Halftime Show

The Pittsburgh Steelers' victory over the Seattle Seahawks in the Super Bowl was watched in an average of 45.85 million homes, the second-highest total in television history behind the final episode of "M A S H" in 1983. Pittsburgh's 21-10 victory got a 41.6 preliminary national rating, Nielsen Media Service said yesterday, up slightly from the 41.1 rating last year. The share remained the same at 62. The game was watched by an estimated 141.4 million people in the United States, ABC said, the second-highest total to view a program behind the 144.4 million who tuned to New Eng-land's victory over Carolina in the 2004 Super Bowl.

Walter S. Sample Jr. knew how to put on a show. The band director knew the crowds sitting in the football stands after World War II were hungry for entertainment, and he didn't disappoint them. As soon as the audience heard the opening lines of "The Band Played On," the theme song of the Phoenixville Senior High School's Original Dancing Band, they knew it would be no ordinary halftime show. While these young band members played their instruments, they were dancing - the jitterbug, the skater's waltz, polkas, even the Charleston.

Peggy Moore wasn't going to let the rain keep her from the thunder of the world-famous Florida A&M University Marching 100. With her hood up and rain slicker on, she sat under a canopy at Lincoln Financial Field with hundreds of others yesterday, waiting out the first half of a Temple University vs. Florida A&M football game just to hear the other team's band. It's a rare band that can achieve a higher status than its football team. The Marching 100 is that. "We go from the traditional to the razzle-dazzle," said Julian White, the band's director.

Florida House members want a different type of halftime show when the Super Bowl comes to Jacksonville next year. The House passed a resolution yesterday asking for a musical salute to those who fought in World War II during the halftime show of Super Bowl XXXIX on Feb. 6, 2005. At the Super Bowl in Houston earlier this year, Janet Jackson sparked an uproar when Justin Timberlake tore off part of her costume near the end of the show, exposing her right breast on live TV. Rep. Stan Jordan, R-Jacksonville, said the House should use its "power of persuasion" to convince the NFL to use the Super Bowl for what he called a "fitting" tribute.

THE PRODUCTIVITY of the Philadelphia area plunged last week as well over 800 Daily News readers dropped what they were doing to fill in the empty caption of a Signe Wilkinson cartoon on the notorious Super Bowl halftime show. Readers from Souderton to Sacremento cheerfully took a shot at Janet Jackson, the NFL, TV, pop culture and, of coarse, the Daily News, which ran Jackson's fully exposed WM-double-D (thanks to many readers) on Page 1. Among the excellent also-rans: Several like "The stars at night are big and bright - deep in the heart of Texas!"

In the aftermath of Super Bowl Sunday, some of America's biggest marketers are mulling whether to return to the television advertising event of the year. Such longtime big spenders as Pepsi and Gillette have communicated in harsh words to NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue that if the league does not clean up the halftime acts, they might take a pass next year. The buzz from advertising sponsors has centered mostly on the "wardrobe malfunction" that resulted in a brief baring of Janet Jackson's right breast.

JANET JACKSON, what have you wrought? Days after your infamous Nipplegate scandal during CBS's airing of the Super Bowl, NBC is facing complaints and possible defections from affiliate stations due to another bare breast. On "ER. " Seems this week's episode has a 2-second shot of an 80-year-old female patient's naked bosom. Personally, we think it would be healthy to see an older woman's breast on a medical drama. Older women have breasts and health issues affecting those breasts.

Former heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis is expected to announce his retirement tomorrow, according to a British radio report. According to BBC Radio Five Live, the 38-year-old Lewis plans to call it quits after a 15-year career in which he has spent almost 10 years as champion. A news conference is expected in London tomorrow, the BBC said. Kronk Boxing publicist Carlos Llinas told SportsTicker that Lewis' trainer, Emanuel Steward, declined to comment on the report but revealed that Steward is "dealing with a major story" and "may have more to say in a couple of days.

Janet Jackson's breast blunder continues. With her damage-control machine in full throttle, the "overexposed" singer issued yet another apology - this one videotaped - in which she said that "MTV, CBS and the NFL had no knowledge of this whatsoever, and unfortunately, the whole thing went wrong at the end. " It was essentially the same written statement she issued Monday. Meanwhile, the Chicago Tribune reports that MTV has no plans to release the tape of the rehearsal for Jackson's breast-baring by singer Justin Timberlake during Sunday's Super Bowl halftime show.

AMERICANS of good character should be repulsed, but not surprised, that MTV and CBS, two media outlets today known for sleaze and tastelessness, put on a Super Bowl that featured a live, bare-breast shot of Janet Jackson. Does anyone other than those who are naive believe the networks' protestations that the incident was accident? If they do, they should rethink this, considering the sources of the denials. The incident fit right in with the tawdry nature of this annual football sports orgy and the crude advertising it featured.