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Mike Chamernik’s Question Of The Week (July 15-20)

Last week, we had another of Mike Chamernik’s “Question of the Week” series, the response was tremendous, and Mike is back again with his next question.

Question of the Week
by Mike Chamernik

I tuned in for the Copa América final last night. I was surprised to see it had a big Shakira concert at the half. Are halftime shows common in soccer, especially international soccer?

Anyway, my main question: What are some of the more memorable halftime shows you’ve seen, either in person or on TV? Aside from concerts, what are some of your favorite halftime acts? What are some of the weirdest you’ve seen?

For NBA games, I like when they have a scrimmage game between two local youth teams. These kids redefine ball hogging. Zero passing, just going 1-on-5. I can’t blame them! If you get to play on an NBA court, in front of an audience, and you’re only out there for a few minutes, you have to make the most of it. Still, it cracks me up.

• • • • •

Thanks, Mike. This is definitely another great installment.

Readers? Fire away!

 
  
 
Comments (37)

    Probably the best halftime show I ever saw was a husband and wife quick change duo. This was before America’s Got Talent, but they could have definitely made an entry. What impressed everyone was since it was done on a basketball court, they crowd was pretty close and there was no backstage, so it legit blew everyone’s mind with some of the magic skill.

    At the Coliseum? If so I saw that act. They were very good.

    One of the stranger halftimes were at indoor soccer games. They’d bring out two kids teams who normally played outdoors. So seeing twenty kids all chasing the ball instead of five on five made me think of a bunch of ants chasing a moving sugar cube.

    Another strange halftime was Super Bowl IV. They reenacted the Battle of New Orleans while a marching band had to watch their step around the fallen soldiers. Someone recently put the whole game and the halftime on YouTube.

    Super Bowl VII was more laid back. Andy Williams crooning along with the Michigan marching band.
    link
    Older Me appreciates this.

    The most famous of the quick-change acts was David & Dania. They got their start in 1996 and were basically active until the pandemic. I’d slot them with Red Panda as one of the most distinctive and notable halftime acts to make a name out of doing basically that and only that for their livelihood.

    Sadly, the act ended when David passed from COVID in 2020. link

    The Spirit games I go to tend to have pretty short halftime shows, so they might be kind of a thing in American soccer, but not really otherwise. The teams’ substitutes usually spend part of halftime warming up.

    My favorite ones are from UVa sports (Red Panda, baby races, dog races at men’s basketball come to mind) and Mites on Ice at Caps games.

    Jamie, my favorite in-game are the Mites On Ice – when they had these at the Spectrum in Philadelphia, the fans really got into it, especially when a really small kid (U-4?) had the puck near goal and was being encouraged to shoot.

    My second favorite is the guy dressed as a cop who danced with four mannequins joined at the knee, wrist, and shoulder dressed as the rest of the Village People.

    As for Super Bowl shows? All they are doing is acting as 30-minute infomercials for a cola or a tech product. I’m actually surprised that there weren’t corporate logos all over the place for Shakira’s show (which was, actually, pretty good).

    Believe it or not, I saw Shakira perform live…in Miami…at the Dolphins stadium…in 2006. For the Orange Bowl halftime show. She’s starting to become the house band for that place; she lives in Miami, and has apparently performed there at least 2 other times for halftime shows beyond the time I saw her and last night.

    The best halftime show of all time for me will always be The Who for Super Bowl XLIV. They have the advantage of having the best music catalogue of any act that’s ever performed for the Super Bowl. Argue with a wall if you must.

    Definitely not the best but it’s funny to me that I get to say I saw “Up with People’ at halftime in the 1970s. I can’t remember if it was a Minnesota Vikings game or Minnesota Kicks soccer game.

    Are halftime shows common in soccer, especially international soccer?

    No, they are not common. Instead, they usually have such shows in the pre-game, between the time the players finish their warmup and return for the pre-match walk-outs.

    Yep! Yesterday’s Euro final featured a pregame performance by OneDirection and other artists.

    That was the first time they’d ever done a halftime show for COPA.

    Correct that pre-match is when that stuff usually happens.

    Honestly, it’s not uncommon at halftime for reserves and keepers to stay on the pitch and stay active/warm through the entirety of halftime, even at high-level international matches.

    Does post-game count? The Pittsburgh Pirates included a series of post-game concerts with admission, sometimes paired with fireworks, in the 2000s/2010s. The acts were what you would imagine in terms of on-the-way-up (Luke Bryan) or on-the-way-down (Blues Traveler). Seeing Huey Lewis and the News in a ballyard seemed appropraite!

    Styx did a great postgame show w fireworks at PNC several years ago that I attended

    I think the only event I’ve been to with a proper halftime show was the 95th Grey Cup in 2007. Lenny Kravitz was great!

    De Sales Invitational Basketball Tournament at Saint Francis De Sales Seminary in St. Francis, Wisconsin. It’s a national gathering of teams compromised of guys studying to be Catholic priests. My first year going, halftime of the championship game featured a game of knockout between current priests old and young. One of them wore his cassock (ankle length black robe) while playing.

    We (UK) don’t do half time shows, or even pre/post-match ones – most football fans would laugh at the idea while queueing for their pints. At most there is some kind of child-based entertainment (at Palace we have a couple kids from each set of fans have a penalty shoot out with our mascot in goal). They had a mini concert before the Champions’ League final which was not well-received by regular fans.

    For cup finals, the only additional pomp and ceremony before a game is the singing of the national anthem and some royal being introduced to the starting line ups

    One of the reasons Palace is on my list of teams I kinda-sorta-kinda support after my primary clubs of Chelsea and Burton Albion is because they do incorporate some American-style entertainment, namely the Crystals. Also, “Glad All Over” is a great tune.

    I’ve mostly only seen Super Bowl halftime shows, and then on TV, plus a very few halftime shows like at last night’s Copa final. Prince and Madonna are pretty much the only two I enjoyed at all, and of the two, Prince was by far my favorite:

    link

    Probably a preseason Eagles game where there was a kids team playing against a team made up of all mascots. Think Philly Phanatic, Swoop (Eagles) the Hawk (St Joe’s). Well all three of the Baltimore Raven mascots (Edgar, Allen and Poe) traveled up I-95 to join in the fun. Usually in these situations you’d expect the mascots to dance around, do silly stuff, and they do. But not one of the Ravens (I forget which). This bird was fully invested, making shoestring tackles, blowing up the offensive line and chasing down the clearly panicked quarterback the entire time. I’m not sure it was sanctioned, but it certainly made for a strange halftime.

    I distinctly remember the Bruce Springsteen Super Bowl halftime show if only because Jon Stewart recalled it on the daily show when he replayed the bit where Bruce did a knee slide toward a stage-level camera and Stewart yelled “Everyone look at the Boss’s doodads!”

    Aside from that, I have two sort of unconventional ones: Muay Thai in Bangkok and in between adult matches they had the kids’ class fight, and it was shockingly brutal and bloody for kids (I recall one match being between a 12yo and 13yo).

    My other is very unconventional in that there is/was a touring lucha libre show called ¡Lucha Vavoom! and they would hold multiple luchador matches (not sure if they were totally choreographed as it was a sort of rough and tumble show by design, but of course it was staged purely for entertainment), and in between matches they had burlesque strip teases with women in very creative outfits (there was definitely a Star Wars one, don’t remember if she was dressed as C-3PO or boba fett).

    On Sept. 5, 1982, I was at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego. Postgame of the Padres/Cubs game that day. The Doobie Brothers played their “Farewell” tour (Farewell because the last original group member, Patrick Simmons left after the last show on 9/11/82 in LA after 12 years as a group).

    Some 42 years later, the group (or what remains of it) still tours.

    Not postgame, but I saw the Doobs twice (both in the early 1990s). One was with Michael McDonald, the other was not. I actually preferred the sans-McDonald incarnation, though his distinctive vocals were definitely missed on a few tracks.

    For me it’s:
    February 7, 2021 Super Bowl LV halftime show
    The Weeknd.
    Smack dab in the middle of covid.

    Michael Jackson holding his crotch for a solid minute prior to starting the halftime show for Super Bowl XXVII was definitely one of the weirdest ones I remember. A lot of people will remember the halftime show for Super Bowl XXXVIII thanks to Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson.

    I was actually part of the halftime show for the only NFL game I’ve ever been to. I was in NFL’s youth flag football program, and we had the opportunity to demonstrate the game on the field at Qualcomm. The Steelers were playing the Chargers, and it was quite exhilarating to be on the field and then to get to see Jerome Bettis out on the field. Definitely my most memorable halftime show.

    My favorite by far (not halftime but intermission)…

    My daughter got to participate in the shoot-the-puck contest at a Blackhawks game this past November.

    The year after high school I was on one of the posts for the bed race state finals during halftime of a Seahawks game at The Kingdome. We had won our city event in the summer, and we sat behind the Hawks’ bench, where I got some good Instamatic shots of Dave Kreig, Steve Largent and Kenny Easley. Then we got our pillows handed to us during the race.

    The year after high school I was on one of the posts for the bed race state finals during halftime of a Seahawks game at The Kingdome. We had won our city event in the summer, and sat behind the Hawks’ bench where I got some good Instamatic shots of Dave Kreig, Steve Largent and Kenny Easley. Then we got our pillows handed to us during the race.

    “We got our pillows handed to us … ”

    Describing a defeat in that way, in that sport, earns you my highest virtual commendation. Well done.

    Good answers, everyone!

    I also enjoy seeing the Jesse White Tumblers perform. They’re a mainstay here in Chicago.

    Yes! The Jesse White Tumblers are amazing. So many basketball games they’d be the halftime entertainment. Local parades, too.

    Another great basketball troupe was The Bud Light Daredevils. Crazy dunk tricks off of trampolines.

    Not halftime – but I was IN the Super Bowl XXXVIII Pre-Game Show. (Uni Watch membership card the works commemorating that). This was the Super Bowl commemorating the Space Shuttle Columbia. I was lead on the country stage – but gave up that role to be on the Moon stage. We had a moon covered with a NASA meatball logo and I pulled off the logo off revealing the moon. And then someone in an Apollo EVA suit came up and planted a flag. Josh Groban sang You Raise Me Up and then the players came out and the National Anthem was sung. We then raced out of there with the stage, met Dad and found out for the only time in his life he was unsuccessful at scalping tickets. Got in the car, drove home, and watched the game on tv. The amazing thing about it was that is was not for the tv audience at all and most viewers never saw it – but they sent us a video on DVD.

    Best pre-‘game’ I attended was Brett Michaels at Dover Speedway.
    Best half-time I saw (TV) was Prince at the SuperbOwl…nothing memorable for games I’ve attended.
    Best post-game I’ve seen live was The Monkees at the Vet after a Temple Owls football game in 1980-something.

    I work with folks who schedule such acts quite a bit. Accordingly, I hear some fun inside stories.

    The most unique one I can think of right now is the guy who plays Simon Says. He picks about 100 people out of the crowd and plays a fast-paced game of Simon Says. He’s lightning quick and very entertaining. Also, yes, it is what he does for his whole living. I was told what it costs to bring him in once and it made me question my life choices.

    Another one out there right now is the guy who balances things on his chin, ranging from bicycles to ladders to wheelbarrows. Fun fact: He does not travel with the various things he buys; he either finds them around the arena or buys them from local stores, then returns them before he goes to the next town. If you watch his act closely, you should not be surprised if you see price tags still on the items.

    Also, for those of you who aren’t gamers that halftime shows have gone digital as well. Recent NBA2K games have featured Red Panda and the Jabbawockeez in polygonal form as part of in-game “halftime shows.” Red Panda even has the team-appropriate mascot come out and toss her plates. Games nowadays are getting spectacularly immersive.

    When MLS was still trying to figure out their identity they had halftime entertainment.

    One of these events still pops up in my head now and again. They had a Simon Says competition and the prize was a track jacket that said that you won the competition.

    All of the participants were kids and the final two had just been singled out. The game master goes into a long speech all the while one of the kids is still doing the activity from the previous round.

    The guy running the game stops mid sentence and puts his hand out like the kid is distracting him and embarrassing themselves and casually says “you can stop doing that now.”

    The kid stops and before the final round even started he announced that the kid just got eliminated because Simon didn’t say to stop what they were doing.

    I still feel awful how that went down, 15+ years later it still boils my blood.

    I don’t know about “best,” but in 2006, a young artist named Taylor Swift did the anthem and the halftime show at a Steeler game. I can’t name any of the songs she did at halftime, but she was good enough that I took notice.

    Philadelphia Flyers games in between 1st & 2nd period: Mites on Ice. They have local youth hockey teams play a short game. Kids look 10 or younger. Crowd would always cheer for the kids goals. Fun stuff.

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