The best moments from Super Bowl 50

None of which involved the game

The Super Bowl is always a highly anticipated and often legendary event. Millions of dollars are gambled each year on players, numbers and outcomes. The game is usually surrounded by all kinds of pomp and circumstance and the ads placed in the small and numerous breaks are an event in themselves.

Super Bowl 50, held in San Francisco between the Denver Broncos and the Carolina Panthers, was rumored to be Bronco QB Peyton Manning’s last game and expected to be a huge end to Cam Newton’s already crazy successful first season. It had its share of highs and lows.

This year my housemates and I decided to hold a Super Bowl party of our own and the commentary that went along with that reflected a lot about the big game. We laid out chips and dip and waited for the magic to happen.

These were our favorite moments.

#1: These Ads

Highly anticipated by all, we expected a few tear jerkers and many side-splittingly funny campaigns from the most respected brands out there.

The first one to really grab our attention was the Bud Light commercial, starring Amy Schumer and Seth Rogen. This commercial was pretty good, poking fun at the 2016 Presidential campaign and slipping in prime lines from Amy, “Just wait ‘till you see our caucus” and Seth: “We got the biggest caucus in the country.”

However, two ads tied for first and really took the cake in hilarity and cuteness. Heinz and Honda killed it with the excellent inclusion of adorable animals—sorry Budweiser, the clydesdales just didn’t cut it this year.

Heinz featured adorable running weiner dogs dressed in–you guessed it! Wiener costumes. These adorable running appetizers were headed for none other than their Heinz condiment of choice and the love fest between that ensued was precious. Nothing is cuter than hot-dog clad wiener dog stampede running into the outstretched arms of human ketchups and mustards.

Heinz may have set the bar high for animal incorporated ads, but Honda stepped up to the challenge with a wonderful sheep ensemble singing Queen’s “Somebody to Love” which brought smiles, laughs and many attempts to hit those high notes (none of us succeeded). This herd of sheep expertly showed the wonder of the new Honda Ridgeline Truck and it’s speaker system in the truck bed—if I had any form of income I might’ve seriously considered purchasing one just to carry those sheep around with me.

These three definitely were our favorites but honor mention goes to both of T-Mobile’s commercials starring Steve Harvey and his wonderful reading skills, as well as Drake singing “Hotline Bling” with some equally swaggy T-Mobile employees.

#2: Gaga

Lady Gaga started off Super Bowl 50 with some serious Adele-level vocals. Gaga proved to everyone in the ultimate test of singing ability—the National Anthem live. She hit every note and didn’t shy from adding some twists of her own.

She was patriotic as ever, decked out in a sparkly red suit matched with blue nails, flag-striped platforms and yes, sparkly red eyeshadow. We literally could not look away because the suit was so mesmerizing.

And let’s not forget the Wolf of Wall Street-esque chest-thump she gave mid-performance. I could almost hear Matthew Mcconaughey chanting in the background.

#3: The Halftime Show

The halftime show this year was primed to be excellent as it included none other than Queen Bey herself, Coldplay and Bruno Mars.

Coldplay started off the show with their classic, “Viva la vida”, and some brightly spinning flowers. Entertaining yes, but nothing can live up to Left Shark who stole the show last year with Katy Perry.

Beyoncé, queen of all things fabulous, killed it in her dance off with Bruno Mars–who actually also killed it (both seriously good dancers, where can I learn?) Unfortunately the show lasted a total of 5 minutes, which is much too short as a break from the stressful game.

All around Super Bowl 50 wasn’t half bad. But while the ads were definitely entertaining, and Gaga and the halftime crew gave us more reason to condemn our non-existent singing abilities, the game itself wasn’t one for the books. Granted I am not an avid football viewer so my opinion and legitimacy is questionable, but Newton’s touchdown dabs and some jaw-dropping full-field sprints were greatly missed.

Nonetheless, brava to the Broncos for their win and for Peyton Manning for expertly slipping in that Budweiser plug mid-interview (definitely up there in Super Bowl 50 best moments).

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