Super Bowl hype continues amidst controversy

Patriots quarterback Tom Brady passes the ball in a regular season game. The Patriots will take on the Seattle Seahawks in the Super Bowl on Feb. 1.

Megy Appalaraju

Patriots quarterback Tom Brady passes the ball in a regular season game. The Patriots will take on the Seattle Seahawks in the Super Bowl on Feb. 1.

The 49th annual Super Bowl will be played this Sunday between the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.

For the first time in a decade, an NFL team will play in consecutive Super Bowl games, with the Seahawks having defeated the Denver Broncos 43-8 in Super Bowl XLVIII. This will be the eighth Super Bowl appearance for the Patriots and second for the Seahawks.

Senior Rohith Kuditipudi will be attending his first live Super Bowl game this Sunday.

“I’m most excited about seeing my two heroes, Tom Brady and Katy Perry, in action,” he said.  “I’m [also] looking forward to a fourth championship for the Patriots, who I’ve liked from the time they beat the Eagles in the 2004 Super Bowl.”

Significant controversy surrounds the Patriots participation in the game due to allegations that they used under-inflated footballs in the first-half of the Jan. 18 AFC Championship game against the Indianapolis Colts, which the Patriots won 45-7. Eleven of the 12 balls the Patriots supplied for the game were under-inflated by about two pounds per square inch each, which may have given them a competitive edge in passing and grip. Though the NFL is currently investigating the incident, it does not appear that they will have made a decision on the issue prior to this Sunday’s game.

The Pepsi Super Bowl Halftime Show, historically the most watched musical event of the year, will be headlined  by Katy Perry, along with rock & roll icon Lenny Kravitz. In addition, the pregame show will feature John Legend performing “America the Beautiful” and Idina Menzel singing the national anthem. Over 95 percent of ad slots, selling between $4.4-4.5 million per 30-second spot, have sold out to 15 advertisers as of Jan. 7.

Kickoff for the game is scheduled for 3:30p.m. The game will be aired nationwide on NBC.

This piece was originally published in the pages of the Winged Post on January 28, 2015.