Another year, another odd Sunday night knowing that a huge chunk of population spent a substantial amount of time watching American Football interspersed with cheesy adverts and an expectedly dazzling half-time performance by one of the world’s biggest pop stars. Another Super Bowl Sunday that you did not get involved with.
We don’t blame you. It’s hard work to stay awake past 11:30pm these days, so doing so to keep up with our American counterparts and watch a game of sport that, admittedly, you don’t entirely understand is a big ask. Especially when it’s the same night that Kylie Jenner casually slipped in that she’d given birth to a baby girl and you’d just spent half an hour holding back sobs over that emotional pregnancy video.
That’s why we’ve done the hard work for you and created a bit of a cheat sheet. Because, like it or not, people will be talking about the Super Bowl today. You’ll probably be asked your opinion or expected to some how contribute to office chat in one way or another. And yes, Twitter will be tweeting about it for a little while yet, and we don’t want you to feel left out now do we?
So, here are the note worthy talking points to make a mental note of, bring up confidently and get you through a day of chat.
1. Justin Timberlake is back. Kind of…
And when we say back, we mean he performed some of his greatest hits on an American Football pitch, did a bit of a Prince tribute and, erm, that’s about all that happened. He did wear a camouflage ‘Man of the Woods’ style suit though. Yes, suit. Here’s why his half time show wasn’t really necessary after all.
2. P!nk smashed the National Anthem
You know how each year they ask a performer with a big voice to open sports proceedings with their own rendition of the American national anthem? And while that’s great and all everyone secretly hopes that they don’t bother with the OTT vocal acrobatics and off-on-a-tangent-singing and just do the song well? Well, Pink did it well. In fact, she smashed it.
Some people were a bit concerned because at the beginning of her performance she was seen taking what looked like chewing gum out of her mouth and throwing it on the floor before singing. Bit disrespectful, I know. But that wasn’t what happened.
For the record, P!nk isn’t very well. She has a bit of a flu thing going on which only makes her vocal performance even more impressive. What she had in her mouth was a lozenge. For her poorly throat. NBD.
3. No one knelt for the National Anthem
As you might expect, some people (myself included) wondered whether any of the players would kneel for the national anthem in what would be one of the biggest and most widely televised continuation of the #TakeAKnee protest against racial injustice and police brutality. Quite notably, though, this did not happen at the Super Bowl.
Trump did reference the protest (players who have partaken in the movement he once referred to as ‘sons of bitches’) in a classically divisive and unsubtle way, though. He issued a message that said: ‘Though many of our nation's service members are unable to be home with family and friends to enjoy this evening's American tradition, they are always in our thoughts and prayers’.
‘We owe these heroes the greatest respect for defending our liberty and our American way of life. Their sacrifice is stitched into each star and every stripe of our Star-Spangled Banner. We hold them in our hearts and thank them for our freedom as we proudly stand for the national anthem’.
There were protests outside the stadium before the game kicked off, though. Black Lives Matter protesters took to the surrounding streets and according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, some 200 protesters took a knee in front of one of the stadium entrances.
4. There was a new Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom trailer
Nope, no one asked for this but alas, here you go.
5. But the teaser trailer for Solo: A Star Wars Story also dropped…
In case you were wondering whether this was still a thing that was happening or not, here’s some reassurance.
6. Diddy wore a fur.
And he looked a little lost TBH...
7. RAM Trucks co-opted Martin Luther King Jr and fucked up
Don’t recognise the name RAM Trucks? Don’t worry, you’d have no need to until now. They ran an advert (for trucks) but used a Martin Luther King speech to sell them. No, not the coolest of moves and a tad reminiscent of Kendall’s Pepsi meets Black Lives Matter advert. Misplaced, misguided, frustrating, confusing.
8. The Westworld Season Two trailer also dropped
This won’t mean much to you if you don’t watch it but, FYI, people are super into it. Have a gander.
9. And of course there’s the Avengers: Infinity War trailer
Here’s the bigg'un. It took the prime spot which is meant to be special and exciting but Marvel fans are divided because, well, that’s a lot of characters to mush into one film. Even Doctor Strange is there! It looks intense. You should watch it a few times and play a game of ‘how many superheroes can I spot in 30 seconds'.
Oh, and the Eagles Won...
Follow Jazmin on Instagram @JazKopotsha
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.