BUDWEISER AND PEPSI WERE WINNERS ON TUBE.

Byline: Ray Richmond 

All right, so the game was pretty good for a change. But the Super Bowl commercials were still better.

Not all of them, of course. But there were a few gems that belong right up there in the pantheon of Madison Avenue's finest Super Sunday spectaculars.

All in all, Pepsi did the best job with its spots. But Budweiser takes the top prize with one particular ad.

Let's rate them, in descending order of coolness:

1. The Budweiser spot in which those famed Clydesdales line up opposite one another and play a little football, with one sure-footed equine booting the pigskin over an electrical wire and between the poles as one observer remarks, "They usually go for 2." A subtle scream, as beautifully shot as it is clever. Grade: A.

2. The Pepsi spot in which a guy ordering fast food from Buddy Burger hears static interference coming from the drive-thru intercom, only to find that the static is actually a product of the window guy's voice. An adorably zany twist. Grade: A-

3. The Deion Sanders-Wile E. Coyote spot for Pepsi in which Deion is the Roadrunner, signing his autograph and quaffing a Pepsi before Coyote winds up looking like a soda can. Great effects, and Deion shows some good speed. Grade: A-

4. The Doritos spot in which a uninspired woman working a school cafeteria is suddenly energized by a few tortilla chips and proceeds to make outrageous sculptures like Stonehenge and Michelangelo's David out of mashed potatoes. Wacky, wacky stuff, and nice work by the potatoes. Grade: B+

5. A spot for Ford's new F-150 four-wheel-drive truck in which Jack Palance reprises his Curly character from "City Slickers" and, using a rope and a lead foot on the accelerator, literally moves mountains while warning, "Better get to the Grand Canyon before we do." The only thing that would have made it better is a few one-armed push-ups. Grade: B+

6. The McDonald's spot where the fossilized dinosaur comes to life in a museum and begins begging the security guard for some fries, ultimately doing some truly humiliating dog tricks. Cool effects, great payoff - and the fries didn't even look greasy. Grade: B+

7. The Pepsi spot with Shaquille O'Neal in which Shaq steps into some classic TV moments with Lucy, Gleason and Woody Woodpecker. A little bit contrived, but still creative. Grade: B.

8. The Pepsi spot in which a goldfish plays dead in order to be revived by a kid dropping a sip of cola into its bowl - only to get flushed down the toilet (and reappear later on a lake) when dad thinks the fish really is dead. Kind of a reach, but agreeably silly nonetheless. Grade: B-

9. The Pepsi spot in which a Coca-Cola delivery man is caught on a convenience store camera raiding the Pepsi cooler as cans spill out and fall all over the place to his supreme embarrassment. It's entertaining, but not nearly as great as that one spot in which delivery men meet in a diner and the Coke guy won't give back the Pepsi can. Grade: B-

10. The Oscar-Mayer talent search ad in which they try out all of the contestants singing the company's various jingles. Kinda cute, but only kinda. Grade: C+

A few that deserve honorable mention:

The Nike spots in which they go super slo-mo on some pee-wee football action and give the highlight profiles the breathless intensity of NFL action. Fun, but somehow it should have worked better.

The chilly Budweiser frogs, their tongues freezing together in a blizzard as they try to say their trademark "Bud-weis-er." Sorta funny, sorta not.

Charlton Heston telling Bud Lite's "I love you, man!" guy, "Frankly, son, you frighten me." The problem here is it seemed a tad too realistic.

The Pepsi ad in which a guy has a can freeze to his lower lip, only to go to the hospital emergency room and find a roomful of people with cans frozen to lips. Funny, but the frozen-tongue gag has been tired since they did it in "Dumb and Dumber."