The Super Bowl is about everything but the game unless you’re a serious football fan or an NFL gambler—and I’m not talking Super Bowl squares. The commercials and halftime show are the main attractions or at least they were until the commercial leaks became the norm. This year the commercials were seemingly all crypto and cars with a few cinematic trailers sprinkled throughout, but the halftime show was a capital ‘m’ Message worthy of a deep, layered discussion.
Tackling the commercials while avoiding the crypto space until I get a sponsorship worth at least 3% of what Drake bet on the game: When I heard the opening to “Woke up this morning…” and got The Sopranos jitters is the first commercial that got my full attention. Super Bowl party conversations carried on over the Austin Powers (GM), Dah Arnold and Selma Hayek (BMW), The Jones’ Leslie, Tommy Lee, and Rashida (Toyota) commercials, but when Jamie-Lynn Sigler, who played Meadow in The Sopranos, went rolling through Jersey I got excited.
Was there even more content coming with her running waste management facility? Nope, another car commercial. Oh look. Eugene Levy, Schitt’s Creek co-star Catherine O’Hara, Danai Gurira, and Dave Bautista are hawking Nissan.
Paul Rudd and Seth Rogen did Paul Rudd and Seth Rogan things for a big bag of Lay’s…cash. Zach Braff and Donald Faison (Scrubs) keep in touch using T-Mobile apparently and Anna Kendrick telling kids about the competitive housing market for Rocket Mortgage Barbie’s Dream House and Skeletor’s Castle Grayskull. Check the Deadspin article on how a big event like the Super Bowl affects lower-income housing and this commercial might need to be remade into a high school class.
Speaking of movies and shows being made, the Super Bowl had plenty of trailers. The most important for this site: Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty. The Lost City, Jurassic Park Dominion, Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, Nope, Ambulance, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Uncharted, and the one I’m most excited for Top Gun: Maverick all bought the $7 million spot to try and drive at least some business back to the big screen cinema centers.
But that halftime show… It was made for the disposable income, social justice, voting with the wallet, growing minority-majority with very public blessing of Jay-Z, and enjoyment of LeBron James. It doesn’t take a huge cynic to view it as a very obvious ploy by the NFL at trying to show/pony up some political capital and goodwill with a younger generation. Hell, they don’t even pay the performers. But it was a statement by those on stage. The photo at the end is already iconic.
The Super Bowl Halftime Show Was Lit As Fuck https://t.co/hSDb0LdE67 pic.twitter.com/7M7xYSVWe4
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) February 14, 2022
50 Cent did a quick hit of “In Da Club” because it was literally an 80-yard long mixing board at the biggest sporting party of the year and that’s just totally appropriate. His minute was the most to the script, mundane portion of the show. Well, if you can call “In Da Club” mundane in any setting but especially when Anderson .Paak is on drums. It applies here. For starters, the NFL asked Snoop to wear neutral colors and observe all stadium rules on smoking. Snoop wore blue and crip walked the whole stage.
Warming up before going on stage for the Halftime Show. pic.twitter.com/dKs6AAzjK8
— Rafa El Alcalde (@ElalcaldeRafa) February 14, 2022
He also helped every smart sharp cash a nice, easy +200 bet.
Best bet of the #SuperBowl
Snoop Dogg to smoke a blunt during the halftime show. https://t.co/ySIAKVFLzm pic.twitter.com/ZfJJZtZGJW
— Tanner Kern (@tannerkern_) February 7, 2022
Dre was asked not to sing the whole ‘Still not loving police’ lyrics. He didn’t change the song that played a big part in making him someone worthy of headlining a halftime show of Super Bowl magnitude. Then Mary J. Blige hit us with a subtle “No More Drama” rendition. Drama you say? To top it all off, the NFL asked Eminem, as they’ve pressured so many players, to not kneel.
Imagine thinking you could tell Marshall Fucking Mathers what to do? lol @nflcommish https://t.co/BwpQ3tuhMv
— Dante (@DanteTheDon) February 14, 2022
It was an ambitious show brought to you by Pepsi. Do you buy it that the NFL now #GetsIt or is it just a matter of time (the next Mike McDaniel interview) before The Shield shows its true colors once more? Give us in the comments below!
