Super Bruce Sunday

The game itself will likely be a snooze. The first half is going to end up 10, maybe 14 for Pittsburgh, nothing for the Cardinals. Then it will conclude at something like 20-7, and it won't be a blowout, but it's never going to be close or interesting. I hope I'm wrong.

But let's get to the brass tacks. Even though I'm a huge football fan, today is dominated by the fact that Bruce Springsteen is going to bring a musical Baptism to hundred of millions around the globe.

It's usually very difficult to compress a legend into a 12-minute show. That's why acts like McCartney, Tom Petty, and the Rolling Stones were good but slightly underwhelming, like a slice of cold pizza in the morning.

But then you get stuff like Prince, Britney Spears' outfit, and this masterpiece by U2 in 2002:

U2 - Superbowl Halftime Show
by vastiau

Yeah, Bono is in love with himself, but damn if they're not good.

And today Springsteen gets to show everyone why he's the best in the land.

How they're going to constrain him to 12 minutes is beyond me. I saw this article the other day about Springsteen going rogue. It turns out the article is about him taking the stage and making a political statement, which I completely disagree with.

But when I first saw the headline, I thought it was about Springsteen saying, "Screw it," and just keep on playing. Bill Simmons is absolutely right that Bruce isn't going to go away without telling at least one story, but I think it's going to go beyond that.

He's going to play three songs and then he's going to go, "Ah screw it! One two three four!" and go into Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out. And what's the NFL going to do? Tackle him? Bring in Terry Tate? They've created a monster, and they won't be able to stop it.

My wish? "Kitty's Back," "Sandy," and "Jungleland." But that'd probably take over forty minutes, so let's be realistic here.

So my actual Set List prediction is: "Born to Run," "My Lucky Day," and "Glory Days." And a show that matches or exceeds U2's.