NN NFL Tournament of Badness Opening Round: EA's Exclusive License, Super Bowl Halftime Shows

I think that "Players Celebrating When Down Big" could be a dark horse candidate to go all the way. Right now, it's absolutely thrashing "Being A 'Poor Man's' Something", and by the time this post goes up, I imagine it will have won. Although, according to the bracket, that would put it up against "Blackouts", which did well for itself, too. Anyway, today we've got what ... should be a pretty good matchup, considering I have no idea which one is going to win. "Super Bowl Halftime Shows" are taking on "EA's Exclusive License With The NFL" ... should be a good one, yeah? Maybe. Or it could be a blowout.

We'll get to the voting in a moment, but first: remember, we are voting on what we believe to be the absolute worst thing of the two. If you're voting in a worst food contest, and you like pizza more than hamburgers, you would then vote for hamburgers in that matchup. Get it? Got it? Good.

(7) Super Bowl Halftime Shows

First off, I don't have a problem with halftime entertainment or pregame entertainment. Let's get that out of the way right now. What I do have a problem with is the fact that NFL needs to make it longer for the Super Bowl for some reason and make a huge spectacle out of it. It's pointless, what does it show at all? I don't even know. But the thing that really makes it worse ... the thing that makes it unbearable is the fact that the shows they do aren't even close to being anything approaching decent. There's been a few good ones here or there, but the NFL is so scared of anything remotely edgy that they have to sign these old washed-up rock stars and pay them to do something that isn't entirely unlike performing on stage. Or, they give you the abomination we had last year. That was just horrific. Awful. One of the worst ever. I've got a soft spot for Prince, but beyond that, just ... ugh. Ugh.

(10) NFL's Exclusive License With EA

Every time somebody brings up the Madden NFL series, somebody else will bring up NFL 2K5. That's the last game to use current (at the time) licensed players in the NFL that wasn't made by EA Sports. The NFL and EA inked an exclusivity contract that extends for like 4000 years or something like that. Now, let me make one thing really clear: NFL 2K5 was pretty darn good. Very good, in fact ... but over the years, it has gotten better and better as more people talk it up. Its legend has increased to near-mythical status and I warn you: don't get caught up in it too. The game is most definitely overrated, but there's no denying that it beat the pants off of the current Madden game at the time, and there's absolutely no denying that it would be better if both games could release, so we could pick the one we want. The Madden series has gotten stale and lazy, while the rest of EA's sports games continue to reach new heights and consistently set new standards. Why? No competition. It sucks. Bad.

After the jump, past results and a link to the full, updated bracket.

Day 1: "America's Team" def. "New York FOOTBALL Giants" - 428-40
Day 2: Rookie Holdouts def. Week 16, 17 Byes - 266-65
Day 3: Seahawks Alternates def. Buccaneers Loser Uniforms - 328-118
Day 4: New Referee Rule Limiting No Huddle def. Icing The Kicker - 180-116
Day 5: Twitter Beefs def Madden Curse - 125-108
Day 6: Prevent Defense def. Wildcat Formation - 296-65
Day 7: Chris Berman's Mannerisms def. The Many Faces of Philip Rivers - 188-185
Day 8: Player 'X' Is A Football Player def. Player 'X' Is A Future Hall Of Famer - 194-96
Day 9: Brett Favre's Media Whoring def. New AFC and NFC Championship Trophies - 293-39
Day 10: Fans That Take It Too Far def Franchise Tag - 231-42
Day 11: Daniel Snyder def. Rex Ryan's Foot Fetish - 126-76
Day 12: Garth DeFelice def. Donovan McNabb And Overtime Rules - 207-48
Day 13: TV Blackouts def Player 'X' Always Being Wide Open - 253-43
Day 14: Players Celebrating When Down Big versus Being A "Poor Man's" Something -

NN NFL Tournament of Badness Bracket and Results