Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 31, 1993 TAG: 9301310044
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: D4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Knight-Ridder/Tribune
DATELINE: PASADENA, CALIF. LENGTH: Medium
MUSICAL PUNT TOPS 50-YARD-LINE THRILLER
So bowl us over, Super Bowl XXVII.But never mind football. Today, Michael Jackson's televised halftime extravaganza is the winning play that will snag an expected one billion not-necessarily-football-fans worldwide.
This afternoon the "King of Pop" is scheduled to top the largest halftime show in Super Bowl history. The Buffalo Bills-Dallas Cowboys carnage may well be an anticlimax after Jackson takes the Rose Bowl's 100-yard field with a cast of 3,500 singing, swaying Los Angeles schoolchildren.
However, at 10 minutes in length, Jackson's performance is also one of the shortest halftime shows ever.
And it's a long ball from former halftime Bowl-o-dramas, which started with the duel of the University of Arizona and University of Michigan marching bands in 1966 and progressed onward and upward through "Mardi Gras & Carol Channing" (Super Bowl IV), "Up With People" (X, XIV, XVI, XX) and the Air Force (XIX) over the years.
This year's Jackson Bowl is a quick, explosive musical punt featuring the "Thriller" and "Bad" boy himself atop a 10-ton stage at the 50-yard line, flanked by two 520-square-foot Jumbotron viewing screens and sparked by one ton of imported fireworks.
If all goes according to schedule, more than 250 volunteer policemen and firefighters will scramble to get Jackson and more than 500 singing children, including students from Gardener Elementary, Jackson's alma mater, mounted on the colossal 22-piece set and rolled onto the football field in five minutes flat.
Then, more than 2,000 other members of youth choirs and high school drill teams will converge on Jackson from tunnel entrances, stands and sidelines, as an audience-participation card stunt fills the entire Rose Bowl.