In the realm of football, Sunday night’s game (at least the second half) was one for the ages.
As for the extracurricular “festivities,” this year’s Super Bowl was one of the most disappointing ever since the game became a commercial extravaganza.
I mean for crying out loud, we’re talking about the Super Bowl, the creative zenith for everything that is television!
Exposing a breast and a commercial about a farting horse are the best the so-called “creative industry” can come up with?
We as an audience have to expect more.
Aside from the game and the pre-game show, the Super Bowl pretty much stunk. The commercials stunk. The halftime show stunk. Everything stunk.
There are so many things to talk about and so many places to start, but I’ll start with the most controversial point of the night.
Her name ain’t Baby. It’s Janet — Ms. Jackson, if you’re nasty.
Well, she had billions of people from around the world calling her Ms. Jackson Sunday night when she got nasty during the now infamous “wardrobe malfunction” that happened at the end of a horrid halftime performance.
Janet Jackson is obviously a great performer. She’s won numerous awards, and she’s had a long and illustrious career outside the shadow of her brother.
With that said, is there really any reason why she has to resort to a Britney/Madonna type of publicity stunt to get her name in the papers?
Putting my animal instincts aside, I’ve gotta frown upon the naughty behavior of Ms. Jackson and that boy band singer that was ripping her clothes off.
But Janet’s not the only one to blame. Blame Nelly for his constant crotch-grabbing, and blame every “musician” who lip-synced the words to their songs.
Remember two Super Bowls ago when U2 was the halftime entertainment, and Bono and co. entertained the audience with a gracious and touching performance that honored the fallen heroes of 9/11?
I remember it because the performance was real. It wasn’t contrived or shocking. It was something this year’s performance was not — U2’s performance was true and heartfelt.
Say what you will about Bono, but at least the man has principles, not to mention more talent than any of this year’s halftime performers could ever dream of having.
This year’s show was — to use the Federal Communications Committee’s wording — classless, crude and deplorable, a far cry from anything in the realm of tasteful.
When Kid Rock is the classiest guy on stage, then you know you’re watching the lowest form of entertainment possible. But at least Kid Rock was actually singing.
As for the commercials, only one stood out as somewhat entertaining–the Budweiser commercial with the stoic football referee getting yelled at by a head coach on the field and his wife at home. Sexist? Not really. Stereotypical? Somewhat. Hilarious? Absolutely.
As for the rest of the ads? Nothing really stands out.
What happened to the great Super Bowl commercials like McDonald’s Larry Bird/Michael Jordan shootout, Apple’s 1984 Macintosh computer revolution or Coca-Cola’s Mean Joe Greene ad?
Those were great commercials. This year, instead of creativity, we get commercials revolving around erectile dysfunction or genitalia and fart jokes.
A horse farting is not funny.
Well, it was funny in that one episode of “Seinfeld,” but other than that, equine flatulence is gross and should be avoided at all costs.
Overall, the event that is the Super Bowl was a letdown.
But it wasn’t all bad.
Bravo to Beyonce’ for her classy and dignified rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” bravo to CBS for a tasteful pre-game show, and bravo to the Patriots and the Panthers for not giving up after a boring first half.
To everyone else, I say shame on you for churning out this garbage.
As an audience, we deserve better than what you gave us.