The big game is over!
And while the smell of stale potato chips, hot wings, and beer still lingers in the air, I beg the question – what were your reasons for tuning in to the Super Bowl this year?
To some folks that’s a silly question considering it’s the biggest game of the year for presumably the best two teams in the National Football League.
In the days leading up to Super Bowl Sunday, football fans everywhere were having a good chin wag over the deserved or undeserved fawning Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis was getting over his postseason play. Or they were wondering what it must be like to be the parents of the Harbaugh brothers. What side of the field do you sit on, and who do you root for when you have kids who are coaching for opposing teams?
Even diehard fans admit that they tune in just to see the commercials. I confess it is also my guilty pleasure, but there are some items attached to this year’s game that leave me scratching my head in disbelief.
Every time I turned to media coverage leading up the big game, I heard speculation over whether or not Beyoncé would sing live during the half time show, or lip sync over a pre-recorded track as she did at the President’s inauguration.
Some of my colleagues in the WTKR newsroom have dubbed these kinds of stories as “Non-troversies” – in other words, a made up controversy for the sake of hype.
Yet, Facebook, Twitter, and all manner of social media were like a dog with a bone, criticizing, speculating, and condemning.
You would have thought Beyoncé stole candy from a baby and proceeded to eat the stolen goods in front of the kid and then stuck her tongue out.
There were comparisons to the disgraced former duo Milli Vanilli who became one of the most popular pop acts in the late 1980s and early 1990s. However, their success turned to infamy when their Grammy was revoked after it was revealed, that the lead vocals on the record were not the actual voices of the group.
I say there is no comparison! Beyoncé recorded her own voice and lip synced to it, and she is not the only artist to use this method to ensure quality vocals at an outdoor event.
If you have ever attended a concert featuring Beyoncé – you know it is a high energy dance party that leaves concert goers feeling like they just completed a 2 hour aerobics class.
If the audience is breathless, imagine trying to carry a tune during all that action. Yes, some of the vocals in some venues are pre-recorded. Technology allows it, and some artists use the method to give the audience the sound quality they enjoy with their iPods.
My level of acceptance of lip syncing depends on the artist and venue. I never will forget some years back when I enjoyed the unfiltered non-enhanced vocals of Nancy Wilson at the Ferguson Center for the Arts. I probably would have cried real tears if her vocals were canned.
The sound quality in the Ferguson allowed us to enjoy every nuance and whisper of Wilson’s vocal talent, and she performed much of her song list seated on a stool center stage.
So for you Monday morning quarterbacks out there, what was the main reason you tuned in for the big game?
I tuned in to make sure my ‘no lose’ prediction came true. On Friday when I turn in this column, I predict that Coach Harbaugh will win the Super Bowl.
