• by Erik Sass , Staff Writer @eriksass1, February 8, 2016

Yes, yes, the Denver Broncos won and it was a great sendoff for Peyton Manning as he prepares for retirement (even though their victory was just as much about the Broncos defense) and Cam Newton gave one of the most awkward post-game press conferences not involving physical assault in NFL history. But let’s face facts: as football games go, Super Bowl 50 just wasn’t particularly exciting and was actually kind of boring.

There, I said it. Anyone who wants to argue with me is free to do so in the comments, but there are only so many times you can watch a quarterback get sacked before you decide the snacks are more interesting than the snaps. Pass the artichoke dip, and a gin and tonic while you’re at it.

Of course, with over 100 billion viewers tuned in, inevitably people are going to find something interesting to talk about on online, which in this case did not include gameplay. By general agreement, or as close as social media can come to such a thing, these were the top three Super Bowl moments that had nothing to do with football.

As expected, the halftime show stole the, uh, show, due mostly to the presence of Beyonce, who garnered 1.3 million tweets during the show according to Twitter. That compared to “just” 774,000 tweets for Coldplay and 341,000 tweets for Bruno Mars. Because any moment of spontaneous, unscripted action is sure to stand out in such a carefully orchestrated spectacle, the “winning” moment was when Beyonce almost fell – but didn’t. Thrilling stuff.

The next biggest social media moment, according to my arbitrary judgment, was Eli Manning’s manifest lack of enthusiasm for his brother’s crowning victory, tying his own Super Bowl record, as captured by TV cameras going for the family reaction in the final minutes of the game. Practically begging to become a meme, pictures of the younger Manning’s stunned, slightly disappointed expression will be familiar to anyone who has had an older brother who steals the spotlight – a slice of hilarious, universal family dynamics amidst the sporting drama.

The third best social media theme, at least as far as middle-aged straight women and gay men were concerned, was the “#hotref,” soon identified as Clete Blakeman. Blakeman, a 51-year-old lawyer from Phoenix in his regular life, was flaunting guns that put many a 25-year-old to shame as he threw flags or whatever. Sure, millennial viewers weren’t much enthused, but social media users Of A Certain Age seemed unanimous in their appreciation – which has to be a welcome change from the usual scathing social media treatment bestowed on refs. In fact he was even honored with his own spoof account, @hotreferee.