Is the Super Bowl halftime show being overblown?

This topic first surfaced way back in week 17's Sunday Night Football game on NBC and became far more evident a week later when NBC covered the Wild Card playoff round. The suits at NBC had decided that, instead of promoting the fact that they would be broadcasting the Super Bowl this season, instead gave us a series of commercials about Bruce Springsteen's halftime performance. Now, I'll admit that Springsteen is a little before my time, but I've been surprised by how sportswriters and football people are swooning over "The Boss." I know he's a big rock star and all, but the NFL has had big names perform at halftime before, so what's so special about this one?

I suppose the biggest question that's bugging me is: will Springsteen bring more viewers to the game than it normally would have? I mean, I heard recently that of the top 17 rated television programs of all time, 17 were Super Bowls, so what difference does it make what the halftime show is? If you're not going to watch the game for the game's sake (or for the commercials as many non-football fans do), then are you really going to tune in for a three-song halftime performance? I guess because I'm a football fan and would be watching the game no matter who performed (I usually don't even bother watching halftime shows anyway; I even missed the "Wardrobe Malfunction" because of this, but that's what youtube is for), I don't see how this act could change someone's viewing mind.

And what if the game's a blowout in the first half? Are people that lose interest in the game going to tune back in for the halftime show? The way everyone's been gushing about Springsteen, this wouldn't surprise me, and this is hard to understand. Most halftime shows are only mediocre: the sound's usually bad, they rush a bunch of idiot fans down to the field to act like they're having a great time, and it's over in 12 minutes or less. That's three songs (or two if Springsteen stops in the middle for one of his long personal stories that he evidently is famous for at concerts). And anyone trying to tell me that this isn't a sell out by The Boss is kidding themselves. He's apparently got a new CD out/coming out, and you know at least one of the three songs he plays will be from that. Is this really so appealing that non-watchers will tune in???

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