Halftime Show

I had little interest in watching the Super Bowl this year, and not because the local team had disappointed me in the National Football Conference Championship game. I am not that big a fan. I was, however, mildly interested in the score, curious about whether the Patriots would crush the Panthers, as so many people expected. What I saw in the halftime show annoyed and disgusted me. It wasn't the standard MTV smut of it. It was this: When I saw the halftime show, I saw a simulated sexual assault, an advertisement for American values in front of 1 billion people worldwide.

In light of the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show, it is no wonder the world derides American culture. . . . I was so proud of the beginning ceremonies commemorating the U.S. armed forces and memorializing the Columbia astronauts . . . but then Hollywood entered . . . at halftime. . . . [Performers] sang supposedly popular songs whose lyrics made no audible sense, while dancers and singers . . . gyrated onstage holding their private parts. . . . The finale was when Justin Timberlake tore off a portion of Janet Jackson's jacket, exposing her right breast, complete with a sequined pasty.

While CBS Sports should be praised for delivering a superb Super Bowl telecast last night that got better as the game wore on, the network instead had to deliver an apology for a crude, breast-baring windup to a glitzy halftime show. It came about when singer Justin Timberlake tore off part of Janet Jackson's top, exposing her right breast (more details, plus a photo in Newsmakers, Page D2). "CBS deeply regrets the incident," spokeswoman Leslie Anne Wade said after the network received several calls about the show.

'AMERICAN IDOL" runner-up Clay Aiken may not have much gangsta in him. He may not have much testosterone in him. But in our coarse, impatient, rude society dominated by diva-esque silliness perpetrated not just by mid-level stars but also-rans and wannabes, Aiken's behavior deserves to be recognized. Now it has. He tops the list of the National League of Junior Cotillions' "Ten Best-Mannered People of 2003. " Who even knew there was a National League of Junior Cotillions?

Violent action. Sudden plot twists. Heroic and humiliating moments. Ah, the thrill of the Super Bowl. Not the game - the commercials! Over the years, Super Bowl Sunday has evolved far beyond the date of a struggle for pigskin supremacy. It's the nation's No. 1 day to party, Hallmark says, and tomorrow's broadcast (6 p.m., Channel 3) will almost certainly lure the year's biggest TV audience. But only compulsive fans and gung-ho gamblers (these are not mutually exclusive groups)

The Downingtown High School cheerleaders were all smiles as they left their Miami hotel for a halftime performance at last night's Orange Bowl. But, according to principal Walt Kottmeyer, it was hard to tell if they were smiles of excitement or relief. "They have kept a hectic schedule," Kottmeyer said yesterday from Miami. "Since they got here, they haven't done much of anything but practice. " The squad was one of 30 cheerleading teams from across the nation scheduled to take the field for a 22-minute halftime show during the national college football championship game between Oklahoma and Florida State at Pro Player Stadium last night.

0n what day in midwinter can you say: "Everybody into the pool"? Super Bowl Sunday, of course. But it's not just a day for bettors. It's the nation's No. 1 day for home parties, according to the folks at Hallmark. In honor of that, have we got a proposition for you. Actually, we've got a dozen of them. They're "proposition bets" you could use at your Super Bowl party. In recent years, such wacky wagers have caught on as a way to add to the evening's fun. The idea originated with the oddball "proposition bets" offered in Las Vegas, where people wager on anything from the last player who scores to the length of the longest field goal.

Thanks to a defense that continues to shut down its opponents, it wouldn't have taken a lot of offense for the Cowboys to earn their second road victory of the season last night. But it took more than the little they got. After the New England Patriots finally penetrated the end zone in the fourth quarter, the Cowboys were unable to mount a comeback and fell, 13-6, at Foxboro Stadium. With the Washington Redskins having lost earlier in the day, a Dallas victory would have put the Cowboys (6-6)

This should get the ol' pot simmering. Eagles starting quarterback Doug Pederson will start Friday's preseason game against the Jets in the Meadowlands. He will play the entire first half, against the angry Jets' first team. It is a Bill Parcells club fuming after a preseason defeat last week at the hands of Ray Rhodes's Packers. Backup quarterback Donovan McNabb will start the second half and finish the game. He will do it against the Jets' poor backups, who allowed the Pack to come back.

Gone are the days when college marching bands played the national anthem and Carol Channing's rock-gurgling voice was the featured halftime entertainment. Now, super acts are a must for Super Bowls. The hype that infuses the game's television commercials, where corporations this year will spend an average of $1.6 million for 30 seconds of talking frogs and a typical day at the World Wrestling Federation offices, has infected the opening and midgame performances. In the past 10 years, top-notch stars such as Whitney Houston, Luther Vandross, Garth Brooks and Jewel have sung the national anthem.