Recap of deaf people in Super Bowl 56

Here is a recap of deaf people and their representation in Super Bowl 56 yesterday.

Let’s start with the CSD Riverside football players. The four were lined up just behind the 50-yard-line to be honorary captains for the coin toss. They were standing with members of a local girls youth tackle football team to represent “inclusion.” Tennis great Billie Jean King was the one who did the coin toss to represent her own fight for gender equality in sports.

Here is a video clip of the CSDR players on the field that was sent in from Roy Lopaty, who worked in the stadium as an usher with a fellow deaf man, Richard Ramborger.

[Video clip] [Credit: Roy Lopaty]

Nice! Thanks Roy for the video. I know for sure that other than the two ushers and the deaf stars, there were at least five deaf people who were in the stadium as fans.

The next deaf star was Sandra Mae Frank, who performed the National Anthem. Her performance was fierce. It was shown on national television for a few seconds in a PIP box that disappeared. I was able to watch Frank’s entire performance on the NBC Sports app, which had a dedicated cameraperson on her.

However there was an annoying field crew member who was seen walking on the field and blocking the camera’s view of Frank. It was a goof from the NBC production team, but it didn’t mar the performance as we saw most of it. Frank’s performance was broadcast on the big screen inside of the stadium, which means that deaf people who were in the stands could enjoy it.

For those who didn’t get to download the NBC Sports app or had issues with it or just simply didn't have the ability to use the app for various reasons, it was frustrating as they didn’t get to see Frank except for a few seconds on national television.

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Now, the halftime show had deaf rappers Warren “Wawa” Snipe and Sean Forbes giving an energetic ASL interpretation / performance to a dedicated camera for the NBC Sports app. The two were set up at the very end of one side of the field near the goalpost on the “LA Rams” side. The two took turns dishing out lyrics from rap stars and showed some dance moves.

I had the app and I was able to watch the entire performance on a separate device, but for those who didn’t have the app or had issues with it, it was a frustrating experience.

Neither Snipe nor Forbes appeared on the main NBC broadcast of the halftime show, which many deaf people on social media felt was a slight.

For deaf people who were in the stadium, the halftime show was not accessible because the ASL interpretations were not shown on the big screens.

The captions for the musicians’ lyrics was also inaccessible, as the captions often stopped, seemingly unable to keep up with the fast-paced rapping. It was frustrating.

Snipe and Forbes both said, “Blame the NAD!” at the end of their performance, which raised some eyebrows. I can confirm that the statement was made in jest, that it was a running inside joke within the “deaf group” at the Super Bowl that if there was anything wrong, the NAD automatically gets the blame.

Who should get the blame? It’s always the TV network — either ABC, NBC, CBS, or FOX. Remember, the deaf performers are there on the field as a result of a partnership between the NFL and the NAD. So, that’s for the product and the talent on the field, in the stadium. But who films it and broadcasts it? The networks. And they usually find a way to mess things up for deaf people during the Super Bowl. I hope we don’t take out our frustrations on the deaf stars who were on the field and gave it their all. They did their best.

You know what is one way to guarantee that we’ll see a deaf person on the screen all the way in the Super Bowl? Get a deaf NFL player to be on one of those teams. Guaranteed we’ll see them. Maybe one of the CSDR players will make it into the NFL?

I believe that we’ll see full-length videos of the ASL performances on deaf social media very soon. In the meanwhile, you can check out the FB, IG, and Twitter pages of the CSD Riverside, Sandra Mae Frank, the NAD, and Snipe & Forbes’ social media for some behind-the-scenes views.

That’s my recap of Super Bowl 56.