Super Bowl LV

2.8.21

Tom Brady, Super Bowl LV Champion & MVP

Last night, history was made in so many ways, during Super Bowl LV. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers took on the Kansas City Chief’s, in Tampa Bay’s home filed. Patrick Mahomes and the reigning champs, go against the GOAT, Tom Brady, and his brand new team. From the game, to the people on the field, performances throughout the day, it was a night to be remembered.

Leading up to the game, there was tons of noise around the Tom Brady, Patrick Mahomes match up. What many call, the greatest to ever play the game, against the incredibly talented star of the next generation. Does Tom have what it takes to win his seventh ring, and without Bill Belichick? Mahomes did beat this team in the regular season, but can he do it under pressure and win back-to-back Super Bowls? A stunning match up, no doubt about it, but the Buccaneers managed to pull of a 31-9 win over the Chiefs.

Tom Brady takes home his seventh Super Bowl Champion ring, as well as a Super Bowl MVP Award. As he holds up the trophy in front of the world, he tells us “oh we’ll be back, you already know that.” Brady does have one more year on his contract with the Buccs, so we’ll see what happens after next season. However, after speculation of other great Quarterbacks retiring after this season, Brady does not feel like he is done just yet. Tom Brady makes history, after people questioned whether or not he could win a Super Bowl with a different franchise, he did just that - and on his first season out.

Brady did have some familiar faces with him. Rob Gronkowski, of course, a top tier quarterback who played with Tom on the Patriots for multiple years. Gronk “retired” for a season, then decided to come back and play with Tom once he moved down south to Tampa. Gronk had himself a game in this Super Bowl, with two touchdowns, including the first touchdown of the game. Antonio Brown had a quick run with the Patriots where he got to work with Brady, and also got himself a Super Bowl touchdown. His new teammates, Leonard Fournette, Mike Evans, and Ronald Jones II all had incredible games, and showed love for their new quarterback.

Buccaneers cornerback, Sean Murphy-Bunting, went live after the game, in the locker room. A clip from the live has gone viral, showing how Tom Brady celebrated. Bunting said “everyone wants to see Tom. Tom’s been doing this.” He pans the camera over to Tom Brady, just casually packing up his bags and getting ready to go be with his family. Clearly, already focused on the next one.

Besides Tom Brady making history with his seventh Super Bowl ring, so much more went down. Sarah Thomas became the first woman to ref a Super Bowl game. Women in sports is finally starting, slowly, but surely, to be recognized in professional sports. We’ve seen a few female base coaches in baseball, Becky Hammon and the Spurs, and Sarah Thomas has been present reffing NFL games all season. Finally, her time has come as the first female to ever have the opportunity to ref the Super Bowl. Sarah said she was bound to get teary-eyed and is just happy to be an inspiration to females who are working towards their dreams.

Of course, there was the fan that decided to run on the field. This clearly struck a nerve in the anxious Patrick Mahomes. Tom Brady just sort of looked the other way in disbelief. While we are in a national pandemic, there were a decent amount of fans in attendance, accompanied by cardboard cut outs to make the stadium looking jam packed for the teams enthusiasm. One thing I found interesting, was that the Weeknd’s Half Time Performance was mainly set up in the stands.

I was bound to bet on the over that The Weeknd would show up in his bandages and all. It was not him to do so, but about fifty of his dancers. While I am not a huge fan of The Weeknd, was not overly excited about his performance, I think it was a great performance overall. The Weeknd wore an elevated version of his Blinding Lights wardrobe: a sparkling red jacket, black pants and some oxfords. It appeared he was performed with a gigantic choir behind him, until he runs away in a tunnel. It then appears the tunnel is a golden, mirrored maze room. We get all kinds of close up visuals, which people are making crazy memes about. Suddenly, a handful of dancers meet Weeknd in this small set, then they eventually made their way down to the field. Now, there are dozens of these bandaged dancers - enough to fill up the entirety of the field. They were all on point with their dancing, and completed in some fireworks. To me, it does not really matter if you are a fan of the artist at all. Music is music, and a performance can make something that is not your cup of tea, enjoyable. I love music more than most things, and I found this performance pretty great. I’ll give it a 7 out of 10.

On top of the Weeknd’s performance, there were quite a few others. Miley Cyrus sang with Billy Idol and Joan Jett during the pregame show. Both fun performances and wild outfit choices from Miley. H.E.R had an amazing performance prior to the game, reciting America The Beautiful. Then, our National Anthem was sang in a duet by Eric Church and Jazmine Sullivan. I am not sure if this is a popular or unpopular opinion just yet, but I thought this was terrible. I do not think that the National Anthem is supposed to be sang in duet, and I definitely do not think it is supposed to be remixed to some kind of twain melody. It is true that county is not my cup of tea to begin with, but just like you are not supposed to wear or change the flag, I do not think you should change the anthem in the extent that they did. Not that they sang it badly, they are great at what they do, but I felt it was a bit off for the National Anthem.

Overall, a fun, eventful night. We even saw Tom Brady get a little chirpy with Tyrann Mathieu from the Chiefs, something we never really saw in New England. Maybe this new squad toughened him up a bit? Makes him feel more free? Anyways, another championship in the book for Tom Brady.