Super Bowl halftime complaints, pt. II (actual game complaints coming next year when I might care about who wins)

While we're on the subject of the Super Bowl halftime show, why not allow Detroit to take center stage? This is a complaint I've seen reiterated elsewhere, so I know I'm not alone here, but Detroit has a rich musical history that many other Super Bowl host cities don't (that's right, I'm talking to you, San Diego, Houston, Miami, Jacksonville, etc.). And by the time the NFL awards Detroit another Super Bowl, there may not be anybody left living there.

Wouldn't it have been fun if they'd gotten together a nice tribute to Motown? Stevie Wonder (who was given a pre-game performance in a worthless face-saving gesture), Smokey Robinson, whoever is left of the Temptations, Diana Ross, and, I don't know, the ghost of Marvin Gaye? I know most of The Funk Brothers are still around, and they played on all of those Motown hits anyway. Hell, it doesn't even have to be all Motown. Throw in The White Stripes and Kid Rock. How about MC5, are any of those guys still alive? Alice Cooper, Iggy Pop, Alice Coltrane, Ted Nugent, put 'em all up there, see what happens!

See how much of a ridiculous spectacle this could have been?

But nooooo, we had to go with some old guys who aren't even from America, and therefore probably have no idea what the Super Bowl even is, other than the only American sporting event which makes the front page of BBC News. I'm not trying to be xenophobic here (in fact, you'll find fewer people more liberal than me), but really, we missed a good opportunity here.

And one we won't have again soon either; upcoming Super Bowl hosts include Miami, Glendale, AZ, Tampa, and (yet again) Miami. Jacksonville hosted last year, so for those keeping track the Super Bowl will have been held in Florida four out of six years.

Maybe next year we can celebrate Miami with KC and the Sunshine Band and Vanilla Ice.

Sidebar:

Philadelphia will never host a Super Bowl because it's actually cold here in the winter and we don't have a dome, but if we ever did, I'd like to think that our halftime show would have more of Todd Rundgren and The Roots and less Will Smith and Patti LaBelle, but I'm not going to delude myself. It would probably be U2 anyway.