Super Bowl Kickoff Time 2012: When Will Endless Pregame Coverage Finally End?

The helmet catch, an interview with Madonna, a heartwarming story about an ex-player with a rare disease…when does the game freakin’ start!?

Coverage for Super Bowl XLVI began at 1:00 p.m. EST, and is rolling all the way until 6:30…ish.

When will we finally see the kickoff?

According to ESPN.com, it will be at 6:29, NBC (who is broadcasting the game) says 6:25.

So I’ll go with the source that is actually broadcasting the game.

The insanity that has become the Super Bowl pregame show features a little bit of everything. Trying to keep the casual fan that doesn’t know a lick about football interested, while not offending the hardcore fanbase that is seemingly most of America is a fine line to walk.

That’s why you get to watch an interview with Madonna in one segment, only to hear the update on Rob Gronkowski’s injury the next minute. The transitions were pretty weird but there’s nothing you can really do about it I suppose. They even had a ridiculous red-carpet segment of sorts that made Carson Daly and Cee Lo Green look pretty darn awkward.

That was the low moment of the never-ending pregame show.

The one part of the pregame show that piped my interest was the commentary from Aaron Rodgers. He told viewers about how the New York Giants will sometimes have phantom injuries to slow down high-powered offenses like the Green Bay Packers…or the New England Patriots. He said to keep an eye on that tonight and it’s an underlying factor that was worth noting.

Other than that, the Eli Manning interview with Dan Patrick was pretty interesting, but that’s about it.

The pregame show is only getting longer through the years, yet it’s only worth tuning in about 30 minutes beforehand.

But like America in general, we loooooove excess and everything around the Super Bowl is the perfect example.

Wake me up at 6:25.