By: Seth Householder –

On Feb. 4, the people of America gathered to watch one of our most hallowed traditions of the past half-century, the Super Bowl, which occurred in Minneapolis, Minnesota. For the Super Bowl’s 52nd year, it had quite the match up. Five-time Super Bowl competitors, the New England Patriots, versus first time competitors, the Philadelphia Eagles. The Patriots were the favorites to win, with 52.5 percent of Americans supporting them. Favorites or not, the Eagles won, with a final score of 41-33. It started with a performance of the “Star Spangled Banner” from P!nk, who had caught the flu a couple days earlier.

The performance went off fine, with the singer tweeting, “All of your prayers and well wishes and candles got me through today, thank you so much for all the love and support. We [heart] you. #SuperBowl2018.”

After her performance came the coin toss which went in favor of the Patriots. They went on to play the first quarter, with the Eagles scoring nine points and the Patriots scoring three, which was intermittently sprinkled with the commercials that we’ve come to adore. The game continued into the second quarter, with the Eagles scoring 13 points and the Patriots scoring 9 with a halftime score of 22-12, Eagles.

Next came the Justin Timberlake helmed halftime performance, his first since his infamous 2004 halftime performance. He performed some of his hit songs, such as “SexyBack” and “Can’t Stop the Feeling”, and songs off of his new album, “Man of the Woods.”

People panned his performance for his outfit, with Twitter user Brent Beshore (@brentbeshore) saying, “Great to see JT represent last night. But to set the record straight for the coastal elites, Midwesterners only wear their state-issued camo suits, elk shirts, and bandanas for special occasions — like a barn raising, a victorious squirrel hunt, or performing at the Super Bowl”

His performance also saw one of the most disappointing moments of the night. Leaks a few days earlier promised a hologram of the late musician Prince performing alongside Timberlake for a time during the performance. The leaks were not right, instead, we were gifted with a projection of Prince on what appeared to be a large bedsheet. After Prince appeared in bedsheet form for approximately 30 seconds, the surrounding areas were presumably lit up with purple to make Prince’s famous “love symbol #2.”

The game continued for the second half, with the Eagles scoring 7 points and the Patriots scoring 14, catching up to the Eagles and worrying Eagles’ fans in the process, but in the fourth quarter the Eagles scored a few last minute touchdowns, gaining 12 points while the Patriots only gained 7, regaining the lead and winning the Super Bowl after a long, hard game.

The Super Bowl Most Valuable Player award, given to the player who was considered “most valuable” during the game, was given to Nick Foles, the Philadelphia Eagles quarterback.