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Posts tagged ‘Super Bowl 57’

NFL fans deeply divided over black national anthem being performed at Super Bowl: ‘America only has one national anthem’


By: PAUL SACCA | February 12, 2023

Read more at https://www.conservativereview.com/nfl-fans-deeply-divided-over-black-national-anthem-being-performed-at-super-bowl-america-only-has-one-national-anthem-2659406054.html/

Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Roc Nation

For the third straight year, the black national anthem was performed at the Super Bowl. NFL fans were deeply divided on whether it was appropriate to perform the black national anthem before Super Bowl 57.

Before the Philadelphia Eagles took on the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LVII at State Farm Stadium in Arizona, 10-time Academy of Country Music award-winner Chris Stapleton sang the national anthem. Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds – a 12-time Grammy Award-winning recording artist, songwriter, and producer – sang “America the Beautiful.”

Emmy-winning actress and singer Sheryl Lee Ralph sang “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” which was designated as the “black national anthem” in 1917 by the NAACP.

Reactions on Twitter show NFL fans were staunchly opposed and vehemently supportive of the black national anthem being performed at Super Bowl LVII.

  • Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.): “America only has ONE NATIONAL ANTHEM. Why is the NFL trying to divide us by playing multiple!? Do football, not wokeness.”
  • TheBlaze contributor Delano Squires: “I grew up singing ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing’ during assembly in my all-black elementary school. We also sang the Star Spangled Banner and said the pledge. It’s a beautiful hymn, but I feel like it’s being used by people who think we need a new founding (1619), flag, and anthem.”
  • Political pundit CJ Pearson: “The National Anthem is for EVERY American. What’s the purpose of a black one? Super Bowl Sunday should UNITE America, not divide it by race. It’s not the 1960s.”
  • TheBlaze contributor T.J. Moe: “Thank God we played the ‘blacknational anthem.’ Nothing screams unity like separating everything.”
  • Police officer and podcast host Zeek Arkham: “My ‘black’ National Anthem is the same anthem I’ve been singing since I was a child. The same one children of all races have been singing. My National Anthem never needed a color. Do they want racism to die, or do they want to keep finding ways to divide us all?”
  • Former GOP candidate Lavern Spicer: “The BlackNational Anthem is the Star Spangled Banner. The White National Anthem is the Star Spangled Banner. The Mixed National Anthem is the Star Spangled Banner. If you live in the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, your National Anthem is the Star Spangled Banner.”
  • Commentator Matt Walsh: “No other country on Earth is ridiculous enough to permit different racial groups to perform their own national anthems before major events.”
  • Actor Kevin Sorbo: “The @NFL is going to play a black national anthem before the Super Bowl. Seems racist and divisive.”

Radio host Gerry Callahan: “The ‘Black National Anthem’ could be the single best example of corporate cowardice and shameless pandering in American history. You have one national anthem or no national anthem. Roger Goodell is pathetic.”

  • Students for Trump founder Ryan Fournier: “There is no Blacknational anthem. There is no White national anthem. There is no Hispanic national anthem. There is only THE National Anthem. God Bless America!”
  • Former GOP candidate James Bradley: “Having a black national anthem is just another way that Democrats keep us divided.”
  • Political commentator Jack Posobiec: “The only thing that can unite America forever is creating separate national anthems for each different ethnic groups. I demand each one be played before every game Especially the Super Bowl.”

There were people who supported the black national anthem being played at the Super Bowl.

  • Republican strategist Paris Dennard: “‘Lift Every Voice and Sing’ was a poem written by Republican, James Weldon Johnson in 1900. His brother put it to music and it was first performed by children at Johnson’s segregated FL elementary school to celebrate Pres. Abraham Lincoln’s birthday – which is today.”
  • Forbes writer Exavier Pope: “It’s informally called the Black National Anthem, but that’s not the name of the song & when the song is referenced by Black people, we use the formal title of the song. Also, to refuse the song is to dismiss its origin, history, it’s lineage, & all the reasons it STILL matters.”
  • Journalist Skylar Baker-Jordan: “‘Lift Every Voice and Sing’ has been called the Black national anthem for longer than ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ has been the U.S. national anthem. This tweet is for all the conservatives currently or about to lose their s**t over a song praising God and freedom.”
  • Public education activist Mitchell Robinson: “Please add ‘Black national anthem’ to pronouns, books, schools, LGBTQ folks, and the other harmless things that frighten conservatives.”
  • Screenwriter Matt Mikalatos: “What’s especially baffling to me is Christians complaining about a hymn playing before the Super Bowl. Maybe they should reflect on the lyrics.”

A previously recorded version of the black national anthem sung by Alicia Keys was played at Super Bowl LV in 2021. Gospel duo Mary Mary and Youth Orchestra performed “Lift Every Voice and Sing” during Super Bowl LVI in 2022.

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Political

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Jason Whitlock Op-ed: ‘Don’t Stop Believin’’ bogus Super Bowl ending was ‘Made in America’


JASON WHITLOCK | February 13, 2023

Read more at https://www.theblaze.com/fearless/oped/whitlock-dont-stop-believin-bogus-super-bowl-ending-was-made-in-america/

Jason Allen/ISI Photos / Contributor, Nick Cammett / Stringer, Cooper Neill / Contributor, Tim Nwachukwu / Staff, Mitchell Leff / Contributor, Cooper Neill / Contributor | Getty Images

Let’s call it “The Sopranos Bowl.”

Super Bowl LVII, Kansas City’s 38-35 victory, unseated “Made in America,” the finale of the iconic HBO mob series, as the worst ending in television history.

With a little less than two minutes to play and the score tied at 35-35, a would-be Super Bowl classic cut to black, leaving more than 100 million fans pondering what could have been.

Would Philly capo Jalen Hurts rally the Eagles from a three-point deficit and win the game or force overtime? Or did Kansas City underboss Patrick Mahomes and button man Harrison Butker whack the Eagles?

We’ll never know because a referee flagged Philly corner James Bradberry for defensive holding on third and eight at the Philadelphia 15-yard line. The penalty gave the Chiefs a first down, allowed them to drain the clock, and set up a game-ending 27-yard field goal with eight seconds to play.

The unnecessary and unjustified call ruined the Super Bowl.

I don’t care that Bradberry defended the ref.

“It was holding,” Bradberry told reporters. “I tugged his jersey. I was hoping they would let it slide.”

No dice. No way.

It was a horrible call. I’ve watched the replays a dozen times. Chiefs wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster never broke stride. Bradberry’s contact never impeded Smith-Schuster from getting into his route. The refs stayed out of the game for 58 minutes. There were no mystery holding calls in the secondary or along the line of scrimmage. It was a clean game. It was a great game. Until the bogus holding penalty on Bradberry.

I’m not a bitter Eagles fan. I’m a happy Chiefs fan. I lived and worked in Kansas City for 16 years. My mother moved to Kansas City in 1984. I moved there in 1994. The Chiefs are my favorite football team. I bet money on Kansas City winning Sunday’s game. I’m thrilled with the outcome.

It’s the same way I feel about “The Sopranos.” It’s one of my two or three favorite shows in the history of television. It’s right there with “The Wire” and “The Shield.”

But more than anything else, “The Sopranos” is remembered for its trash ending. The screen cut to black. Sopranos fans have spent years arguing whether a hit man in a Members Only jacket clipped Tony Soprano as he ate dinner with Carmela, Meadow, and A.J. as “Don’t Stop Believin’” played on the jukebox.

Endings are important. They can taint the memory of an otherwise perfect story. “The Sopranos” might be the undisputed king of television if not for its blown final episode.

A perfect ending can elevate a TV show. “The Shield” pulled off the greatest finale in history. “Family Meeting,” “The Shield’s” final 72-minute episode, is flawless. Dirty cop Shane Vendrell poisons his wife and kid and then blows his own head off. Dirty cop Ronnie Gardocki is dragged off to jail seconds after finding out his trusted leader, Vic Mackey, snitched to save himself. Mackey forfeits his kids and career, is exposed as a cop killer, and is trapped at a desk job surrounded by federal agents who hate him.

The ending enriched all seven seasons and the 87 preceding episodes of “The Shield.”

Sunday’s Super Bowl was a bitter reminder of what’s wrong with the NFL. Referees have too much influence over the outcomes. They have too many judgment calls to make. The officiating is uneven and inconsistent. Sometimes the games feel manipulated. Calls of pass interference and roughing the passer determine outcomes more than the players.

I don’t believe the NFL is rigged. Nor do I believe former NFL running back Arian Foster’s outrageous suggestion that the games follow a script.

What was scripted was the reaction to Sunday’s game-deciding penalty.

I believe the NFL persuaded Bradberry and the Eagles not to whine about the costly penalty. I believe the league persuaded its television partners to downplay the penalty on Sunday. I don’t blame the NFL for this. It’s smart business. The league’s showcase event botched the ending. Roger Goodell wants fans talking about the magnificent performances of Patrick Mahomes, Jalen Hurts, and Nick Bolton, the Kansas City linebacker. It’s better to discuss the coaching brilliance of Andy Reid than the fact that NFL referees are in an impossible position.

Remember the Saints-Rams pass-interference no-call that sent Los Angeles to the 2019 Super Bowl?

The refs swallowed their whistles and let the players decide the game. The refs were ripped. Saints coach Sean Payton whined for months. He wore a Roger Goodell clown T-shirt. A New Orleans fan filed a lawsuit against the NFL (and later dropped it).

The “Nola No Call” in the NFC Championship is more memorable than the Patriots’ 13-3 Super Bowl victory.

Whelp, this time a ref didn’t swallow his flag. He threw it. He directly influenced the end of the game.

The NFL is a television show. Its goal is to create television stars. Its biggest star, Tom Brady, just retired. Patrick Mahomes is the next man up. The NFL is determined to stop a bogus penalty from tainting Mahomes’ second Super Bowl title.

The final episode of “The Sopranos” aired in June 2007, well before the social media matrix distorted truth with controlled narrative. Sixteen years ago, we were all free to rip “Made in America.” Now algorithms and partnerships determine criticism and dissent.

They want us to “fuhgeddaboudit.” That’s Sopranos slang for “forget about it.”

Whattayagonnado?

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Opinion, Sports

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