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The sporting world might have seen the last of Kobe Bryant. And to pile on top, it looks like we won't have any Faith Hill at the beginning of "Sunday Night Football" either. How are we supposed to press on?
The singer said she has parted ways with NBC, and it appears to be her decision. Our Dan Hanzus speculates "NBC (will) replace the country icon with a similarly safe, commercially relevant artist whom your mom knows."
Well, my mom loves some pretty cool music. Although, I guess Elvis and Dean Martin won't be walking through that door. Unless they do so in hologram form. That seems a little bit too much.
So barring a Brett Favre-like flip-flop at the last minute by Hill, allow me to offer some choices of who should replace her as the opener for "Sunday Night Football." And no, we won't suggest hologram Tupac because again, holograms are too much.
*Before we begin, these are the kind of stories you can expect during the offseason, you can't have my job, and yes, I get paid for this. Deal. *
And without further ado ...
This list easily could have been filled up with hair-metal bands that I prefer, so I'll just limit this to one entry. You know, out of fairness. But seeing that Ozzy, Metallica and Motley Crue, et al are staples of NFL stadiums across the country, this shouldn't be too much of a stretch. And Van Halen openly campaigned for the Super Bowl halftime show, so why not give them a chance?
You'd be hard pressed to find a cooler guy on the planet than Dave Grohl. All right, maybe Justin Timberlake deserves a mention in that category, too. In fact, either the Foo Fighters or JT should be considered for this great honor. Besides, who said the 'SNF' performer needed to be a female?
Fine, we'll go with one of the ladies. Let's start with the newly single Perry, who recently was honored for the Kid's Choice Award, as she beat out Taylor Swift, Adele and Pink. And you kids might not be old to enough to remember this, but Pink originally performed the 'SNF' theme before giving way to Hill after one season.
Beyoncé captivated the audience at Super Bowl XLVII, and she might or might not have caused a power outage that allowed the San Francisco 49ers to rally and nearly win the game. So she has to get serious consideration. (And really, she's going to be the one, right?). Bonus points for Beyonce if she once again can work this into a Destiny's Child reunion.
Instead of one great performer for an entire year, maybe you can cater the singer/band for the host of the game? Metallica for Raiders games. Nelly for St. Louis games. Justin Bieber for ... well, we don't need Justin Bieber for anything. But can you imagine the song Matt Stone and Trey Parker could come up with for a Broncos 'SNF' game?
I've long advocated Weird Al as a possible Super Bowl halftime entertainment. Could you imagine the sheer gold of having Weird Al perform a new parody song to begin the broadcast each and every week? If there is one thing that possibly could make us forget Faith Hill, it certainly would be Weird Al. Let's work to make this happen.
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Adam Rank has never won an award. For anything. We don't mean to be harsh, but it's true. You can follow him on Twitter @adamrank. Oh, and if you liked this (right!), check him out on the latest "Dave Dameshek Football Program." Which, come to think of it won an award. So Rank has won something meaningful. Yes, meaningful, unlike this latest post. Am I right? But follow him on Twitter, please. He's taking us to lunch if he gets 25 more Twitter followers today.
