It seems that every year there is some kind of controversy surrounding the Super Bowl. This year, is no exception. We’ve highlighted some of the more controversial things that have occurred before, during or after some of the Super Bowls during the last decade or so.
Wardrobe Malfunction
At Super Bowl XXXVIII in 2004, fans were very excited to see Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson during the halftime show. However, they got more than they bargained for when there was a slight wardrobe malfunction that left part of Jackson’s chest exposed for about a second. Although, the “indecent moment” was very brief, the controversy lasted for months as the NFL vowed to make sure that their halftime shows were more clean and suitable for audiences in the future.
The Great Touchdown Debate
During Super Bowl XL in 2006 the Steeler’s quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger, ran the ball into the end zone to score a touchdown. Many Seattle fans claimed that the ball never actually got over the goal line. Officials reviewed the call and stated that the touchdown was in fact good. To this day many fans don’t believe Roethlisberger actually made it to the end zone. Recently one of the referees, Bill Leavy, apologized to the Seahawks because he felt that he had made a mistake when he said the touchdown was legitimate.
Ad Censorship By The NFL
In 2011 the NFL started quite the controversy by forcing Toyota to change one of their ads before the big game. Toyota’s ad featured a mother who was fearful of her son playing football because he might get a concussion from playing. The NFL informed Toyota that if they didn’t change their ad that they would not be allowed to advertise during any football game in the future. Toyota complied and the references in the ad were geared to just sports in general and they did not show a head collision with someone wearing a helmet.
Game Play Change Up
This is by far one of the most bizarre controversies that we could find. Right before Super Bowl XXXVII began, Bill Callahan, the Raiders coach at the time, changed the game plays which many players feel caused the team to lose the Super Bowl. Why this is so controversial is because many players actually felt that Callahan wanted his team to lose. Apparently, Callahan didn’t like his team or players and wasn’t able to hide it very well. Coincidentally enough, the coach of the winning team, the Buccaneers, happened to be the former boss of Callahan.
Some studies have shown that the average football game has about 176 minutes of broadcast time, but only 11 actually minutes of play time. With all the controversies that tend to surround Super Bowls, we wonder how much time is spent talking about the actually game instead of the controversies.
