The Super Bowl is hosted every year on the second Sunday in February for the two best pro teams that qualify for the final NFL playoff game. Watching the game, enjoying food, and spending quality time with friends and family can be just as entertaining. This year, the intense game took place at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans. From the plays, to the halftime show, to the commercials, to the victory celebrations, Super Bowl Sunday was a spectacular day that entailed fun and feasting with friends and family.
The highly anticipated Super Bowl LIX from the start was quickly dominated by the former 2017 championship winners Philadelphia Eagles who denied the Kansas City Chiefs from becoming the first team to win three consecutive Super Bowls. The first scoring play after what was initially believed to be a touchdown after a pass from the Philadelphia Eagles Quarterback, Jalen Hurts found the wide receiver Jahan Dotson down the right sideline into the endzone. However, Dotson’s knee hit the ground at the 1-yard line putting the Eagles in a first and goal situation. The Eagles can select a variation of different plays but are predominantly known for the “tush push” which is also known as the quarterback sneak. This tactic made the QB, Jalen Hurts, score the first points of the Super Bowl putting Eagles 6-0.
Afterward, Philadelphia scored the next three touchdowns, burying the former Championship winners, the Chiefs, 0-24 after the first half. In the second half, the Chiefs started with the ball, but within the first two drives from the Chiefs, their QuarterBack, Patrick Mahomes, was tackled by the Eagles. After the Chiefs could not convert on a fourth down, it caused an overturn for the Eagles giving another opportunity for a touchdown. Hurts then connected a pass to wide receiver DeVonta Smith. After a hard-fought 3rd quarter by the Chiefs, Mahones finally hit receiver Xavier Worthy with a 24-yard score, now putting the score Eagles 34, Chiefs 6.
The fourth quarter was hard fought, Mahomes who threw a couple of touchdown passes to DeAndre Hopkins and Xavier Worthy but even with these, the game was already over as Philadelphia held a high score advantage with the creation of chaos amongst the field. The final score for the Super Bowl LIX was the Eagles with 40 points and the Chiefs with 22 points, making the Philadelphia Eagles take home the championship. The players dumped their Gatorade on their coach to celebrate the victory, a common celebration after the Super Bowl.
Kendrick Lamar performed this year’s halftime show with appearances from SZA and Serena Williams. The songs that were featured this year were “Squabble Up”, “Humble”, “DNA”, “Euphoria”, “Man at the Garden”, “Peekaboo”, “Luther” (featuring SZA), “All the Stars” (featuring SZA), and “Not Like Us.” The song “Not Like Us” was a diss track towards Drake in an ongoing feud between Lamar and Drake. During “Not Like Us,” Serena Williams makes a surprise appearance by making obscene gestures such as sticking up her middle finger towards the camera in reference to Drake, her ex-boyfriend.
The halftime show began with an appearance from Samuel L. Jackson in which he was dressed as the patriot figure, Uncle Sam. Throughout the show, Jackson continued to make appearances, talking about how the music was “too reckless”, “too chaotic” and continued to comment on the music’s vibe. Jackson dressed as Uncle Sam supposedly represented the view of modern rap music in today’s world.
The Super Bowl is known for the commercials being almost as entertaining as the game itself. Companies fight for ads and pay millions of dollars just to get 30 seconds on national television. Sophomore Maddison Morrow told The Times that her favorite ad was a Nike ad about women in sports. Freshman Hudson Clark said his favorite was the Coffee Mate ad with its cold foam flavor.
In Philadelphia, as people celebrated the victory of their NFL Championship team, the Eagles, chaos erupted throughout the state. However, the celebrations have taken a turn to riots with large groups of people breaking windows to shops, climbing street poles, trashing and destroying streets, shooting fireworks, and setting things on fire. The mayor of Philadelphia, Merelle L. Parker, has tried to combat the destruction and violence by making announcements to push for the people of Philadelphia to calm down their celebrations, going as far as to have the city’s light poles greased to prevent citizens from climbing them. “Don’t climb light poles or anything else, please Philadelphia, I implore you as your mayor do not climb light poles or anything else. I know this comes up every time we have an outdoor celebration…”
The Super Bowl LIX had many eventful moments from the start of the game to the end, after, during the celebrations. The Super Bowl was entertaining and surprising for some, featuring fan-favorite singers and humorous commercials. NFL fans all over the nation anticipate next year’s chaos that football entails.
