NFL Super Bowl Xl

The Steelers Super Bowl XL DVD is advertised on this Amazon page and the Steelers website as having "...a cut-down version of the live Super Bowl XL broadcast...". Nowhere on this DVD is anything "live" except the Rolling Stones. It's all NFL Films footage. If you were expecting to hear John Madden and Al Michaels call actual live plays in real-time as was broadcast on ABC, forget it. The only Super Bowl XL highlights on this DVD are NFL Films style and, for a DVD titled "Super Bowl XL Steelers", there really isn't all that much time devoted to the actual Super Bowl. There is more disc space devoted to the Colts-Steelers playoff game than Super Bowl XL Too bad really. The reason I ordered it was because I wanted the live game footage. The description of this product as I've seen here and countless other websites also indicates "Pre-game predictions and post-game analysis" are included as well. Nothing could be further from the truth. There is nothing on this disc that could be mistaken for "predictions and analysis". I was quite angered about being deceived. It's like Amazon and the other outlets simply took the disc's marketing department's pre-production description (you could order the DVD as soon as an hour after the Super Bowl, several weeks before it's official release) without making sure that these things actually made it onto the disc.

What this DVD is (and actually does quite well as) is a review of the 2005 season. I would call it a deluxe edition of what will probably the Steelers' NFL Yearbook come Summer. As a Steelers fan, I appreciated very much watching highlights and sideline stuff from this past year, quite a bit that I had not seen before and, trust me, I watch a lot of NFL programming.

What is very, very, very (did I say "very"?) disappointing about this thing is that it could have been so much more. They could have made it a two disc set, included the entire Super Bowl broadcast (without commercials), the deluxe season review (what the disc is now) and a lot more extras. The so-called "extras" on this disc are a joke. Very short snippets. It's obvious this DVD was thrown together as fast as possible in order to take advantage of the post-Super Bowl hype.

If you're a Steelers fan, I would recommend buying, if you can get it at a substantial discount. Don't pay the list price. It's simply not worth that amount.

Perhaps, somewhere down the road, they'll put out a deluxe version and get it right. I will certainly come here first to get a review before I send off my money.

Note: A day after I posted this review, Amazon removed the references to "...a cut-down version of the live Super Bowl XL broadcast...". I commend them for changing the description. This doesn't help the thousands of people who thought they were getting the live broadcast though.

Heck, after reading some of the reviews here, you'd think that this DVD is junk.

Yes, there are annoying movie previews that have absolutely nothing to do with football at the beginning of the DVD.

Other than that, I loved it. This DVD is a game-by-game review of the season that primarily focuses on highlight reel footage with audio from Hilgrove and Tunch dubbed in underneath. It begins with some footage of past failures and ends with some footage of the post-game trophy ceremony. Bettis is prominently featured throughout, but it's not all his show. You get a lot of great clips and bites of Cowher, Roethlisberger, Ward, Parker, Porter, Haggans, Russ Grimm, and Dick Lebeau.

The sideline mikes, locker-room stuff, and behind-the-scenes footage was terrific. This team is a FUNNY bunch of guys -- without this DVD, I'd never have known it. This DVD will make you laugh aloud, cringe, tear up, and cheer. Assuming you do, in fact, love the Steelers.

It's totally worth the twenty bucks. You'll watch it a dozen times before next season. How many other movies have that kind of pull?

As others have pointed out, this is not the actual super bowl xl broadcast, but an NFL Films super bowl highlight show like the ones ESPN runs. That said, it is very well made and the DVD also includes highlights of the season's games, which would have made the "Super Bowl Champions" dvd set so much better. For some reason, you cannot buy copies of the super bowl broadcasts. A shame because those would be great to have, and someone would make a lot of money. As someone else said, you can find this at a really good price if you look around and it is defintely worth having if you are a Steeler fan.