Lady Gaga promised a Super Bowl halftime show infused with the “spirit of equality” for all her little monsters and tens of millions more, with Tony Bennett to join for the biggest appearance of her career in Houston.
For hardcore bettors, Las Vegas even set odds on her hair colour, with blonde being the top pick.
Before the game, singers Phillipa Soo, Renee Elise Goldsberry and Jasmine Cephas Jones — the Schuyler sisters from the original cast of Broadway’s hit Hamilton — brought some exquisite three-part harmony to a version of “America the Beautiful.” They made an inclusive editing choice, with Jones adding “and sisterhood” to the lyrical reference of brotherhood.
Fox’s own editing choice added a downer to a nice moment, cutting to a camera shot of New England’s scowling coach Bill Belichick as the song ended.
Country star Luke Bryan played it straight for “The Star Spangled Banner,” adding few showy flourishes while taking care not to rush through the moment.
SUPER WELCOME: The Super Bowl party started early in Boston — with some basketball.
With a deafening cheer and a shout of “Let’s go, Pats,” Paul Pierce was back in Boston on Super Bowl Sunday to give Celtics fans one last chance to celebrate the player who helped the NBA’s most-decorated franchise return to the top of the league.
Restored to the Los Angeles Clippers’ starting lineup by current and former coach Doc Rivers for the 107-102 win by the Celtics, Pierce was greeted with a long and loud ovation at his introduction, when the new Boston Garden rang out again with his nickname: The Truth. A highlight video at the first timeout appeared to bring him to tears.
“I’m glad Doc was able to get me out there one last time, knowing that this would be my last game as a player in the Boston Garden,” Pierce said after signing autographs before the game. “I’m just soaking it all in, enjoying every moment of it, giving it back to the fans what they gave me.”
A first-round draft pick out of Kansas in 1998, Pierce toiled in Boston through the down years of M.L. Carr and Rick Pitino, watching as the once-proud team lost a franchise-record 18 games in a row while he was injured in 2006-07. The next year, after the Celtics acquired Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen, Boston won its NBA-record 17th championship, and Pierce was the finals MVP.
“The memories are always going to be with me,” Pierce said. “(I will) always have a relationship with these guys; it’s just something that when you win a championship, you know it forms a natural bond with you and your teammates that you share with each other forever. And so I’ll forever hold that.”
Pierce’s No. 34 Celtics jerseys filled the crowd — more even than the Patriots shirts worn by fans ready to rush home after the game to watch the home team play Atlanta in the Super Bowl. During a silent moment in national anthem, a shout came from the stands: “Let’s go, Pats!”
41 AT 51: Former President George H.W. Bush and his wife, Barbara, took part in the pre-game coin toss. The Falcons won, but deferred their selection to the second half.
The former first couple got a huge ovation, including applause from coaches and players from both teams, when they came onto the field slowly with Barbara in a golf cart and the 92-year-old former president being pushed in a wheelchair next to her. Bush, the nation’s 41st president, was recently released from Houston Methodist Hospital, where he received treatment for pneumonia for more than two weeks. Vice-President Mike Pence also attended he game.
TRUMP’S CALL: During a Fox News interview taped Saturday and aired a few hours before the game, U.S. President Donald Trump predicted an eight-point victory by the Patriots.
While Trump counts Patriots quarterback Tom Brady as a friend and says he likes coach Bill Belichick and owner Bob Kraft, he also praises the Falcons as a “fantastic team.” But, Trump says, “You have to stick up for your friends, right?”
COLOUR CODED: If you were without a device in New York City and needed an update on who’s winning the Super Bowl, the Empire State Building was the answer.
At kickoff at Houston’s NRG Stadium, the famous tower in Manhattan was split between the colours of the Patriots (blue, red and white) and Falcons (red and black). When each team scored, the building sparkled in that team’s colours. It remained lit in the colours of the team with the lead.
After the game, the winning team’s colours were set to sparkle for an hour and remaining lit in those colours until sunrise.
The Empire State Building did the same thing a year ago when Denver beat Carolina.
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