Glitz and glitches as well as gridiron grit marked Super Bowl at Cowboys Stadium.
Even before Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger had thrown two first-half interceptions, the miscues were mounting up.
Christina Aguilera, attempting a bravura performance of the "Star Spangled Banner" unfortunately muffed a line of the national anthem prior to kick-off, apparently losing her place and replacing the line "O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming" with a variation on an earlier line.
While the singer's goof on the Super stage may have raised eyebrows, a problem with temporary seats at the billion-dollar Cowboys Stadium provoked real anger as hundreds of ticket holders were left without their expected places in the stands.
The NFL said 850 ticketed fans for its championship game between the Steelers and Green Bay Packers were put in "similar or better seats."
For about 400 others, the NFL first offered to let the fans watch the game in the stadium's standing-room plazas.
Shortly after kickoff, NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said they had been accommodated in the field-level club behind the Steelers bench, where they could watch the game on monitors.
The fans were also promised a refund equal to triple the face value of their 800-dollar tickets.
"The safety of fans attending the Super Bowl was paramount in making the decision and the NFL, Dallas Cowboys and City of Arlington officials are in agreement with the resolution," the NFL said in a statement.
"We regret the situation and inconvenience that it may have caused. We will conduct a full review of this matter."
The confusion followed a week in which back-to-back winter storms had disrupted some of the usual Super Bowl festivities, and ice tumbling from the roof of the stadium on Friday injured half a dozen people.
By Sunday, however, the thaw was on and the celebrities were out in force. Those on hand to see Green Bay's 31-25 triumph over Pittsburgh included stars from other sports such as baseball's Alex Rodriguez and NASCAR stock car driver Kevin Harvick.
Actors in attendance included Hugh Jackman, John Travolta, Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston, while before the game the giant scoreboard showed a glimpse of former US President George W. Bush and his wife, Laura Bush.
The Black Eyed Peas delivered a futuristic halftime show. The quartet of will.i.am, Taboo, Fergie and apl.de.ap made a splashy entrance from high in the stadium.
They opened a medley of their songs with "I Gotta Feeling", their stage costumes glowing in the darkened stadium as hundreds of dancers -- clad in glowing green -- moved below them.
The show -- which also included brief appearances by Usher and former Guns 'N Roses guitarist Slash -- had its own technical difficulties, including a malfunctioning microphone.
© Copyright AFP Agence France-Presse GmbH - All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or distributed. All reproduction or redistribution is expressly forbidden without the prior written agreement of AFP.
BUSINESS ONLINE CATALOG
