SpongeBob at the Superbowl

Photo+by+Pixabay

Photo by Pixabay

Lillian Humphrey, Staff Writer

February 3rd, the 53rd annual SuperBowl, Patriots v Rams. The hype was real. There was a lot of people rooting for their team to win.

But there was another audience tuning in, one more interested in the ads than the actual game. People like myself who were waiting for an amazing halftime show that involved SpongeBob Squarepants. The NFL had teased this before the Superbowl, and the excitement from fans of the show was electric online. One of the creators has died recently, Stephen Hillenburg, and the SpongeBob inclusion would be a call back to an episode where the characters actually perform at the Superbowl.

If the event were to happen in real life, then it would be a commemoration of a man who created one of the most loved cartoons in history. The NFL would get more viewers who wouldn’t have otherwise tuned in and many more would appreciate the shout out to their favorite childhood cartoon. A win-win!  

 

Right?

 

Well… as it turns out, the epic show performance of the song ‘Sweet Victory’ that appears in the original episode would never come to pass on this plane of existence. The teasing online was just that- a tease. The only SpongeBob appearance was an 8 second clip from the show. Many people were incredibly disappointed with the halftime show, a large portion due to the perceived disrespect and baiting. But what does the community think?

Junior Kathrine Lofaro had this to say, “I think that with many millennials’ protest of the NFL, it (performing ‘Sweet Victory’) would have gotten some more young people interested in football. In the end it’s not a big deal, but it would have been a fun thing for people to enjoy together.”

Another viewer who wished to remain anonymous was a bit more upset with the performance, or lack of. “They were supposed to play the actual song, but they didn’t. The creator died and a lot of people cared. They baited us.”

This viewers opinion on the baiting was shared by more than one, Senior Harrison Thomas admitted his annoyance as well. “It was extremely disappointing. I feel like they used SpongeBob to gain traction and then just left us with nothing.”

However, not everyone was as upset at the NFL. Senior Steven Unk, a football and SpongeBob fan, explained, “I wasn’t disappointed, I thought it was cool that they included SpongeBob at all.”  

 

In the end, Stephen is right. At least they tried. We don’t know what was going on behind the scenes, and while it is disappointing to see the tribute fall through, there’s always next year.