An Unforgettable Moment In History
So during the recording of this week’s DRAW PLAY PODCAST Sam and I came to the realization that the infamous Wardrobe Malfunction from the Patriots/Panthers Superbowl might be the “where were you when JFK was shot” for football fans. It is a pivotal moment in our history.
I still remember everything really clearly. More than anything from the game itself. My parents were out of the room, I was watching the show but didn’t really care about what was happening. All of a sudden there it was. A boob. Well, sort of. I remember seeing a silver glint and what looked like a boob. I spent the rest of the night genuinely trying to mentally understand what I had seen. It looked like a boob, but why did it shine with a silver glint? It looked intentional, but they wouldn’t have actually okay’d that, right? It wasn’t until the next day when it became clear that we had indeed seen Janet Jackson’s boob. The rest is history.
I wonder if the wardrobe malfunction was the single most seen boob in one live instant in history. I think it is. There were probably more eyes on that boob at that single moment than any moment ever. It’s weird to think about what an impact that whole thing had on culture.
For those of you young’ns who might have missed this moment: you might have your own in the Buttfumble. That’s probably the other moment in football history that we will never forget. I was sitting in the same room for that one, actually. Sleepy with post-Thanksgiving food. But even as great as the Buttfumble was, the JJB was on a different level.
Share your Janet Jackson Boob moment in the comments, because be honest: you remember.
I muted the tv and ignored it until halftime was over. I was on my laptop talking up the Panthers, I was roommates with Steve Smith’s cousin that year, and he got me on their bandwagon. I saw no boob.
And it happened after JT tells Janet that he’ll get her naked by the end of this song.
I was two when this Janet Jackson thing happened
I was in the kitchen making myself a sandwich because even back then I didn’t watch the half time shows
As a panthers fan, and as disappointing as that game was for me, it was the most exciting game I’ve ever seen. I would love once to get into a “best game” debate and bring up the drama, no score pretty much the whole first half, game getting tied up twice in the last 7 minutes, and the heartbreaking shanked kick, without the response always being “oh, the wardrobe malfunction game? Was she wearing a nipple ring or pastie?”
This guy gets it. While I remember the whole house going bananas over the DVR (new at the time), the game got lost. As heartbreaking as it was for a Panthers fan (by the way, fuck you, Tom Brady, for coercing me into rooting for you this last Super Bowl because FUCK THE FALCONS), it was a phenomenal game. I know Cam is our present and future, and I have nothing bad to say about him, but Jake Delhomme will always be my quarterback.
It’s clearly a ring
I’ll never forget the helmet catch
For a guy did nothing, he had a huge SB. A his first TD of the season and the helmet catch. Best memory of football for me.
Same here. At first I thought Harrison might have picked it off but then there seem to be bit of a struggle and I remember the broadcaster saying that it was caught by Tyree. Then it turns out it was Tyree who somehow came up with the ball, it was a relief. Granted I didn’t realize that Joe Buck called it like a preseason game until later because I was focusing on the play hoping that Harrison didn’t pick it off. Also I didn’t exhale until Eli made a pass to Plaxico to make sure everything isn’t gone to waste and that Strahan won’t end up having the same number of rings as Dan Marino.
Also made Tiki Barber eat shi…ttake…
Yeah well fuck that moment.
That was probably the biggest “where were you?” moment of NFL plays.
My biggest “where were you?” moment of watching sports was Ray Allen’s 3-pointer with about 6 second to go in Game 6 of the 2013 NBA Finals, Heat trailing the series 2-3. My jaw hit the floor and chills shot up my spine. Even the best script in Hollywood can’t compete with a sports moment like that.
I know, Jesus Shuttleworth came through to help bail out the Heat. The sequel to that movie is pretty insane and is even better than the first.
Correction: The third sequel to be exact.
The first sequel was pretty good but the second sequel was like a rehash, just instead of the Bucks it was the Sonics and the ending was somewhat of a downer. The third sequel was longer than I expected since it covers the Celtics and Heat career.
Oh man. I remember this day like it was yesterday. I wasn’t 100% interested in the SB, but watching with the family was fun. Half time came around, Gramma brought me some carrots, and I went off to play Elf Bowling on her computer. We had the halftime show on the crappy bunny ears ANALOG TV. (How did we see without burning our eyes back then?) All the sudden my aunt gasps and laughs, and my uncle is giggling. I finally glance at the TV after having the satisfaction of hitting the reindeer with the bowling ball. I realized I missed something good. My family went on to speculate whether the important bits were covered up, and all I knew was I missed everything.
I’ve been intently watching SBs since then, making sure I don’t miss another one of these opportunities.
That moment in Eyeshield 21, during the game between the Bats and the Nagas – game’s in the 4th quarter, Deimon High are on a raging comeback, marching down the field and spiking the ball to stop the clock.
I got an itch in the back of my head. They’re not, are they…
Hiruma shouts at a dawdling Monta to get into formation as time was wasting – off he trots to his place as Hiruma takes the snap and fakes
a
SPIKE.
I bloody KNEW it. Monta was actually in motion. Hiruma pulled The Clock Play.
Inagaki and Murata only went and put a full-on Marino reference in Eyeshield 21.
The day Ash Ketchum finally wins a championship from a game canon is what I will post on this board one day, basically never…even the Cubs and Sergio Garcia won one.
I’ll go and pack my bags to travel to Japan to murder those writers, what weapon is suitable?
You know that the pokemon cartoon is just an extended marketing campaign for the games aimed at 6-10 year olds right?
Still, no excuse.
In addition to what I should have said back then, 6 year olds would have been too young to play the game as far as I’m concerned.
A plastic spork is suitable
Also, Ash will win the day the Browns find a decent qb again, (like 07 Anderson or 14 Hoyer, but for 2 or more full years of decent-ness)
That’s too good to be true, we know it’ll never happen. Glad I haven’t watched the show anymore since maybe the past decade though I had checked it out once in a while too see if he gets lucky for once. The Browns not ruining a QB for more than 2 years is more likely, but then again it is the Browns…even their name itself can lend some potential for puns.
I thought I was the only person who ever heard of Eyeshield 21
Always be sure to bring up the fact that Teikoku Alexanders blew a 35 point lead.
I didn’t see it until the blurred-out replays that the news shows were airing on a loop the following morning (and later saw the un-blurred incident online), but with a fair reason. I was at the game. My father worked in advertising in Houston at that time, and wound up receiving a pair of tickets at the very top of the south end zone through a variety of connections. I doubt if 20% of the stadium knew what had happened, most of the crowd around me (rich old white people who likely didn’t know or care about any of the performers) was tuning out what looked like a noisy mess of gyrating ants.
Far more memorable to me was the streaker at that game, who walked to midfield dressed as the referee, looking as if he was about to signal the second half kickoff. I believe television cut away from him the moment he ripped off his tear-away uniform, but I recall quite well how he did some sort of Michael Flatley dance for a few seconds before running around for another 15-20. A Patriots special-teamer laid him out as the police closed in. I still find it remarkable that the guy was able to pull it off. No one, not even the actual officials who had just called a half of football together, noticed that this guy wasn’t supposed to be on the field at the SUPER BOWL?
I was there as well. I was in college and they recruited us to sell programs as a “fundraiser”. I barely got to see any of the game but I did get to see most of the halftime show (from about the same spot as you, actually). Of course, you couldn’t see anything but by midway through the third quarter we started hearing rumors that her boob had popped out. It wasn’t until the next day that the magic of the internet showed me what really happened.
And I only vaguely remember the streaker but I guess I had gone back to the tunnel by that point.
I was asleep because I felt like shit. Then I felt worse the next on missing out.
SUPER BOWL TIDDIES
We had just gotten DVR a week before.
It’s never been used as much as it was that day.
This is actually true. According to Tivo anonymous usage statistics the wardrobe malfunction was the most tivo’d moment in history.
Regarding the event, I wasn’t paying attention…
Yep can confirm was only one watching. Didn’t really understand it. Didn’t really care. but I was like Was I the only one who saw that.
Buttfumble memory. I was only one awake, Watched it and just laughed my ass off. and It got even better on the ensuing kickoff.
Token Arena from me: T.T. Tolliver streaking down the sideline vs. ‘Zona last year to give Tampa their first of only two wins in 2016.
oh ffs
I didn’t know it happened. I didn’t see the boob. I, like most football fans was doing something unmemorable. I heard something about the boob hubub later and never really cared about it.
Was watching at a church thing. Most people weren’t particularly paying attention to the halftime show any way or another, but the few of us who were were like “Did that just happen?”
And it turns out, yes, yes it did.
I was in college, in Houston at the time. They’d actually come to Rice to recruit stagehands for the halftime show and I turned them down because I was lazy. Terrible mistake.
I missed both the wardrobe malfunction and the buttfumble. I wasn’t watching the halftime show because none of it interested me and I was at work for the buttfumble. I did record the game though, so I got to watch it several times later on that night.
As a history major, I find it sad you put Janet Jackson’s boob on the same level as historic events such as JFK and 9/11 somehow just because you can remember what you did that night.
1: The humorous juxtaposition of the Boob moment vs the other two is literally the joke
2: I think you are selling that moment short. It is considered one of the biggest pop culture controversies in history and had huge media effects (It inspired the creation of Youtube, for one thing), so even if it’s not 9/11, it’s still pretty goddamn huge.
I was 6.
your art is constantly, quietly improving. good, effective shading here.
i guess i’m saying i like your comic strip
Aww thank you
YouTube exists because of Janet Jackson’s boob: http://www.businessinsider.com/idea-for-youtube-came-from-janet-jackson-nipplegate-2015-10
This is highly specific, but the “where were you when” moment for Browns fans is the Beer Game against the Jaguars in 2001. I was in the stadium, for what it’s worth.
Big super bowl party at my place. We had two TVs, one in the basement (crap carpet, rowdy guys, beer) and one upstairs (quieter, conversation possible, many wives fled here.). When the people moving between floors, we solved the TiVo sync problem with a splitter and by running a cable literally out the basement window and through the bushes into the living room window even though there was snow on the ground.
The conversation upstairs between the wives went something like this.
–wait, did you see that? I think that was Janet Jackson’s boob.
–huh. Do you think the boys saw that?
BA-DOOK
DOOK.
BA-DOOK BA-DOOK!
DOOK. slow motion… BA-DOOK! Freeze frame.
–Yeah. They saw it.
I was delivering pizzas and got home just in time to see Kasay shank the kickoff with too much time left on the clock. I didn’t see the boob until it hit the news.
Jan. 3, 1993 – Oilers vs Bills, a.k.a. “The Choke” / “The Comeback”
That game traumatized me as a 9 year old Oilers fan, & ended up being the beginning of the end of the Houston Oilers.
As for the “Wardrobe Malfunction”, I missed it. I was too busy playing video games during halftime
I was at RIT for that SB and saw the halftime in the basketball arena. They had the game broadcast on projector onto the wall.