Super Bowl Recap

Super Bowl LV was a superbowl unlike any other. Everyone’s experience was different from normal, including in-stadium and at home viewers, players, and even the halftime show performer, The Weekend. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeated the Kansas City Chiefs by a score of 31-9. The quarterback of the Buccaneers, Tom Brady, closed out his first year as a Buccaneer by winning his seventh super bowl, his first six he won with the New England Patriots. 

This game was particularly exciting to watch. The quarterbacks of the Buccaneers and the Chiefs, Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes respectively, are both regarded as some of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. Brady is old for a football player at the age of 43, while Mahomes is very young, only 25 years old. Football fans were feeling anxious to see this matchup of these two greats, the old and the new. Unfortunately for the Chiefs, the game was a blow out. They didn’t manage to score a single touchdown. 

Another unique aspect of this super bowl is the live in-stadium viewers. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the stadium couldn’t be packed with fans from all over the country. However, there was a great amount of live, vaccinated healthcare workers. According to Sports Illustrated, a total of 22,000 fans will attend the game, 7,500 of those being vaccinated health care workers invited to honor their service during the pandemic. According to NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy in a statement to USA Today, “there were also 30,000 fan cutouts killing seats spread out evenly among the lower, middle and upper bowls. These cutouts provide physical distancing between pods of fans and the vaccinated health care workers.” Even though much fewer people could attend the superbowl in person, fans could attend in spirit and in cardboard form to cheer on their favorite team while they watched from home.

Perhaps one of the most discussed parts of the superbowl every year is the halftime show. Anyone can watch and enjoy the halftime show, even if they are clueless when it comes to football. This year’s halftime performer was The Weeknd. Many viewers were confused and even disappointed by the performance, while The Weeknd's fans understood everything and saw it as a beautiful work of art. The performance began with The Weeknd wearing a red jacket that represents a character he had been portraying since November 2019 for his latest album, After Hours. After the character was introduced, his face became gradually more mangled over time, with blood and bandages on parts of his face. At The Weeknd’s performance at the American Music Awards (AMAs) in November 2020, he performed in his red jacket and with bandages all over his face. Then, in the music video for his most recent hit off the album. “Save Your Tears,” The Weeknd appeared to have gotten plastic surgery on his face. This made many fans believe that The Weeknd had plastic surgery, but this idea was debunked at the super bowl halftime show. The halftime show performance featured The Weeknd with his normal face, as well as an army of red jacketed, bandage-wearing men dancing with him throughout. This is when regular viewers at home could have become very confused. Unless they had seen the AMA performance or other iterations of this character, viewers would be very lost and overall confused about the backup dancers and their nontraditional outfits. The Weeknd explained the whole story that had been months in the making and the message he wanted to convey in an interview with Variety. “The significance of the entire head bandages is reflecting on the absurd culture of Hollywood celebrities and people manipulating themselves for superficial reasons to please and be validated.” This halftime show has definitely stirred up debate among viewers. Was it one of the best or was it subpar? That is up to the viewers to decide.

Super Bowl LV is one to remember. COVID-19 had an impact, but it still gave a sense of normalcy to Americans being able to enjoy the most viewed television event of the year. Congratulations to Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on a great game, congratulations to The Weeknd for a great performance at halftime, and thank you to all of the vaccinated health care workers who were able to attend in person.