The Los Angeles Rams defeated the Cincinnati Bengals 23-20 in Super Bowl LVI on Sunday. The suspenseful game ended with a fourth down stop by the Rams to win it all.
The Rams controlled much of the first half, with receivers Odell Beckham Jr. and Cooper Kupp scoring the first two touchdowns of the day. The Bengals answered back late in the second quarter with a trick play that led to a touchdown and an interception by safety Jessie Bates III.
The big game took place at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, the second time in Super Bowl history a team played on its home field. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were the first team to do so when Raymond James Stadium hosted the big game last year.
(CNN, February 13, 2022)
My team is the Eagles. So my friendly wager on the Bengals was completely devoid of sentimental attachment.
Even so, after the Rams scored that first TD early in the first quarter, I was already feeling sorry for them. In fact, I was already writing my own headlines: “Rams Win Super Bowl in Rout over Cincinnati, er “Who Dey”? But the Bengals clearly made it interesting…
All the same, with all due respect to the Rams, the talk of this Super Bowl will always be that rappers delight of a halftime show. I enjoyed it as much as anyone did. But, even as I was doing the smurf, prep, and cabbage patch, I felt like we were being duped.
I know this show was planned long before Brian Flores filed his damning discrimination lawsuit. But it dropped like those white team owners were offering it as patronizing compensation for the systemic racism that has seen them deny so many Blacks coaching jobs in the NFL.
More to the point, the unbridled joy I felt while dancing has now been replaced with systemic resentment at the thought of those white owners sitting up in their luxury guest boxes watching this halftime show as nothing more than a glorified minstrel show.
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