Star Wars Easily Overshadowed NFL On Monday Night Football
ROB MAADDI, AP Pro Football Writer
While the Philadelphia Eagles dominated Eli Manning and the Giants on Monday night, "Star Wars" owned social media.
Nearly 16 million viewers tuned in at halftime when Disney released the final trailer for "Star Wars: The Force Awakens." The highly anticipated movie is set to hit theaters on Dec. 18.
The three-minute trailer sent fans into a hashtag frenzy. The Dark Side vs. the Jedi took center stage as the Giants vs. Eagles took a back seat.
Sure, fantasy football fans kept watching to see if Odell Beckham Jr. or one of their guys would score another touchdown. But more people were wondering about Luke Skywalker (#WhereIsLuke) than DeMarco Murray's stats.
Leave it to Hollywood to overshadow the NFL.
Here are other times the entertainment world made the NFL play second fiddle during a prime-time game:
JANET'S WARDROBE: Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction during her halftime performance with Justin Timberlake at the 2004 Super Bowl left a nipple exposed briefly to the audience. The New England Patriots beat the Carolina Panthers 32-29 on a last-second field goal to cap off a thrilling, back-and-forth fourth quarter in one of the most exciting NFL title games ever played. But all the talk afterward was about Jackson's bare breast.
THE TWERK HEARD 'ROUND THE WORLD: The defending NFC champion San Francisco 49ers led by Colin Kaepernick took on the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday Night Football as reigning NFL MVP Adrian Peterson made his preseason debut. But nobody cared once Miley Cyrus, wearing only her underwear, backed into Robin Thicke and thrust her hips against the married singer during their performance at the MTV Video Music Awards show in Brooklyn's Barclays Center on Aug. 25, 2013.
"I'MMA LET YOU FINISH:" Everything stopped when Kanye West burst on stage and interrupted Taylor Swift at the 2009 MTV VMA's at Radio City Music Hall. It was Week 2 of the NFL season and the Bears played the Packers at Lambeau Field on Sunday Night Football. Aaron Rodgers tossed a 50-yard touchdown pass to Greg Jennings with 1:11 remaining to give Green Bay a 21-15 victory over Chicago. But even sports fans were talking about Kanye's outburst at the water cooler Monday morning.
TONY'S INFIDELITY: Carmela finally let Tony have it in the "Sopranos" Season 4 finale. After learning that Tony was sleeping with another woman, Carmela told her mob boss husband: "I don't love you anymore! I don't want you!" Meanwhile, on Sunday Night Football, Brett Favre got into a shouting match with Minnesota's Chris Hovan but led the Packers to a 26-22 win to keep them atop the NFC standings in Week 14. Will the Packers, Eagles or Buccaneers get home-field advantage in the playoffs? More people wanted to know if America's favorite mafia couple could survive this .
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