ACM Award Nominations Are IN!

Luke Bryan Will Be "Leaning" Toward the Patriots . . . And Eating Fritos Scoops

LUKE BRYANtried to weasel out of choosing a favorite team for Sunday's game.  He said, quote, "I'm completely neutral.  I'm gonna sit back and enjoy."

But then he manned-up and picked one.  Sorta.  Quote, "I kind of lean to the Patriots a little bit . . . cause I'm east coast.  Seattle's way out there, but I love you, Seattle.  So don't take it personally.  Love ya!"  (You can grab the audio here.)

In a related story:  Luke was more decisive about his favorite game-time snacks.  He said, quote, "Definitely the queso, the Fritos scoops with the Ro-Tel.  Stuff you can sit there and have lots of sodium."  (I believe he's talking about the Ro-Tel Queso Dip.)

Carrie Underwood is "Insanely Pregnant", But Will Still Watch Sunday's Game

CARRIE UNDERWOOD's Super Bowl experience will be entirely different this year.  I'll let her explain:  Quote, "I am going to be insanely pregnant, but I will be watching, for sure.  I don't know if I've ever NOT watched a Super Bowl.

"And I do kind of still get to kick-off, because we did our whole 'Waiting All Day for Super Bowl'."  (Listen to Carrie's "insanely pregnant" comments at Delicious Audio.)

(Speaking of the "Waiting All Day for a Super Bowl Fight" theme.  It was supposed to debut right before the game, but it leaked online yesterday.  You can check it out at TheBoot.com.)

Country Music Extras:

The ACM Video of the Year nominations were announced last night.  They are:  Kenny Chesney's "American Kids" . . . Keith Urban's "Cop Car" . . . Dierks Bentley's "Drunk On A Plane" . . . Glen Campbell's "I'm Not Gonna Miss You" . . . and the Miranda Lambert / Carrie Underwood duet "Somethin' Bad".

Sadly, GLEN CAMPBELL's Alzheimer's disease will keep him from performing his Oscar-nominated song "I'm Not Gonna Miss You" at the Academy Awards.  So, Glen's family asked TIM MCGRAW to take his place.  Tim accepted, quote, "I'm honored to be asked to sing this powerful song from one of the true legends of the music industry."  (People)

BLAKE SHELTON, LADY ANTEBELLUM, and ERIC CHURCH will be headlining Country Jam 2015.  It's going down July 23rd through the 25th in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.  Check out the lineup and ticketing details at CountryJamWi.com.

LORETTA LYNN joined JACK WHITE for a performance of her song "Portland Oregon" . . . at his concert in Nashville on Wednesday.  (Here's video.)

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHFMxqd1O1Y?rel=0&showinfo=0]

The ALAN JACKSON exhibit at the Country Music Hall of Fame was going to shut down in March, but it's been EXTENDED through June 21st.  You'll find the details at CountryMusicHallOfFame.org.

And here are the Top 10 albums and songs on "Billboard's" country music charts this week . . .

The Super Bowl Will Only Have 17 Minutes of Actual Game Time

The Super Bowl is slotted to last up to four hours, but check this out:  You're only going to see about 17 minutes of actual GAME time.

The Media Education Foundation analyzed last year's game, which took three hours and 23 minutes between kickoff and the end of the fourth quarter.  Here's the breakdown . . .

1.  72 Minutes:  Footage of the field where the ball is NOT in play.  Like players huddling, standing at the line of scrimmage, or just milling around between snaps.

2.  48 Minutes and 34 Seconds:  Commercial breaks and on-screen promotions.

3.  23 Minutes and 46 Seconds:  Replays.

4.  17 Minutes and 30 Seconds:  The actual, live game, with the ball in play.  Amazingly, that accounts for just 8.5% of the broadcast.

5.  16 Minutes and 37 Seconds:  "Miscellaneous" stuff, including shots of the crowd, cheerleaders, and the sidelines.

6.  12 Minutes and 28 Seconds:  The halftime show.

7.  7 Minutes and 30 Seconds:  Promotion for Fox TV shows, since Fox was hosting last year's game.

8.  4 Minutes and 52 Seconds:  The halftime report.

For what it's worth, this is less of a Super Bowl issue than a football issue.  A researcher says, quote, "It's not that different from any other game of football.  It's a game of intense activity around a lot of people getting ready for the next play."

And if you think about it, it makes sense.  A typical NFL play lasts just SIX seconds.  After most of them, the clock continues to run even after the ball is blown dead . . . then the team on offense has 40 seconds to snap the ball again.

The clock only stops occasionally . . . after stuff like incomplete passes, scoring plays, and timeouts.  So roughly TWO THIRDS of the time, the clock is running without anything happening.  (Here's a chart showing last year's breakdown.)

ACM Award Nominations:

Miranda Lambert leads the pack for the ACM Awards with eight nominations, including Entertainer of the Year, Female Vocalist of the Year, Album of the Year for Platinum, Single of the Year and Song of the Year for "Automatic" as both the artist and writer. She also scored nods for Video and Vocal Event of the Year for "Somethin' Bad," her duet with Carrie Underwood. 

Dierks Bentley follows Miranda with seven nominations, including Male Vocalist of the Year, Album of the Year for Riser, and Single of the Year and Video of the Year for “Drunk on a Plane.” He's also up for Song of the Year for "I Hold On" as artist and writer, and Vocal Event of the Year with The Cadillac Three, Florida Georgia Line and Mike Eli for "The South."

Florida Georgia Line grabbed five nods — including their first in the Entertainer of the Year, as well as Vocal Duo of the Year, Single of the Year for “Dirt,” and two in the Vocal Event of the Year category, for “The South” with The Cadillac Three, Dierks Bentley and Mike Eli, and for “This Is How We Roll” with Luke Bryan.

Luke Bryan, Kenny Chesney and Eric Church scored four nominations each. 

The ACM Awards will air live from AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas April 19th on CBS.