Rihanna? Yes, Rihanna will be the headline act for “Super Saturday Night,” a red carpet event in Glendale, Arizona hosted by Michael Strahan and Mark Cuban.
How can the NFL continue to make such obvious gaffes? Could they be any more tone deaf on this one? Maybe they’re just relying on the fact that “we live in United States of Amnesia” as Gore Vidal once famously put it.
What social issue dominated discussion during the first month of this NFL season?
Domestic violence.
Outside of her music, what is Rihanna known for? Her relationship with Chris Brown, i.e. domestic violence. I guess the NFL assumes that everyone forget about this; in both cases. And maybe they are correct, as I’ve heard no one talking about this. So maybe everyone has indeed forgot.
Still the NFL got it right in September when they pulled Rihanna from the open to their Thursday Night Football broadcast. Of course, it was a no-brainer when you consider that game featured the Baltimore Ravens, and it was just days after the Ray Rice video was leaked.
For what it’s worth (and for the E! Channel and TMZ cross section of The Sports Bank readership, here is the list of celebrities expected to attend the Rihanna concert:
2 Chainz (Recording Artist), Erin Andrews (Fox Sports Broadcaster), Hannah Davis (Sports Illustrated Model),
Nina Dobrev (The Vampire Diaries), Snoop Dogg (Recording Artist, Super Fan Festival performer), Tony Gonzalez (The NFL Today), Hill Harper (CSI NY), Jerry Jones (Owner, Dallas Cowboys), John Legend (Recording Artist), Andrew Luck (Quarterback, Indianapolis Colts), Kellan Lutz (Experimenter),
Johnny Manziel (Quarterback, Cleveland Browns), Jenny McCarthy (Tooken), Joel McHale (Community),
Maria Menounos (E! News Correspondent), Idina Menzel (Recording Artist), Alyssa Milano (Mistresses), Tony Romo (Quarterback, Dallas Cowboys), Deion Sanders (Pro Football Hall of Famer), Chrissy Teigen (Sports Illustrated Model/Television Host), Donnie Wahlberg (Blue Bloods), YG (Recording Artist)
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and writes The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with Fox Sports Digital, eBay, Google News and CBS Interactive Inc. You can read Banks’ feature stories in the Chicago Tribune RedEye newspaper and listen to him on KOZN 1620 The Zone. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)