The most lasting entertainment images that come from Super Bowl XXXVII are not going to come from the halftime show or from the commercials. When the big game winds itself down, the advertisements that are going to stick will emerge from the sidelines and the scoreboard. Motorola, blazoned across the mouthpieces of the coaches, and Budweiser, written large over the scoreboard, have a tendency to stick. Every time the camera flashed away from the field, the phone company had its few seconds, probably far cheaper than any 30-second spot.
Meanwhile, on the field, Shania Twain, No Doubt and Sting tried to rally the fans with eye candy. Admittedly, Sting was at a major disadvantage, but Twain and Gwen Stefani pulled no punches to get plenty of coverage.
First off, one has to wonder what Shania was trying to be in that sparkles-and-black get-up that she waved all around. She seemed like a New Age Persian princess or a dominatrix with an endless budget. Devoid of country flavor, her music was worth ignoring and her backup band might as well have not shown up.
Gwen Stefani could have carried the midpoint of the show all by herself, possessing considerably greater stage presence than Twain will ever hope for. With a phalanx of punk cheerleaders flipping through the air, the background fireworks were a bit unnecessary. Stefani made a decent effort considering that she has long been relegated to swinging her hips as much as her ponytail.
Both stars could not show much more than what they already regularly show off and almost came off as caricatures of feminine entertainers rather than legitimate singers.
Sting injected some decent music into the show with \Message in a Bottle."" Though Stefani interrupted him with inferior vocals, his performance had merit, bringing some music to the stage instead of just midriffs and perfect hair.
All in all, the problem was that the music of the first two acts was so tinny and simplistic that the only real entertainment came from staring at the sparkling undergarments of the women on stage. Someone with ""Soy Bomb"" written on his chest would have seemed welcome.
The commercials offered little in the way of getting through the game. The Super Bowl commercials seemed a lot funnier when doomed dot-coms were trying to get you to remember them with talking animals. Now the usual sponsors pop up. Thank you, but the American public already knows who Pepsi, Levi and Visa are.
In the end, the actual footballgame offered the most to look at with Tampa Bay's dominance and the Raider's frustration. Thankfully John Madden is still around to assure us of football's presence. The funniest thing about him is that he waddles even when he isn't walking. Now that's entertainment.
