Groz: I still want my jetpack, and that’s because of Super Bowl halftime show
Jan 31, 2020, 1:25 PM
The 1996 Super Bowl halftime show. (Getty - Al Bello/Allsport)
(Getty - Al Bello/Allsport)
Whenever the conversation turns to the Super Bowl halftime show, my first reaction is to be angry. I know that seems strange, so let me explain.
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Everyone has their favorite halftime show but nobody remembers who was the first celebrity performer back in 1972. I remember because it was the first Super Bowl won by my favorite team, the Dallas Cowboys, and it was Carol Channing. Michael Jackson set the standard in 1993, but my favorite was the last time the game was in Miami. That was 2007 when Prince put on a performance in the rain that hasn’t been equaled. After covering the Foo Fighters and Jimi Hendrix, his version of Purple Rain in the mist still gives me chills.
There have been many other memorable ones as well – I always liked Bruno Mars, too – but of course that doesn’t make me angry.
I get angry when I think of the first Super Bowl. I was 6 and don’t remember the game but I do remember halftime. That’s because after the marching band played, all of the sudden there was a guy in a helmet with a metal device on his back who came out and started flying.
It was a jetpack and my little kid brain was amazed. I couldn’t wait to get old enough to fly in a jetpack. Well I’m nearly 60 now AND WHERE IS MY JETPACK?!?! Seriously, how did that not become a thing? They even brought one back in 1985 just to rub it in I guess.
No doubt Shakira and JLo will put on a great show with amazing dancing and wild effects and all, but I bet there won’t be there won’t be a jetpack.
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