As Shannon already explained in her column, she had committed to not watching the Super Bowl this year.

It doesn’t take long to figured out Shannon is a big NFL fan after talking to her for more than five minutes, so needless to say, this came as a bit of a shock.

I’ll give her a couple things. The halftime show usually disappoints.

This year’s halftime show was probably entertaining if you were under the influence of some psychedelic drug or are really into tight leather clothing.

Some years at least, the previewing can be kind of a overkill as well.

For a big NFL fan like herself however, she should be able to tune that out and focus on the game once a year- the biggest sporting event in America, in any sport.

She, reportedly, ended up watching half of it before getting angry.

Maybe this shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. She’s a diehard fan of a team’s icon of a quarterback forced one of the NFL’s most annoying soap operas because he couldn’t make up his mind about retiring.

She claims it’s not enough about football anymore and too much about the commercials.

It bugs her that non-NFL fans watch the game just for the commercials and that said people may end up watching more of the commercials than the game.

While this may be true, it’s the only championship game (college or pro) that puts that kind of effort (in the form of cash money) that has that effect. Only the NCAA men’s college basketball tournament, which spans all of march and spills into April, can come close.

As much negative press as the NFL gets (a lot of it warranted), there’s something to be said for an organization that can get fans who are casual at best interested when they wouldn’t otherwise be.

There were also enough storylines heading into this Super Bowl that should have kept any sports writer, especially an NFL fan, glued to the TV.

I mean every journalist should like a good story right?

Let’s start with the most obvious one- the quarterbacks. We had the current face of the league in Cam Newton, whose enthusiasm, swagger, athleticism and million-dollar smile had carried (and dabbed) the Panthers all the way to the Super Bowl.

Not even an early-season car accident sidelined SuperCam for long.

As far as playing style, he’s today’s Michael Vick.

On the other side we have the steady hand of “the Sheriff” – Peyton Manning.

Ever since his rookie season in 1998, he has charmed the league both with his play on the field and his calm southern hospitality roots.

Newton entered the Super Bowl with more rushing yards this season than Manning had in his career.

These were two quarterbacks with completely contrasting styles at completely different stages of their careers.

The Panthers had lost one game all season and had beaten the Arizona Cardinals in a rout to reach the Super Bowl.

The Broncos advanced with the ever-dramatic win over Tom Brady and the Patriots. This was Manning’s chance to possibly end his career on the highest note possible, just like John Elway – the man who brought him to Denver. He appears to have done it.

Even though I was rooting for the Panthers, I definitely don’t mind seeing Manning (likely) end his career on the highest of notes.

There’s also the coaches. “Riverboat” Ron Rivera (in his fifth season with the Panthers), turned around a team that was 7-8 last year after a 12-4 season the year before. In his first two seasons as head coach, the Panthers went 6-10 and 7-9.

The Panthers have now made the playoffs in three consecutive seasons.

On the Broncos sideline, you have Gary Kubiak. Kubiak was drafted by the Broncos in 1983 and became the third person in NFL history to win a Super Bowl as a coach with the same team he played for.

He was in Houston from 2006 to 2013 as coach of the Houston Texans, where he compiled a record of 61-64. In his first year as Denver head coach, he comes in and wins the Super Bowl. His defensive coordinator, Wade Phillips, wasn’t even in football last season. In fact, he had been on the sidelines for exactly three NFL games since 2010, when he was let go by the Dallas Cowboys. Anyone who watched that game knows the defense came up big. Von Miller deserved the MVP Award.

Shannon missed out on just the 10th defensive player to win Super Bowl MVP.

Quarterbacks alone have won the award 27 times.

Denver wide receiver Demaryius Thomas and his family had an intriguing storyline as well. Thomas’ grandma is currently in prison for being the head of a drug ring that his mom got roped into. His mom refused to take a deal and testify against his grandma, so she was sentenced to 20 years in prison. She served 15 of the 20 years before she was pardoned by President Barack Obama himself.

The Super Bowl was just the third NFL game she had seen her son play.

In the end, it’s just unfortunate that the buffet of storylines weren’t enough for her.