Most of crowd at U.S. Bank cheered for Eagles
- Published
The Super Bowl is a spectacle unlike anything else you could want to see.
Here are a few thoughts on the day as it unfolded Sunday at U.S. Bank Stadium:
andensp;If youre willing to accept a halftime review from someone who unapologetically loved the almost universally despised Black Eyed Peas show from several years back, here is the short version: Justin Timberlake crushed the early part of the show with old favorites and a wink-nod to the wardrobe malfunction show with Janet Jackson so many years ago. But if it was going to include Prince, it needed to be done differently. The duet of sorts on I Would Die 4 U seemed like a strange afterthought.
andensp;Its hard to say definitively the breakdown of fans and whether one base was just louder than the other, but my best guess is the crowd was about 60 percent pro-Eagles, 35 percent pro-Patriots and 5 percent pro-Vikings. Eagles fans were certainly enthusiastic, though they couldnt match the overreaction of some nearby Patriots fans who went ballistic with joy when New England won the coin toss.
andensp;As I worked my way through security and into U.S. Bank Stadium about three hours before kickoff Sunday, one of the first people I saw was former Vikings quarterback Brett Favre. He was being whisked somewhere briskly.
andensp;Speaking of former Vikings, newly elected Pro Football Hall of Famer Randy Moss got a deafening round of applause from the pro-Patriots and pro-Vikings fans in attendance when he was introduced and shown on the big screen.
andensp;Alan Page also got a nice round of applause when he was introduced, and he did a segment of commentary on the in-stadium broadcast as well.
andensp;On the down side of video board time comes poor Eli Manning. He was shown pregame as a previous winner of the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award and was promptly showered with boos. Eagles fans hate him because he plays for the rival Giants, while Patriots fans have bitterness over those two Super Bowl losses at the hands of Elis Giants.
andensp;There were tons of Minnesota music connections during the week, but my favorite might have been when they played The Hold Steadys Stuck Between Stations before kickoff inside U.S. Bank Stadium. Sure, THS is a New York band, but frontman Craig Finn is a Minnesotan to the bone.
andensp;From the actual football department: The Patriots decision to not go for it on fourth-and-inches inside the Eagles 10 (which looked even worse when New England missed the chip shot field goal) and then go for it on fourth-and-5 later in the second quarter with a low-percentage pass attempt that fell incomplete was curious to say the least. Maybe leave that off the highlight reel when Bill Belichick goes into the Hall of Fame.
andensp;Not a complaint, just an observation: When you attend the Super Bowl, you dont get to see the Super Bowl commercials. Ill be catching up on that, as well as sleep, in coming days.