Stanley Cup Bigger Than The Super Bowl According Canadians Barenaked Ladies
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The Barenaked Ladies are equal part rock musicians and comedians, so it's no surprise that they had jokes about the significance of the Super Bowl when they spoke to Yahoo! Sunday at the Bud Light Hotel in Indianapolis.
Lead singer and co-founder Ed Robertson expressed a bit of Canadian pride as he joked that America's biggest sporting event had yet to reach the significance of his country's Stanley Cup National Hockey League playoffs.
"Obviously, the Stanley Cup is watched and enjoyed by more people worldwide than the Super Bowl," he said with a sarcastic smile. "I take my hat off to the NFL. They are really trying hard to build an audience and as an underdog sporting franchise I expect good things. Right now they sit somewhere between jai alai and table tennis."
Drummer Tyler Stewart chimed in that football is outranked by several other sports. "Hockey, women's hockey, curling, and lacrosse, baseball, basketball, then football."
Jokes aside, Stewart is a big football fan, and is anxious to see New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady rebound after his team's loss to the Giants in 2008's Super Bowl XLII. "There is a grudge match," Stewart said. "I have to say the pressure is really on for Tom Brady because they were here four years ago and the Giants upset them and he's got a bit of a score to settle with Eli Manning."
"I think about Manning, he's starting to throw the ball and not worry about getting completely pummeled by the other side," bassist Jim Creeggan added.
Last fall, the Barenaked Ladies released its best-of album, "Hits From Yesterday and the Day Before," and in 2009 received a Juno Award for its children's album "Snacktime!"
In December, keyboardist Kevin Hearn released the video for his song "Monsters Anonymous" from his solo album "Cloud Maintenance." Like the support group Alcoholics Anonymous, the characters in "Monsters Anonymous" make admissions about their various addictions and insecurities. "That was a song I had kicking around that didn't really fit on 'Snacktime!' or one of our records," Hearn said."[The monsters] have their own little problems, like the cyclops is addicted to his eye drops. We all have our problems and issues."
The band has experienced its share of setbacks. In 2009, co-founding member Steve Page left the group. "We worked together for almost 20 years and did a lot of great stuff together," Robertson said. "But it was time for a change and in any creative endeavor, change is good. I think it was good for both of us."
