I just watched my sixtieth Superbowl. No, I’m not old enough to remember the first few, but I am the same age as the NFL Championship game. I fixed my chili that I whip up every year at this time and sat down with my wife and daughter to enjoy the parade of commercials, patriotic opening anthem and cheer the Patriots on against the Seahawks. My team, the Denver Broncos, were whooped by the Pats a couple of weeks ago, but New England has been Chris’s team since he was a teenager, so I rooted for them. Sorry about that, Chris. I think I may have jinxed your guys.
The Superbowl is a truly American Event. Our national past time might well be baseball, but the Superbowl is definitively the greatest single sporting event in American Society. People from every part of America usually tune in, whether they like football or not. We take a little time to celebrate our country, our love of competition, hear good music and judge the newest commercials. Sometimes we can even guess what they’re advertising before they finish. Sometimes not. My favorite ad this year involved a humorous take on a prostate cancer blood test involving famous football players that just happen to play tight end. Yup. America and I are both getting older.
The Halftime Show is the premier concert that everyone loves to critique and rank against the past years within their memories. I guess my favorite would have to be Prince’s performance in Superbowl 41 in 2007. He did Purple Rain in actual rain, playing an electric guitar. In high heels. That performance, in my humble opinion, has never been topped. Before or after. It was beautiful.
This year the performer was Bad Bunny, whose name is Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio and is a Puerto Rican singer and rapper that recently won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. It’s notable that the album is in Spanish, a first for the iconic award. He sang several songs, had a very respectable dance troupe, and I enjoyed the show, even though I understood absolutely none of the words. It’s okay, I didn’t enjoy Kendrick Lamar’s show last year as much as Bad Bunny’s, and I understood zero of his lyrics either. He was rapping in English, or so I’m told.
The decision to have Bad Bunny do the show raised some controversy, at least as far as the “Powers that be” are concerned. The President called it a “terrible choice” and an “affront” that “sows hatred” and that it was a “slap in the face” that didn’t represent American standards. Puerto Rico is an American Territory, and all its inhabitants are
American Citizens. Just a little history lesson there. It’s kind of funny that Bad Bunny ended his set by holding up a football that said “Together, we are America” and the Jumbotron sign was lit up with “The only thing more powerful than hate is love”. I guess that kind of message would be a “slap in the face” to a person that is full of hate. I pray that our president, and our country, will find a way to love one another before next year’s Superbowl. I also pray that my Broncos will be there, no matter who plays in the Halftime Show.
God bless Y’all.
P.S. A shout out to Pamela Louise Porterfield Stone on being five years older than the Superbowl! You are one of my heroes and I love you! Her birthday was on February 8th, the same day as the Superbowl this year. May this next year give you joy, health and happiness. – signed Your Baby Brother.
Thank you!
Rolling Stones 