We heard rumors back and forth whether or not a Gil the Crab spot was going to air during the Super Bowl. We received this press release which explains why Gil didn't show last night:

Continuing the brand momentum of Honda's "Element and Friends" campaign, RPA collaborated with Gil "The Crab," the Honda Element’s famous friend, to create a "super new large game commercial" scheduled to debut on Sunday, Feb. 4.

Determined to hand-deliver the master tape of his new spot to Miami, Gil announced his road trip plans last week and admitted his Madden-like fear of flying on his MySpace page. He then sent out a bulletin to his nearly 100,000 MySpace friends to generate interest in his road-trip adventures with the Element, posted exclusive "large game"-related downloads, a :05 spot (a commercial for his new commercial) and a new "Surf and Turf" old-school football game that pits Gil against the Element. Chronicling his road trip from Jan. 25 through Feb. 5, Gil finally arrives in Miami a bit too late thanks to several misadventures, including hitchhiking and rescuing a dog along the way.

Dismayed and determined to bask in post-"large game" commercial glory, Gil will bulletin his MySpace friends on the Monday after the game with the new, unaired spot animated by W!LDBRAIN that will also be posted on YouTube and his MySpace page. "Pig Pong," a new game inspired by the new spot, will also be linked in his bulletin.