ANALYSIS/OPINION:
Super Bowl LII. Fourth quarter. The game is tied 3-3. The Eagles and Nick Foles set for a Hail Mary pass.
In a shocker, the Washington Redskins take the field, shimmying to ’60s tune “Baby, Do the Philly Dog.” Chris Long takes out Kirk Cousins.
’Skins owner Dan Snyder paid $10 million for that 60-second spot, far less than it’ll cost him to get the team up-to-SNUFF for a Super Bowl appearance by this time next year. And a tough lesson when one of your former players hits you where it really hurts.
The Super Bowl ain’t what it used to be with more viewers tuning out each year, but this year’s game is at least quasi-symbolic with the majestic eagle, America’s national emblem, up against iconic foot soldiers, America’s patriots.
So, hey, let’s remember, it’s only a game, and sports is only another form of entertainment, sometimes as much fun as sliding your hand into a bag of Lindt chocolates and allowing one single melt-in-your-mouth morsel to soothe a craving for an NFC victory.
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The NFC East Redskins haven’t played in a Super Bowl since since oh, forget it.
There is hope, still, in the entertainment. Forget about Justin Timberlake. A youngster preened in the make-believe world of Disney, JT has performed at the Super Bowl before, and we can’t exactly say that he and the former princess of prancing Janet Jackson graced the stage. There still are questions about whether the “wardrobe malfunction” was a gag or a setup. Either way, it wasn’t something you wanted your 12-year-old wannabe Tom Brady to see.
This time, we have two Philadelphia-area song birds to entertain us, and one of them, Pink, will sing the national anthem, while the other, “Hamilton” Tony-winner Leslie Odom Jr., will lead “America the Beautiful.
NBC has promised to pan the stadium to reveal kneelers. I just hope Pink pays homage to the beauty of America and not the persona of Steve Buscemi’s Mr. Pink in Quentin Tarantino’s character in “Reservoir Dogs,” a film with no socially redeeming value.
Delivering the bombastic “Star-Spangled Banner,” which so many of us could sing by heart, whether a supporter of the kneelers or not, cannot be compared with Mr. Odom’s chore, which is to paint a picture of America and lead us from “sea to shining sea.”
“America the Beautiful,” you see, began its life as a musical composition in 1882 and was married with poetry in 1893, and it lives on after several iterations. What remains, though, in most, if not all, versions, are six words, the words that whenever I hear Ray Charles’ rendition, tears well in my eyes as if this well-traveled woman is imaging America for the first time.
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“America! America!
“God shed His grace on thee.”
By that grace, the AFC New England Patriots and NFC Philadelphia Eagles take the field on Sunday in Minneapolis, and if you don’t wanna watch because of the calamities since 2016, when Colin Kaepernick first took a knee during the playing of anthem, understood.
Do or do not watch the game. You can read postgame news coverage in The Washington Times, or do as JT did and take the Disney route and watch ESPN.
The value of the Super Bowl rests more in the musical performances than the players on the gridiron, anyway.
After all, as the Redskins’ moves prove, it’s not how you play the game, but whether you win or lose.
(Please, don’t laugh, because as an NFC East diehard and native Pennsylvanian, I cannot resist: Fly, Eagles, fly!)
• Deborah Simmons can be contacted at dsimmons@washingtontimes.com.
• Deborah Simmons can be reached at dsimmons@washingtontimes.com.
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