14 posts tagged “super bowl”

Rumor has it that one Bruce Springsteen is on deck to be the halftime performer at Super Bowl XLIII.  Despite my love of both professional football and rock music, I have a long history of not caring about the Super Bowl halftime show.  Maybe that's because I'm not sure football and music should go together; maybe it's because the halftime shows used to suck ass.  I just know I missed seeing Janet Jackson's bare breast on live television because I couldn't be bothered to pretend to care about halftime.

But the NFL seems to have gotten their shit together in the years since the wardrobe malfunction.  Sure, Paul McCartney is a bit of a dud, but the Rolling Stones would have been cool enough in any year when I wasn't a complete nervous wreck throughout the game.  Springsteen is slightly less awesome than Prince (who will go down as the greatest halftime performer in history), but a whole lot more awesome than Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.  And I like Tom Petty.

Much speculation will no doubt ensue in the next six months as to the Boss' potential set list.  There are the sort of tangential football titles - "Cover Me" and "Tougher Than the Rest" come to mind - but I don't see either of those realistically making the cut.  No, it's a safe bet we're going see a couple of songs with "born" in the title.  And there will probably be one newer one ("Radio Nowhere") sandwiched in the middle.  Me, I'd like to see the song nobody expects.

"barney's film had heart, but 'football in the groin' had a football in the groin."
- homer j. simpson.

if there's one thing funnier than grown men getting hit in the nuts with a football, it's kids getting hit in the nuts with a football.  the clip below is all over the internets today mainly because nobody really believed until now that peyton manning wasn't a mindless automaton.  it's no secret we were bears' fans about six weeks ago in part for that very reason.  but a little light-hearted tweaking of one's public image goes a long way in these parts, and we're willing to concede that we're okay with peyton breaking his long habit of choking in the big games if this is the result.

this video, believe it or not - and we are still not sure we do, first appeared on 'saturday night live.'  apparently they're doing comedy now.  when did that happen?

february 5, 2006 was one of the greatest days of my life.  my beloved pittsburgh steelers defeated the seattle seahawks in super bowl XL.  i viewed the game in the lawrenceville home of vanna and vrabel, and was a nervous wreck throughout.  at almost no time was the game itself ever really fun for me.  i paced.  i worried.  i agonized.  i grew irrationally angry at the guest who was working instead of paying attention to the game that meant so much.  my towel got a workout.  i couldn't even get properly intoxicated because i had to rise at 6AM to be into the office by "about 10."  and then we won and nothing else mattered.  we ventured up to bloomfield for celebration in the street before hitting a couple of local taverns (the last of which catered exclusively, apparently, to senior citizens and high scool students).  i hit the sack at close to 3AM and the alarm went off all too early.  monday was painful, but i have never once second-guessed my decision to make that trip.  and i have never once believed i contributed in any way to the success of the football team i have loved my whole life.

fans of the philadelphia eagles aren't as smart as me.

fortunately, i am here to enlighten all yinz eagle fans out there: stop beating yourself up.  it's not your fault.  we know you did everything you could.  it's not your fault donovan mcnabb threw up in the huddle.  it's not your fault that andy reid runs the only two-minute drill in the national football league that can be measured with a sundial.  i know you think you lost because you've got a lot of "bad karma" built up after years of booing santa claus and boorish behavior and having the only stadium with a courtroom and a jail.  but there's no such thing as karma.  you lost because your team sucks balls.  now you know.  and knowing is half the battle.

ten years from now, football fans will be discussing only two things about last night's super bowl: the rain and the halftime show.  almost two months ago i expressed my excitement at the selection of one prince rogers nelson to perform in what is typically a dud venue.  the last noteworthy super bowl halftime was three years ago, and that's only because janet jackson's boob was broadcast for the world to see.  most years, this is the arena - so to speak - of aging classic rockers intended to appeal to aging baby-boomers (paul mccartney, the rolling stones) or bland "straight ahead rock and roll" types intended to appeal to boring people (U2).  so you can imagine my glee when it was announced that an artist - THE Artist, in fact - would entertain me.

prince is one of few musicians who have earned my unmitigated respect and admiration.  johnny cash is another.  i can't think of a third.  that's not to say that i like everything they've done; it's more that their work i do like is so goddamn good that i'd be a heel for ever second guessing them.  they have proven themselves time and again to be above reproach.  sure, i might have preferred last night to see and/or hear 'little red corvette' or 'i could never take the place of your man,' but except few a few fake lightening bolts at the beginning of the perfomance, there's nothing i can complain about.  i don't normally look forward to the super bowl halftime show.  this year, it was unquestionably the best part of the whole endeavor.

so we're about five hours away from kick-off and despite being a lifelong fan of the world's greatest sport that doesn't involve a karaoke machine, i'm having a hard time getting excited for this particular penultimate game.  i'm not saying that i don't care, per se - just that i can't for the life of me figure out why anybody would.  i know what you're thinking: that i am just spoiled after the pageantry and majesty of last year's glorious game.  well, yeah.  but who wouldn't be?  i think we can all agree that the super bowl is better when the pittsburgh steelers are in it.  anything else seems.... hollow.

las vegas is inexplicably calling the bears six and a half point underdogs.  if you're drawn to games of chance, take the bears and the points.  they're going to win outright. colts because they're gonna win and cover despite peyton manning's poor play on the strong performances of joseph addai and dominic rhodes.  (somehow, peyton will still take credit for the win though.  god, i hate that cocksucker.)  i can't seem to find any official odds on the number of commercials featuring peyton manning, so i'm setting the over/under at 450 and taking the over.

clashcityrockerkat poses an interesting question.  at the end of an entirely justified rant about time magazine's lame nomination of "us" as person of the year (i mean, i know I deserve it, but what the hell have you done?) kat wants you to defend yourself.  actually, she asks the same of me too, so here goes.  this should be easy.

i had a pretty full year.  way back in january and early february, i was instrumental in the undisputed greatest sports team in the history of competitive endeavors' win of their first super bowl title since i was six years old.  (i realize the team had a little to do with it, but we all know it was my week(end)ly commutes to the 'burgh for the sake of solidarity that put them over the top.)  i rode my bike over 2,000 miles this year - including three centuries - and raised over $6,000 for research into a cure for blood cancers.  i was, in general, a kick-ass marine biologist once again, earning the well-deserved respect and admiration of employers and co-workers alike.  my dear friends remain thankful daily that i have bestowed upon them the gift of my friendship.  and i was a heroic uncle to three awesome nieces and a brand-new nephew.

that list right there is about enough to secure my enshrinement in the time magazine canon, but it doesn't even include my greatest achievement.  on february 19 - amid fierce competition - i delivered two of my very strongest karaoke performances ever, securing a spot on my mantle for the Ramsey Cup until 2007.  as the first ever two-time Karaoke to the Death champion and a first-ballot hall-of-famer, i know the field will be aiming to take me down exactly two months from tomorrow.  bring it on.

i love football.  i love music.  it's rare - believe me - that i get to talk about both of them at the same time.  what you have just seen if you watched the video above is CBS' announcement of prince as this year's super bowl halftime entertainment.  and i couldn't be more pleased.  yes, he'll be neutered; those of you hoping to see him perform "darling nikki" are living in a dream world.  but this should still be nothing short of stellar.

i had the distinct pleasure of seeing prince perform on the 'musicology' tour, and i've never (and i mean never - and i'd like to think i have seen my fair share of shows) seen a, yes, artist make it look so easy.  watch the video again, and note the casualness with which he slings that guitar around at the end.  he plays the thing with the same casual ease.  it's inspiring.  and with so little energy devoted to actually playing his instruments, he (and i assume his group will just take this over) can focus on the show.  i can't recall the last time a super bowl halftime act actually had me excited.  given that the steelers most likely aren't going to be in the game, this may be the best argument there is to actually watch.

my telephone rang on a lazy saturday afternoon.  "hi hotrod," the voice on the other end replied to my greeting, "i've got the perfect song for you."  i knew immediately what she was talking about.  she and vrabel have a standing invitation to Karaoke to the Death.  i'd told them many stories through the years, and even confided to no small degree about my song selection.  "i need to start off by saying," she continued, "that i went to the duran duran concert last night."

nine months later i was in pittsburgh.  my beloved steelers had advanced to the super bowl the week before, and i wanted to enjoy the off week in the 'burgh for.... well, for obvious reasons.  we had decided on five guys for dinner before visiting, unbeknowst to me, victor at the squirrel hill cinema and a subsequent screening of "walk the line."  upon starting the ignition of their car, we were greeted by a most wretched sound emanating from the vehicle's speakers (i believe it was phish, but i might be mistaken) and i was invited to select a new CD for our short trip.  i flipped through the sleeve (i knew i would find something i, at least, would like - vrabel's ear for music is as unfailing as emma's) before settling on a somewhat controversial choice.  i put 'duran duran's greatest' into the CD player and forwarded to the track that was suggested to me so many months before.

by the time we reached our destination we had heard "wild boys" three times and i knew that vanna was right.  this was the song i had to sing.  this was the song that would bring me Karaoke to the Death glory for the second time and the coveted Ramsey Cup for the first.  and you know what?  it was.  i borrowed the CD and listened to only that one song for at least half the drive home the next day.  it was so worth it.

so in honor of vanna's first vox post and to wish her a warm welcome, i give you duran duran's "wild boys" - or, as it is sometimes credited: "the wild boys."  (don't ask me why.)  i can't believe i never thought to look up the video before today.  it's even more ridiculous than the lyrics.  and that's saying quite something.