My Happily Missed MJ Opportunity

Since the hoopla about the death of the self-proclaimed "King of Pop" refuses to die down, I will add my own personal story of how I did not see Michael Jackson at the Super Bowl in 1993.

The Super Bowl in 1993 was held in the Rose Bowl, and a group of friends and I from Buffalo ventured out to Pasadena for the third attempt by our Bills to win a Super Bowl. We had tickets in several different places, so I was sitting with my friend Greg among a bunch of complete fucking morons....ooop, I mean Cowboys fans.

When you go to the Super Bowl, they put a seat cushion on each seat. The cushion has a pouch with a bunch of goodies in it, at least it did the year I was there. There was a radio to listen to the game, a pack of trading cards, and a few other things. Also included was a colored card, which we were expected to hold up so we could participate in MJ's "Molesting the Children of the World" half-time show. I quickly ripped that up and threw it away, having no interest whatsoever in being a part of that kind of bullshit.

When the half-time whistle blew, it seemed to Greg and I that we had 2 choices: stay in our seats and watch the show, or go out and take a leak and get a beer and a hot dog (only $9...in 1993 the super bowl was already charging 2005 prices!). That didn't seem like a very difficult decision, so off we headed, able to beat the crowds who wanted to stay and hear "Beat It".

Here's the funny thing, and it shows you how the NFL really only cares about the TV audience. The Rose Bowl is an open stadium, with the concession areas on uncovered walkways outside the main bowl of the stadium. Which means that while getting out beers, we should have been able to hear the music from inside. But we couldn't. I expect this is because it wasn't played at concert volume (and was probably lip-synched), but at a low level. After all, it was all just a show for TV, and those of us who'd dropped a couple hundred bucks to watch the game were merely there to be props.

So, I never saw Micheal Jackson perform. And I can live with that. I just wish I also hadn't seen the Bills lose to sports second most evil franchise by 500-2, or whatever the gruesome score was.