[media-credit name=”Photo courtesy of altsuperbowl53.com” align=”alignright” width=”300″][/media-credit]On Feb. 3, the Los Angeles Rams faced the New England Patriots in Atlanta. While there are many football fans within the Quinnipiac community, there are others that are more invested in the halftime show and commercials. 

This year’s halftime show was one for the books, as Maroon 5 was joined by Travis Scott and Big Boi. They performed “Harder to Breathe,” “This Love,” “Girls Like You,” “Sicko Mode,” “I Like The Way You Move,” “She Will Be Loved,” “Sugar” and “Moves Like Jagger.”

There were rumors that Maroon 5 would play the “Spongebob Squarepants” rendition of “Sweet Victory” during their halftime set and they did not disappoint. In the classic episode, Spongebob performed at The Bubble Bowl halftime show, imitating the Super Bowl. Maroon 5 satisfied eager fans and payed homage to the cartoon with a clip of the show during the performance.

“The backbone of any good Super Bowl showing is its comedy,” Forbes magazine writer Jesse Damiani said.

Some students also think that the halftime show is necessary to get people to watch the game. 

“I believe the Super Bowl would lose many of its viewers without the show,” freshman health science major Sophia D’Attoma said.

Unfortunately, a few students including Polak were not as impressed with this year’s halftime show.

“Adam Levine didn’t sing anything newer than 2015, and nobody’s ever said ‘Adam Levine’ and ‘gospel choir’ in the same sentence” Polak said. “The NFL tried to cater to the younger crowd and they definitely failed.”

The Super Bowl gets its fame from people gathering together to watch the featured performers, but would the Super Bowl still have its enormous audience without the halftime show?

“I think if they cut the show they’d lose a ton of young viewers,” freshman mechanical engineering major Zak Polak said. “The past few years they’ve had shows with artists that cater to a much younger audience like Lady Gaga, Maroon 5, my guy Justin Timberlake and Katy Perry. It would be interesting to see who really cared.”

D’Attoma and Polak take notice on how much work is put into the show and how it has been evolving over time.

“The performances are very out there, which makes them more entertaining,” D’Attoma said.

Polak mentioned how the construction plays a role in the entertainer’s performances.

“[My favorite part] is usually the insane engineering that goes into building the stages, platforms, props, lights and all that,” Polak said.

Although the Super Bowl is one of the most watched television events of the year, many do not watch only for the game.

“If either of my favorite teams are playing I’ll always watch both, but if I don’t like the teams I’ll just watch halftime,” Polak said. “Even if I don’t like whoever’s doing the show it’s always interesting to see what they come up with.”

The commercials also played a big role in the millions of viewers tuned in to the Super Bowl. Companies spend millions of dollars for the opportunity to sell to an enormous audience once a year. 

The Washington Post launched its first Super Bowl commercial, featuring journalists who sacrificed their lives for the news. Bumble also aired their commercial on empowering women, featuring Serena Williams who urges women to stop waiting and take action. Other commercials such as Pepsi, Budweiser, Olay, “Game of Thrones,” Bud Light, and many more were featured during the game.

Despite the amount of commericials shown during this year’s Super Bowl, students are still reminiscing about what past years had to offer. 

“[My favorite commericial] is probably puppy monkey baby which is an absolute classic,” Polak said, referring to an ad that was played during the 2016 Super Bowl halftime show.