Almost every follower of sport and entertainment is now aware that Barbadian music star Rihanna is expecting a second baby inside just over one year.
And almost everyone is talking about the 34-year-old’s baby bump revealed during her breathtaking, 14-minute half-time performance at Sunday night’s 57th Super Bowl at Arizona’s State Farm Stadium.
The internet is awash with talk about the all-red, head-to-toe, Jonathan Anderson-designed Loewe outfit she wore on the floating stage performance, along with her ‘Savage X Fenty’ Super Bowl 57 fashion line that surrounded USA’s biggest annual sporting event.
Comparatively, very few are talking about how 27-year-old MVP quarterback Patrick Mahomes braved an ankle injury to lead the Kansas City Chiefs to their second Super Bowl victory in four seasons.
There’s hardly any talk about how, and why, the Philadelphia Eagles led most of the way but lost 35-38 to the Chiefs, or indeed the fact that for the first time in NFL (National Football League) history, two black quarterbacks led their teams out at a Super Bowl.
English model and actress Cara Jocelyn Delevingne aptly, and cheekily, summed it up by turning up with a T-shirt written: “Rihanna concert interrupted by a football game – weird but whatever.”
The proceedings and subsequent talk around the Super Bowl showbiz underscore the important place of entertainment in sport.
After all, sport, in itself, is very much entertainment.
Rihanna’s 14-minute, $10 million (Sh1.3 billion) half-time show was certainly worth the average Super Bowl ticket price of, yes, $5,596 (Sh701,000) on Sunday night.
And a good lesson for Kenyan sports organisers on how we can make our local and international events appealing, bearing the ability to trend and attract new audiences.
Doing the same things over and over again while expecting different results is foolhardy and won’t excite numbers through the turnstiles or accelerate television numbers if we overlook the entertainment aspect of events.
I cannot claim to be an expert in the NFL, but I was certainly glad to have stayed up in the wee hours to watch Rihanna belt out abridged versions of 12 of her chart-topping hits, including Better Have My Money, Where Have You Been, Only Girl (In The World), Rude Boy, All of the Lights, Run This Town, Umbrella and Diamonds.
This column resumes after a break occasioned by the sad demise of my loving mother, Madame Lucy Kemunto Obanyi, on January 5, 2023.
I’d like to use this space to most sincerely thank my family, colleagues, friends and all who supported us during this most difficult period, most especially my employers, the Nation Media Group, led by CEO Stephen Gitagama along with Editor-in-Chief Joe Ageyo, Head of Human Resource Jane Muiruri, Executive Editor Pamella Sittoni and Commercial Manager Mercy Kamunya who led the NMG team at the burial.
Special thanks to the National Olympic Committee of Kenya, Athletics Kenya, Safari Rally Limited, Sports Journalists’ Association of Kenya and my good friend Martin Felix of Elite Sounds for the amazing support.
And of course, our local political leadership, including West Mugirango Member of Parliament Steve Mogaka and the Nyamira County Government, represented by Governor Amos Nyaribo and Deputy Governor James Ondicho Gesami.
These are just but a few as the list is long. We truly appreciate you all.
Losing a mother isn’t easy to take, but you made us feel comforted.
May God bless you all.
