Awful, out of place, and totally distasteful would be a goodplace to start in explaining Sunday night’s Super Bowlhalftime show, which featured Janet Jackson baring her breast.

Whether or not they intended to attract this much attention, theproducers of the Super Bowl halftime show achieved and exceeded theshock value that they were aiming for. Unfortunately for CBS andsister channel MTV (which produced the performance), thesplit-second exposure of Jackson’s breast didn’t goover too well with most of its viewers.

With what has essentially become an American holiday, millionsnationwide tuned in to watch the Super Bowl spectacle, and tocelebrate a great American pastime. Little did they know that theirexperience was soon to be tainted by a classless, misguided andatrocious act courtesy of Jackson and Justin Timberlake.

Although both performers released statements saying that theflash of skin was unintentional, it is hard to buy into thatconsidering that a Jan. 28 story on MTV’s Web site promised”shocking moments” during Jackson’s performance.It seems that MTV, which is owned by Viacom, CBS’ parentcompany, knew exactly what was going to happen.

The indecent exposure seems to have been premeditated since itfit in perfectly with Timberlake’s lyrics. At the end of asong titled “Rock Your Body” Jackson seemed to allowTimberlake to rip away at what was covering her breast, at theprecise moment when they sang: “Gonna have you naked by theend of this song.” The rest, as they say, is history.

With her career noticeably fading, the 37-year-old Jackson hadto take desperate measures to get noticed. What better stage thanthe Super Bowl. Sorry to say this, but I guess it worked.

In the past, the Super Bowl was a game that rarely lived up tothe hype. Now it can safely be argued that the buildup has goneover the top.

This year in Houston, the New England Patriots, in arguably thebest Super Bowl in history, defeated the Carolina Panthers 32-29with a field goal in the last seconds.

Unfortunately, Aerosmith’s performance before kick-off,Janet Jackson’s stunt and a streaker almost overshadowed agreat game.

It seems that the days when parents could comfortably enjoy aprogram with their children without having to cringe is no more.CBS seems to have cared less about community standards of decencyor about protecting the innocence of young children when theyallowed for MTV to produce the halftime show. What else should theyhave expected?