The Best Super Bowl Halftime Marching Band Outfits

With Super Bowl 50 coming up this weekend in my native city of San Francisco, I wanted to take a look back at the most hilariously excellent halftime marching band costumes of all time. Over the years some pretty crazy stuff has happened at the Super Bowl. Katy Perry rode a giant metal lion and made Left Shark famous, Beyonce essentially made an entire stadium blackout, and Janet Jackson's right boob made headlines everywhere. Everyone looks forward to the halftime shows, but nobody remembers how different they used to be — with the exception of the five Super Bowl friends.

It may come as a surprise, but there is much more fashion to NFL football than meets the eye. Carolina Panthers famous QB Cam Newton just wore a pair of zebra Versace pants that started a movement. Nike already has a collection out in preparation for the Super Bowl. Just look at the revenue stream for Super Bowl ads!

One of the best times in my football fan's life was growing up watching college football. Every January 1 was Rose Bowl Day in our family. We tailgated at every Cal game, and ritualized our game-time snacks. Halftime was always the most fun part of every game because the Cal marching band was phenomenal. As the two bands duked it out, it was like a war within a war.

In that same vein, the marching band outfits were always cool to me. I loved the capes, the colors, the shiny brass and gold, and the cool hats. Maybe this is just because I chose the one university that hadn't had a football team in fifty years, but I thought that the bravado marching bands and their military-inspired uniforms were awesome. Let's take a look back at some crazy looking Super Bowl bands!

1. Super Bowl XLIX

A band performs outside the Super Bowl XLIX arena.

2. The Trojans At Super Bowl XXI

You can't help but look insane with this Trojan helmut on your head. Sorry, Erik (my brother went there).

3. Rutgers University At Super Bowl XLVIII

Rutgers and Syracuse University perform together at Super Bowl XLVIII. Talk about color clashing!

4. Syracuse University At Super Bowl XLVIII

The Syracuse University band members all wear peplums?

5. Texas Christian University At Super Bowl XLV

TCU dorks it up in shoulder pads and very big hats.

6. Southern University Marching Band At Super Bowl XLVII

Superman? Is that you?

7. ASU Sun Devils At Super Bowl XLIX

ASU looks familiar, right? Check number two on this list out again. See some similarities?

8. Florida A&M University At Super Bowl XLIV

These colorful Floridians definitely thought it was Christmas.

9. The Very First Super Bowl

The very first Super Bowl in 1967 had these skinny kids performing. The Packers beat KC 35-10. It's safe to say that the game and the uniforms are a little bit different now.

These nine marching bands are just a taste of Super Bowl band fashion, but I'm pretty sure whatever Beyonce wears this year is going to be very different.

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