They’re Both Wrong (Super Bowl Stuff)!

Miami Gardens, FL

I rarely mention professional sports such as football, baseball, hockey, and basketball in my blog. They really don’t have a lot to do with what this blog is all about so their exclusion makes perfect sense. I have covered these events on at least one occasion that I can remember, though, but that was primarily because of the halftime show. This post will focus on the halftime show as well, but not in a way that I normally cover such things.

I’m also going to rock the boat a bit, which is something that I always try to avoid.

Before I go on my little rant, the Kansas City Chiefs won Super Bowl LIV. They defeated the San Francisco 49ers in a fourth quarter comeback. The final score was 31-20. The game itself, what parts I saw of it, was pretty interesting, but I really didn’t care who won. I tuned in just before halftime and then watched the third and most of the fourth quarter.

But here’s the thing: Apparently a lot of people were offended by the halftime show.

Headlined by Shakira and Jennifer Lopez, the actual halftime show wasn’t that great. It wasn’t boring, mind you, as both Shakira and Jennifer Lopez did what they do best on a grand scale. It just wasn’t anything that we haven’t seen before on any stage no matter the size.

Of the two ladies that performed, Shakira definitely appeared to be both the most seasoned and most prepared performer. She danced, wiggled, sang, and commanded the crowd quite well. Lopez, who I remember from her days as a Fly Girl on In Living Color, couldn’t keep up with the energy that Shakira brought to the show. I’ve never really understood the appeal of Lopez as a musical artist, and I honestly didn’t see the necessity of her as part of the show. She definitely has a large fanbase, though, so I can’t fault the NFL for capitalizing on her popularity.

For those of you waiting for me to get to my rant, here it is.

After the halftime show concluded, I hopped onto social media as any good nerd would do after such an event. There were immediately two things that I noticed trending on the web. One, apparently a lot of people were offended by Shakira and Lopez’ attire and their gyration-filled performance that included a stripper pole, a Puerto Rico flag that appeared opposite of a USA flag, Spanish being spoken in songs, and kids in what appeared to be cages to some viewers. Secondly, many people believed that this was one of the best halftime shows in history.

Both groups have me a tad confused.

For starters, not one single thing that either of these ladies did on the stage was a surprise. If you’ve ever watched a music video or performance by either of these ladies, you’d be well aware that they both wear clothing that shows off their assets. Plus, none of the dance moves that they pulled off were that provocative when compared to the moves pulled off by young girls on the popular Dance Moms “reality” show and other shows like it. Plus, if you’ve ever had a child in dance at any stage in their life (My daughter has been in dance for sixteen years now), you’ve seen young ladies do moves that were much more suggestive than anything that either Shakira or Jennifer Lopez did during the halftime performance.

Why complain about them now?

That Puerto Rican flag offended you? Why? Jennifer Lopez might be a New Yorker, but her roots are Puerto Rican. Plus, here’s a newsflash guys: Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory. It’s part of our country! There’s nothing anti-American about that flag at all! Let it be known that if I ever make it to the halftime show of any Super Bowl, I plan on proudly waving my Acadiana flag and a French flag because they are part of my roots and my culture. I’m Cajun French, among other things, and I have every right to be proud about my heritage. Why can’t Jennifer Lopez celebrate her own heritage?

As far as the kids in cages controversy goes, I didn’t even pick up on that. I believe that people saw what they wanted to see, as you can make pretty much any situation good or bad.

Oh, and folks, please remember that there are some people in this country that do speak Spanish. There are also folks here that speak French, German, Mandarin, Italian, and tons of other languages. Why complain about the Spanish language now???

For those folks that believe that this was one of the best halftime shows ever, where have you been over the last twenty or so years???? People complained for many years that the NFL used too many classic rock bands for the halftime performances, stating that they were boring. In order to fix this, the NFL started adding different acts to the program. In recent memory, I can say that Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars, and Prince all had performances that easily blew the Shakira/Lopez performance out of the water. As far as the classic rock shows go, Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones, and Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers all gave excellent performances that outshined the 2020 offering. Petty’s performance was even nominated for an Emmy.

To top it all off, Shakira injected a little Kashmir by Led Zeppelin into her performance and sampled I Like It Like That by Pete Rodriguez. Born In The USA by Bruce Springsteen was also tossed in for good measure when Shakira and Lopez took the stage together. That’s two classic rock songs and one classic boogaloo track in a modern music performance. Apparently classic rock and pop aren’t too boring for today’s music scene!

While there were definitely some cool moments in the show and it wasn’t bad, it does not, at least in my humble opinion, rank as one of the best halftime performances in history. It was good, but not great.

People need to quit looking for controversy and scandal in everything that they watch. If things upset you that much, don’t watch them. Shakira and Jennifer Lopez did a good job of entertaining the crowd and didn’t stir up anything at all. If you were bothered by the performance, you could have turned it off. We all know that in today’s world, ratings are more important than ever, so boycott whatever it is you want to boycott and leave the rest of the people that enjoy things that you dislike alone.

Rant over. I promise not to do this very often. Thanks for reading my post.