(Image from Yahoo!Sports on Threads, dunno who else to credit hopefully not fucking AI)

Hey you guys – reporting from the other side of the Superbowl, the first one that I actually kept on my TV for its entirety! I truly tried to watch the actual football part out of solidarity for Chooch, who LOVES the Seahawks, but I admittedly lost interest repeatedly and returned to the book I was reading instead.

I have really nothing to say about the actual footballing except that:

• yay, Chooch’s team won!
• that one guy on the other team was #0 – how? I texted Chooch and he said, “because he asked for it nicely.”
• I still only know #11 from the Seahawks but they all seem like nice boys (I hope).
• I thought that someone could run after a bouncing ball, grab it, keep running. This is not so.
• Henry is very patient with me and my questions, even when I say, “never mind, I’m bored” in the middle of his explanations.

But yeah, like other normal, non-racist Americans who understand that this country is not exclusively for Caucasians, I came for Benito Bowl. I wouldn’t go as far as to say I’m a Bad Bunny fan, but I at least knew who he was well before this and have heard his music before and also think he is a pretty entertaining guy. Choosing him for the halftime show was such a strong statement, how could I not support that? I needed to be a part of that ratings tally, lol. Also, the whole “But it won’t be in English?!” argument does not work with me because:

• I started listening to Korean music (+ Jpop!) in the early 00s, again in 2015 and then almost exclusively since 2017
• Before that, I listened to screamo which was actually English but never had any idea what was actually being…scrummed. (Not to mention the lyrics for the screaming part of Dance Gavin Dance’s songs are in English but MAKE NO SENSE.)
• When Chooch was a baby, I used to buy these Putumayo Kids World Music compilation CDs because I wanted him to know non-English music and also this is how I became accidentally obsessed with Haiti.
• Lately, I have been listening to a lot of Romanian and Afrobeat playlists and realized that wow, I barely listen to any American music.

So, all of this is to say – the words don’t matter much to me as long as the music makes me feel something. It’s one thing if you’re annoyed because you’re a lyrics-driven music fan – OK, I get that – but if you’re bitching about the Halftime Show being in Spanish BECAUSE THIS IS ‘MURICA SPEAK ENGLISH then honestly, go touch grass, preferably a patch that a dog just pissed on. Imagine being served a vibrant 13 minute celebration of Puerto Rican culture orbiting an intelligent political statement yet opting to watch….KID ROCK? Lol, OK. These are the same motherfuckers who have no problem slithering their white trash asses on a cruise ship to Puerto Rico. And the same racist shits who openly hate Black people but love football – a sport with many Black athletes. MAKE. IT. MAKE. SENSE.

Bad Bunny’s performance gave so many of us a reason to be happy.  This was a cultural masterpiece, a part of history.

Between this and the eloquent statements put out by several Team USA Olympians, this weekend truly felt like being wrapped up in a warm blanket knit from sane voices, respect for other cultures, and the reminder that the US was always meant to be a melting pot. There are still so many normal people out there, you guys, we’re still out there!!

P.S. Chooch and I were texting about this today and I said that I cried. “Yeah, I knew you would lol,” he replied. Wow.

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