfortable.

As you would expect, a lot of the ads weren’t all that memorable — fast cars, tough trucks, plus a lot of movie trailers. Arguably the worst — or at least the tackiest — of the lot was the one with Ed McMahon and MC Hammer touting Cash4Gold, the company that pays you to send it your old jewelry and other baubles.

The Super Bowl has been America’s No. 1 media event for years. It’s a media event in several respects — it monopolizes the media while it’s occurring and, in fact, would not exist without the media. Even though it’s lost some of its luster during the years, it still draws audiences beyond any other TV event. I wonder how long that can continue.

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