Eight days ago, during a brief respite in the middle of the Seattle Seahawks complete and utter domination of the Denver Broncos, Bruno Mars and the Red Hot Chili Peppers took the stage at Metlife Stadium to provide us with some cheerful halftime entertainment. For the most part, it went off without a hitch; Mars pulled some MJ-esque dance moves, while Anthony Keidis mugged for the camera while singing the Peppers 1991 hit "Give It Away." It all seemed like a great time for everyone involved.

Then, as the days wore on, there were some rumblings in the internet world about the authenticity of the performance. See, the Chili Peppers instruments weren't plugged in! It was all a lie! How could they do such a thing! The answer was simple: that's what every band does every year.

What the Chili Peppers did at the Halftime show last Sunday was hardly anything new. Every band plays to a pre-recorded track during the Super Bowl Halftime show, with only the vocals being truly "live." Springsteen did it. Tom Petty did it. Prince and the Stones and Paul McCartney did it. One would guess the outrage over the RHCP miming was mostly because people didn't now that was how this worked, with a little extra because the Chili Peppers weren't particularly good at pretending to play their instruments (maybe they should get some miming advice from the Heartbreakers).

But all of this controversy about nothing begs a more pertinent question: what the hell do we really need to the Super Bowl Halftime Show anyway? What good does it do to have some band from 20-years go take to the stage and mime some songs that were big 20years ago? At least when Beyonce performed last year, we knew most of it was fake, and we didn't care because it's Beyonce. But having bands go out and do this just feels like a rather pointless exercise.

Who exactly is the Super Bowl Halftime Show for? It certainly isn't football fans, who would likely prefer to see the third quarter just start already instead of sitting through an extra 10 minutes. Presumably, it's for people who don't care about football - it's the league's attempt to create viewing interest for those who don't already have a need or desire to watch the game. And I can understand that, especially since I spent weeks before the Super Bowl trying to talk my non-football loving friend into tuning because she loves the Chili Peppers. If you're wondering, it was the only part of the game she enjoyed.

But really, all the concern over the RHCP miming their instruments shouldn't cause a backlash against them, as they were just following orders; it should just make us question this entire decadent, pointless process. The Super Bowl is the biggest football game of the year. Instead of hopelessly decorating it in ungodly amounts of frosting and glitter year after year, which serves only to distract from the game it self, why don't we just enjoy the game for what it is and cut back on the trimmings a little bit? And if the non-football loving watchers don't like it, they'll still have the commercials.