Up with Snoop Dogg
Not long ago, there were millions of Trump supporters swearing they’d never watch another NFL game.
In one of the many fights Donald Trump needlessly picked, he put pro football players in his crosshairs.
They kneeled. Trump attacked.
Trump’s dutiful supporters responded by saying they found better things to do on Sunday afternoons and Sunday, Monday, and Thursday nights.
“NFL attendance and ratings are WAY DOWN. Boring games yes, but many stay away because they love our country,” he wrote on Twitter – the platform that no longer wants him around.
In October of 2018, even Vice President Mike Pence was dispatched to show his disdain for those misbehaving athletes with their kneecaps pressed firmly into NFL turfs.
When a few players knelt that Sunday, Pence left the stadium – and in an obvious huff.
That was in 2018.
It sure looks like those folks who swore off the NFL are back.
The TV ratings are in for last week’s Super Bowl.
They’re massive.
There were 112.3 million viewers across a variety of platforms (NBC, Telemundo, Peacock, NBC Sports Digital, and NFL Digital).
I keep waiting for Trump to tweet his response.
Oh, I forgot!
Pro football, with kneeling participants, or not, is more popular than ever.
Of course, the popularity of the NFL was greatly helped by the unbelievable suspense of the games during the final weeks of the 2021-22 season.
It may take years for my fingernails to regenerate.
I don’t mind.
I also didn’t mind watching a Super Bowl halftime show that wasn’t comprised of entertainers from my generation.
I grew up listening to Motown. Many of those folks are no longer with us. Those who still are don’t get around much anymore.
So, I, like millions of Americans, sat through a halftime show with music that wasn’t necessarily in our musical sweet spots.
I loved it, anyway.
All of those hip-hop artists brought the house down at SoFi Stadium in LA.
But, judging from the numerous responses I read on social media the following day, they didn’t please everybody.
Hip-hop, for some people, is vulgar. It’s too, well, too Snoop Doggish for them.
I don’t know what those people expected.
It’s a game played by a group 20- and 30-somethings (except for the LA Rams offensive tackle, Andrew Whitworth, who turned 40 back in December).
The audience for the games is younger than older.
I didn’t expect the NFL to roll out Up With People.
Up With People performed for four Super Bowls between 1976 and 1986.
That was back when most people tuned into the Super Bowl – just to watch the Super Bowl.
Those days are over.
Thank heavens they’re over.
The NFL’s halftime shows have been full-scale productions with multi-talented performers for decades.
Calvin Broadus Jr. took center stage at halftime. That’s what rapper-songwriter-actor-media personality- entrepreneur, and record producer calls himself – when he doesn’t call himself Snoop Dogg.
Mr. Dogg, by the way, is no spring chicken. He’s a mighty spry 50-year-old with the uncanny ability to appear in countless TV commercials.
But he’s still younger than Andre Young, or when he’s hip-hopping for a living – Dr. Dre.
Mr. Dre (I hope that’s what I’m supposed to call him) is 56 years old.
He, too, is a multi-hyphenate.
He’s a wealthy rapper-record producer-actor-entrepreneur-record executive.
He frankly doesn’t care what we old fogies think about him.
Nor does Marshall Mathers III. Or, Eminem, or Mr. Eminem. (I hope that’s what I’m supposed to call him.)
I do know that he’s the guy who caused the biggest stir during the halftime show.
Although, some of the folks who were so turned off by all of those hip-hoppers on their TV screens at once, they may have been forced to leave the room before it happened.
Right at the end of the halftime show, Eminem took a knee.
That’s right!
His “Eminence” was showing his support for Colin Kaepernick (for 50 whole seconds) right there before the biggest audience to watch an NFL game in years.
Nice touch!
Edward A. Owens is a multi-Emmy Award winner, former reporter, and anchor for Entertainment Tonight, and 40-year TV news and newspaper veteran. E-mail him at freedoms@bellatlantic.net.