The not-so-Super-bowl
I’m no football fan, but even I could tell that last night’s Superbowl game was more boring than usual. And for Patriots’ fans, it was more painful and even embarrassing.
I also watched some of the halftime “entertainment,” curious about Bad Bunny. I didn’t expect to like it, and I didn’t – it’s very rare for me to like current popular (?) music. But the degree of tuneless awfulness of this particular selection was nevertheless surprising.
As for the Spanish – I can understand a fair amount of Spanish, but this sounded garbled. Turns out that was a plus, because apparently the lyrics often went like this (a sample) when translated:
Hell, what safaera
You have a f**king amazing a*s
Anything that gets you breaking the highway
Move it, move it, move it, move it
More translations can be found here, if you care to see them. Let’s just say that the one I offered above is the mildest by far. I didn’t check to see if they’re authentic – but if they are, ugh.
Bad Bunny is from Puerto Rico and his other theme is that “America” means not the US but the two continents, north and south. Apparently the NFL is trying to reach out to Latin American audiences, and Bad Bunny is very popular in that neck of the woods, whereas football (American style) is not. Thus, the Bad Bunny halftime.
Your instincts are spot on. It was the worst Superbowl ever.
Boring is the right word. The only redeeming part for me as a Patriots hater is that by mid way 2nd quarter I knew they would lose. Vindication for this Broncos fan knowing that if Bo Nix had been healthy, it would have been Denver there. I knew the halftime show was going to be trash, so I turned it off and went back to rewatching the Harry Potter series.
The NFL is delusional if they think football will make any inroads in Latin America against soccer where it is a state religion.
It was a definitely disappointing half time show. Thankfully, those lyrics are rather mild compared to some of what’s out there.
For a time in my post marriage life I was hanging out at a local bar that featured karaoke (many do) and stays open till 2AM.
It was around 1AM, and there had been an increasing crowd of young people as other bars had shut down. They continued with the karaoke this night.
A young guy starts singing this rap song. OMG. Talk about XXX rated. I wasn’t too terribly surprised that A) He chose it, & was singing it, or B) The DJ agreed to play it. But I was quite surprised that C) Half of the considerable crowd was singing along with it and really enjoying it. I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore Toto!
Only for those with a strong stomach… search:
afroman crazy rap (colt 45 & 2 zig-zags)
The football was uninspiring in the first half. Thanks for your report that the halftime performance was “tuneless awfulness.” He’s described as a rapper, so that’s what I thought it would be. Besides the medium of rap, which distorts language by itself, I wonder if he’s got a Puerto Rican dialect going. Putting on a foul show to get Latin American business is a disgusting approach for the NFL, or its media advisers, to take.
Sorry about the Patriots and Drake Maye. UNC fans were pulling for him.
Hmmm…I thought it was a great game. Not as great as Super Bowl XLVIII but still good.
Boring domination is always fun.
Four field goals before any touchdowns didn’t look like domination, although it worked. Boring was the word. Good work by the Seattle defense.
Kate,
Defensive domination and smart mistake free football on offense.
I get it if you aren’t a fan of the teams involved it wasn’t that exciting but people are acting like this was the most boring game ever and it wasn’t. New England beat the LA Rams 13-3 7 years ago and I’m betting the Patriot fans weren’t moaning about that being boring nor should they have.
https://babylonbee.com/news/support-for-ice-skyrockets-to-99-after-halftime-show
And from notthebee:
https://notthebee.com/article/watch-the-exact-moment-roger-goodell-realized-he-made-a-terrible-mistake-with-the-halftime-show
Grabbing his junk while “singing” in Spanish? Why didn’t Mr. Bunny just go on stage, give the crowd the middle finger and let it go at that?
Let’s hear it for Superb Owl Sunday.
?
Just another reason to hate the NFL.
I went to a Creighton basketball game on Saturday night. We were down 9 with 90 seconds and we won on a three-point shot with 3 seconds left.
Why waste any time or money on the NFL?
Creighton’s half-time show was the Creighton dance team.
I’m surprised at the NFL.
That’s so 2020.
Regarding my prior comment; this is almost always left out, even among Conservatives complaining about the crudeness of recent, Superbowl halftime shows. The whole thing is controlled by JayZ. Often it’s structured around artists he has a representative share in. And, when it’s not, I’m sure his beak is getting wet somehow, someway. And JayZ does not like you. He does not like your culture. He does not like your traditions.
It’s idiotic the NFL owners put up with this. Ticket prices wouldn’t drop 1 cent (nor would attendance, nor would viewership) if you had two local University marching bands put on the show. But instead let’s give a millionaire (billionaire?) rapper even more millions in order to create an insulting, embarrassing, family unfriendly spectacle in his attempt to give a big, middle finger to a nation where he obtained his wealth.
One of the best football games I ever attended was the Book of Knowledge game between Carleton College and Macalester College.
And it was free!
Game-Winning Score: On the very first play of Carleton’s overtime possession, Jon Lien scored on a 25-yard touchdown run, ending the game immediately.
School Record: Lien set a Carleton single-game rushing record with 259 yards on 30 carries. He broke a 48-year-old record of 243 yards previously held by Jack Bestrom since 1963.
Triple Threat: Lien scored all three of Carleton’s touchdowns in the game with runs of 46, 58, and 25 yards.
Defensive Stand: Before Lien’s winning run, Carleton’s defense held Macalester scoreless on their overtime possession after a 34-yard field goal attempt sailed wide left.
23-17. OT.
The brain trust of the NFL are supposedly very very smart. So, I must assume that there is a point to their madness.
The NFL did not get where it is by playing games all over the world or presenting half time entertainment the 99%, more or less, of the people who support their product.
Something changed. If I cared, I would try to figure out what. As it is I managed to miss the whole thing without feeling that I missed anything.
Habits die hard, however. My wife watched the game right up to the time Bunny Boy started singing in Spanish and grabbing his whatever he was grabbing.
Proof reading is always recommended. Tut. Tut.
I did mean to say that 99% of the NFL supporters were offended that the show they waited for with bated breath was in a language that they did not understand.
Comment. I suppose that it played well in Puerto Rico, Mexico and Guatemala. I wonder if the NFL sells lots of tickets in those locales.
I haven’t watched a Super Bowl halftime show since before Janet Jackson had the infamous “wardrobe malfunction”.
I’m surprised people are complaining about the halftime show but not the game’s opening act: Green Day, the aging fake-punk band — who of course had to play their snidely anti-American, aging fake-punk song “American Idiot.”
TD makes a good point. Green Day sucked too.
Didn’t watch the game. Saw a few minute clip of the half-time show (without sound) and what I noticed was BB constantly grabbing his crotch with one or both hands. What’s with that?
BTW, I had never heard of him prior to the hoopla over his appearance at the Superbowl (which, by the way, a company I worked for when I was 17-19 did the printing for the Superbowl brochures in the 70s and 80s!).
Cornhead,
High school basketball is great live. I enjoy College basketball also, but I think High school is even more fun and it’s more accessible. No paying for parking. You can buy a ticket and find a seat in about 10 minutes. You can be in your car and on the street 10 minutes after the final buzzer.
And the players really care and play hard. Great stuff!
@TD: …Green Day, the aging fake-punk band
Even John Lydon, AKA Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols, dismissed Green Day.
______________________________________
John Lydon slams ‘turgid’ Green Day
During an interview with the New York Times, Lydon was asked about the state of punk music in 2018, to which he responded: “It is embarrassing, really. How many bands are out there like Green Day now?
“I look at them, and I just have to laugh. They’re coat hangers, you know. A turgid version of something that doesn’t actually belong to them.”
https://www.loudersound.com/news/john-lydon-slams-turgid-green-day
______________________________________
Yeah, Johnny Rotten. He’s not a stupid person and he is often refreshingly smart.
Still, the commercials were fire.
This one was my favorite.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_mh-v02-Tw
No, no, I’m not crying. The sun’s just in my eyes…
Bad bunny wasn’t as awful I was expecting. That is not saying much. The Pat’s defense was very good. The Hawk offense had to not lose the game and they didn’t. The Hawk’s Dark Side Defense stuffed the Pat’s offense because of superior game prep. Hawks have a very, very smart coach.
BJ:
I give Bud credit.
They’re trying to recover core customers lost after the Dylan Mulvaney transgender Bud Light fiasco!
I lost what little interest I had in the NFL years ago, with their kneeling, woke BLM nonsense etc.
As a local talk radio host says, watching roided-up men in tights chasing a ball is just not my thing.
And then there’s the National Brawling Association…
(Why should hockey players have all the fun…?)
Huxley,
Well, you can never go wrong with cute creatures and classic rock, even though the “pegasus Clydesdale” shot was probably inspired by the dreadful 8th season of “Game Of Thrones”.
I was thinking more about the British punk guitarist when a rambunctious American crowd yelled “Hey, play “Free Bird!”
He shot them the finger and said “There’s your free bird, mate. Next one will cost you. “ 😉
Huxley, regarding Johnny Rotten(Lydon) –
Though not a fan I attended the Sex Pistols’ final concert in San Francisco in 1978 out of curiosity. Towards the end, as the audience was engaging in the punk tradition of throwing objects at the band Lydon said,
“Give us your presents! How about a camera?”
I knew then he was my kind of guy. Years later in an interview he went off on British rock stars (eg Elvis Costello) boycotting Israel, pointing out how they toured other ME countries with much worse human rights records.
The authorities have long fretted over a potential terrorist attack at the Super Bowl. Finally, it came to pass at halftime of SBLX, and it was bad, real bad.
Banned Lizard, interesting take on the half time show.
Might be considered biological terrorism, infecting the minds and mental health of the attendees and all who watched elsewhere.
The halftime show lesson: Cut your grass or illegal aliens will sneak through.
For the really serious football technicians, this game was as good as any other. No drama, but that doesn’t count.
Tried to watch the TPUSA effort but they laid the “country” on so thick it was barely more intelligible than the NFL effort.
We’re mor than country, guys. How about a seriously choral rendition of “God of Our Fathers”. Fits faith, family, freedom.