Super Bowl XLVI Creates Controversy
By Mysterious Q
By almost any standard Super Bowl XLVI and Super Week in Indianapolis was a responding success, especially if you happen to be a New York Giants Fan. However, this particular sports outing may go down as one of the most controversial of all the recent football championship mega-affairs, second only to the game that included a half time show during which Janet Jackson had her now infamous and obviously planned wardrobe malfunction.
Conspiratorial chatter began when the New York Giants web site sported a graphic which declared 'THE GIANTS ARE SUPERBOWL CHAMPIONS!' some twenty-four hours before either team actually played the game, let alone won it. Although the Giants have yet to comment on the incident, most sports maniacs believe that it was either a case of a webbie malfunction or that some hackers did their thing just to have some fun and stir things up a bit. Not everyone is convinced that either explanation is the case. A number of bloggers whose expertise would be less aligned with football and more with UFOs, the possibility of fake Moon landings and JFK Assassination theories are speculating that either the big game was fixed by sinister forces, or that paranormal powers somehow contacted the Giants, or were contacted by them, and revealed the outcome of the game by making sure the graphic that declared victory was displayed on their web site. They said it, I didn't, so please do not shoot the messenger.
Next up is the always interesting Madonna. The 'Material Girl' gave what many feel was a worthwhile, though difficult for her to execute, performance during the Super Bowl XLVI halftime show. Surrounded by a multitude of dancers and performers, and backed up by a state of the art multimedia extravaganza, Madonna provided what should have been a stellar example of one of her over-the-top happenings. Instead, people wondered if the fifty-something music mogul was finally past her prime.
After riding to the halftime show platform on some sort of grand throne-mobile pulled by dozens of guys that I guess were supposed to be her devoted followers, the pop diva moved off her perch and on to the stage. From that point on it looked like she was having trouble keeping up with the dancers and performers that surrounded her. At one point she almost fell backwards while trying to climb up onto a step. Being the consummate professional, the 'Lucky Star' quickly regained her balance and climbed back up onto the step without losing a beat.
Nobody's perfect, but I must admit that I felt a bit embarrassed for Madonna. Although the music was as awesome as the staging, much of it appeared to be lip sync-ed and her obvious lack of physical ability to carry out such a massively staged show detracted from the event. Like everyone else old enough to have found memories of the 1980's, I was thrilled to watch a live performance by the star of 'Desperately Seeking Susan' (one of that decade's film staples). I guess I just wish that time would stop for someone so talented, and for myself as well.
A promise made before the halftime show brings us to the last Super Bowl XLVI controversy as of this writing. During a press conference held during Super Week in Indy, Madonna promised that there would be no wardrobe malfunction during her performance. She could not have known that one of her fellow entertainers would do something that would create a situation almost as fascinating and ignite a feud.
During Madonna's extravaganza, fellow performers M.I.A. and Nicki Minaj joined her on stage. While the camera was on M.I.A., she flipped the bird at it. According to news reports which aired later, M.I.A. also appeared to have used an expletive while singing. "I don't give a ____." I didn't hear what word she used while singing, but I definitely saw her flip everyone off and it really freaked me out. The NFL and the NBC television network must have felt the same way because they both issued apologies for the unexpected nastiness.
The blame game for the half time zaniness began almost immediately after the big game ended. The NFL cried foul claiming that NBC was supposed to have a delay system in place to deal with any wardrobe malfunctions or other inappropriate behaviors that might occur during the half time show. NBC fired back by saying that while they may not have reacted fast enough to avoid showing M.I.A.'s fickle finger of fate, it was the NFL that hired the talent for the show in the first place.
I can remember when the very first Super Bowl aired on television. I was just a young kid and with television sets being what they were in the 1960s, it was not all that memorable for me. The halftime show was marching bands. Even if one of the band members had decided to shoot the bird at the cameras, I doubt that anyone would have been able to actually see it. I guess we have all become the victims of high technology and performers that have more talent than they do good sense.
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