Late last year, SpongeBob SquarePants creator Stephen Hillenburg passed away. Many, including myself, were heartbroken due to Hillenburg’s passing because of his major influence on our childhoods. Who didn’t watch SpongeBob growing up?
A petition was created soon after Hillenburg’s death on the website Change.org to have an iconic song from the show called “Sweet Victory” performed during the Super Bowl’s halftime show. The petition went viral, being signed by over a million fans of the show. The petition states that the signees wanted to pay “a tribute to [Hillenburg’s] legacy, his contributions to a generation of children, and to truly show the greatness of the song.”
The fantastic scene where the song was performed occurred during the show’s second season. SpongeBob, Squidward, and the gang played the beautiful song during the Bubble Bowl.
Multiple hints were being dropped by the Mercedes Benz Stadium (the Super Bowl host stadium) and the NFL leading up to the big game. NFL Films tweeted a Super Bowl hype video with “Sweet Victory” playing in the background.
The big game arrived last Sunday. Millions anxiously waited for the halftime show and the chance to see their favorite sponge.
Then, out of nowhere during the show, Squidward appears before our eyes. A few seconds later, SpongeBob and the rest of the band geeks too. Excitement rushed through my body. I was preparing myself for the moment I waited months for.
Unfortunately, my excitement quickly evaporated, as I started to realize that SpongeBob was merely an introduction to Travis Scott’s “Sicko Mode.” SpongeBob made no later appearances during the nearly 14-minute performance.
SpongeBob and many of the band geeks making an appearance was cool and all, but it was very underwhelming due to the hype building up to the event.
The NFL missed a great opportunity in my eyes. They had one job. All they had to do was to play “Sweet Victory” during the halftime show, and millions would be happy. I don’t understand what held back the NFL from playing the song. If they would’ve played the song no one would’ve cared about how good or bad the other performances were. Some may not have even cared how good the actual game was that night.
In my opinion, what the NFL should’ve done was not only have the characters of SpongeBob make an appearance but also devote some time to the song and a message about ALS (the disease that, unfortunately, took the life of Hillenburg).
The NFL even could’ve played the song on the stadium’s loudspeakers after the game when the confetti was flowing down. That would’ve almost made up for the song’s halftime no show because winning the Super Bowl is a sweet victory.
What makes matters even worse is that the Mercedes Benz stadium tweeted out a video of the song being played on the big screens, but it was performed while the stadium was empty. That’s a big slap in the face. I’m pretty sure this was made because the NFL knew that they were going to receive some heat for not playing the song during the halftime show.
The question that I had after watching the tweeted video was regarding why they didn’t do this during the actual show. If they were able to play the song with the actual footage from the show, then why did they not play the song during the halftime show just like the people wanted?
To take something positive from this, even though we all did not like being teased, the brief cameo by SpongeBob was better than nothing. That is why I am not completely mad. At least the NFL thought of the significance of adding SpongeBob to the performance. At least they did not ignore the viral petition entirely. Maybe we will look back and possibly appreciate the short cameo. Thank you, NFL for the thought despite the execution not being the way myself and millions of people wanted it to be.
The rest of the halftime show was okay. It didn’t help the already dull game. I like Maroon 5, so seeing them was cool. However, they could’ve been better, and the group’s lead singer Adam Levine didn’t have to take his shirt off. I guess he didn’t know that most of the people who watched the show are football fans, not teenage girls.
Travis Scott’s performance of “Sicko Mode” was bad. His voice didn’t sound too hot without autotune. The best part of the show was Big Boi’s two-second performance. To be honest, it would’ve been better if the group Outkast (Big Boi and Andre 3000) headlined the show. They would’ve fit Atlanta better than Maroon 5 since Big Boi and Andre 3000 are from the area.
A message to the NFL: GIVE THE FANS WHAT THEY WANT OR ELSE YOU WILL FACE A LOAD OF BACKLASH.
If the NFL just would have played the lovely song, it would have been a sweet victory to millions of people.
Disagree with my take? Feel free to hit me up on my Twitter @stevenpepper38, my Instagram @stevenpepper_, and/or the comments below.