The Super Bowl

I remember reading an essay years ago by Steve, the star of the children's TV show "Blues Clues". He talked about the funny things related to being "fame-ish" - that is, famous with a small subset of people. In his case, toddlers and their mothers. He would walk around New York City like a normal person, nobody recognizing him, until some kid and his mother were seen staring awkwardly, not sure if that really was Steve. He claimed it was an interesting life.

This weekend, one of our friends became fame-ish! She was the interpreter for the Super Bowl halftime show. It was a big break for her career, and we were so excited for her, but honestly, weren't sure we wanted to watch the show because of the other performers - Jennifer Lopez and Shakira. They don't always...wear enough clothing... But, Sunday night came around and Marriner was out helping people with Lige. So Ellis and I decided to watch our friend. She was GREAT! It was so fun to watch her! I wish I could have said the same for the rest of the show - it was horrible. So much sex. So little clothing. I felt really ashamed for them.

The next day was full of discussion on the internet. Turns out I wasn't the only prude in the crowd. I was surprised at the defenses of the show. "What did you expect? If you didn't want to watch the sort of show they put on, you should have changed the channel." The thing is, we used to have standards for shows that were during times when families were watching.

Anyway, I won't write my imagined Washington Post opinion article about why trashy halftime shows are wrong here. Anyone who reads this blog agrees with me, anyway. But all that is to say I'm sorry I can't share the video of my talented friend. It's ridiculous to me that part of the Super Bowl was THAT offensive, but it really was just awful.

Oh yeah, and then there was that OTHER awful part of the Super Bowl...for some reason that I can not understand, the Super Bowl has an ASL interpreter during the national anthem, but they can't seem to figure out that if you don't show the ASL on camera, it doesn't do anyone any good. For the second year in a row, the interpreter has performed all by themselves with no audience except for a little 20 second spot. This year, Fox Sports said they would have a committed camera for the ASL interpreter. But I guess they forgot to tell the cameraman? Because halfway through the song, they moved away and showed us pictures of huge guys with their game faces on. Ugh, hardly what I wanted to see right then! :)

It's one thing to not have interpreters. It's another thing to claim to be deaf friendly, but then drop it mid-stream.

Anyway, I'm so over the NFL.