12 Super Weird Sports Halftime Performances

Eric Gay/Associated Press

You know how the Ohio State University marching band is awesome? Well, these halftime performances are not always what you’d describe as awesome, but you could call them strange.

What constitutes strange? Well, it could be a lot of things—something unusual or out of the ordinary or just anything that makes you go, “Uh, what?”

It could be hilarious, like the NBA inflatable mascots. It could be unusual, like a halftime wedding. Or, it could just be weird, like a Super Bowl halftime performance that involves both Tony Bennett and Indiana Jones.

Unfortunately, just being horrible doesn’t count here (luckily for the Black Eyed Peas). Let’s get to it.  

True, hockey games don’t have “halftimes,” but they do have intermissions. For our purposes, it’s the same thing.

And hockey games aren’t immune from the weirdness that often accompanies halftime shows. For instance, check out this video of a Russian bear playing hockey for the amusement of fans. Apparently, bears playing hockey is a thing in Russia. Who knew?

Proposals at sporting events are (sadly) not that uncommon. But it’s not every day you go to a soccer game and witness an actual wedding.

Aaron Foley did, and he chronicled his experience at a Detroit City Football Club game on Jalopnik Detroit.

The 2013 minor league game featured DCFC taking on FC Buffalo on a Detroit-area high school field. But more importantly, it featured a halftime wedding. According to Foley, two major DCFC fans wed on the field, and the groom also wore a kilt.

Can you imagine if big-time bowl games still did stuff like this at halftime?

At the 1987 Orange Bowl, Harry Blackstone Jr. performed a magical act that will unfortunately be remembered for its many failures and unexpected mishaps. For instance, around the one-minute, 40-second mark of the video, Blackstone definitely drops a rabbit.

Even if this were the best magic show ever, it’s an odd choice for a stadium audience.

I’m not saying these dogs aren’t cute, or that their doggie tricks aren’t impressive, but a dog show at an NBA game? Here you can see a bunch of furry friends performing at a Magic-Spurs game in 2013.

Then again, the performers are from Olate Dogs, which is an act that uses mostly rescue dogs. So, that’s actually pretty great.

Frank Franklin II/Associated Press

If the Olate dog show was sort of strange, then this is outrageously, off-the-wall, crazy-pants strange.

Check out these GIFs from SB Nation as a Chihuahua steals the show at a Spurs-Mavericks game.

Before you get all up in arms about how awesome Michael Jackson's performance was at Super Bowl XXVII, trust me. I know. 

There was a strange moment at the beginning, though. Jackson made his grand entrance onto the stage and proceeded to stand there for well over a full minute. Literally, he just stood there. It was a little awkward, but then again, people were cheering their faces off, so it was probably good that he let them.

The performance that followed is often remembered as one of the best ever. I mainly wanted to include it in here for your viewing enjoyment. The first couple of minutes are strange, but watch the full thing if you feel like dancing.

I’m no expert on marriage proposals, but I don’t think this is the way to go. This guy arranged it so his girlfriend would participate in a halftime promotion. She ran around blindfolded trying to locate something resembling a giant inflatable tooth, and when she found it, he popped out and proposed in front of thousands of people.

It must’ve taken a lot of guts to do this, and I do feel for the guy for getting rejected. But come on—the whole thing was pretty weird.

Image Source/Christopher Robbins/Associated Press

Sometimes you just have to wonder where the foresight was on some of these things.

For example, in 2011, one halftime show at a Boston Blazers lacrosse game featured female fans giving the mascot lap dances.

You can imagine how that went over. One fan told MyFoxBoston.com, “You see girls walking up to him and start giving him a lap dance. And it's like what's going on. I kind of had to let the shock run through me, it was really weird.”

Indeed.

In 1995, the Super Bowl halftime show was a lot more like a musical than a concert—and it was weird.

To promote a new amusement park ride, Disney produced the show and hired actors to play Indiana, et al. The premise of this play/musical/concert/live-action performance was that the Vince Lombardi Trophy had been stolen, and Indiana Jones was on the hunt to retrieve it. Patti LaBelle and Tony Bennett also sang some stuff.

You don’t need to watch the whole thing—the first minute pretty much covers the weirdness.

I have several questions regarding this intentionally bad roller-derby magic show:

1. Why does the magician’s hair look like Krusty the Clown's?
2. Why is the rabbit actually a small child in a rabbit costume?
3. Why is the crowd loving it?

The 2010 NBA All-Star Game was played at Cowboys Stadium, and the East just narrowly edged the West, 141-139.

The true heroes of this game, however, were the mascots. The mascots were inflatable—they rolled around, they fell down, they attempted dance moves, and one even feigned eating a cheerleader.

This was strange but also hilarious. This needs to happen more often. Oh wait, it has.

In 2011, the Patriots came into the Mile High City and beat the Broncos, but football was secondary that day.

Secondary to what, you ask? The halftime show consisted of a monkey riding a dog. That is all I have to say about that.