I'm Brian Lehrer. This is my daily politics podcast from WNYC Studios. It's Monday, February 14th.

Everything about Super Bowl Sunday, mostly not the game. The game was close, pretty entertaining for actual football fans,

but it was the cultural and political wrappings around Super Bowl 56 that were more arguably,

or that were arguably, the bigger story this year. The halftime show definitely included

the protests inside the stadium on that stage, those sponsored by the establishment

that they would be protesting, and protests outside the stadium. You know, the Department of Homeland

Security warned of anti-vax mandate truckers like those in Canada coming to snarl Super Bowl traffic.

And oh, by the way, where did you watch the game, this second pandemic Super Bowl?

And with what, if any, remaining precautions for yourself, we will talk about all these things,

and we are so happy to have with us for this, definitely all stars in this realm, David Dennis Jr.,

who is a senior writer at the Undefeated, an ESPN site at the intersection of sports, race, and culture.

He's also author of the forthcoming book, The Movement Made Us, a father, a son, and the legacy of a freedom ride.

You may know the father, David Dennis, Sr., who was an original freedom rider in 1961,

and an organizer of Mississippi Freedom Summer in 1964.

And Joel Anderson, who was a staff writer at Slate,

and the host of seasons three and six of slow burn, the LA riots.

That's the podcast series about how decades of police brutality, a broken justice system, and a videotape set off six days of unrest in Los Angeles.

Last night's Super Bowl, besides featuring the hip-hop icons half-time show with Dr. Dre,

Snoop Dog, M&M, a surprise appearance by 50 Cent. Kendrick Lamar, the youngster at age 34, plus Mary

J. Blige. It was there in Los Angeles at the big new SoFi Stadium, so relative to Joel's podcast.

So David and Joel, so great to have you with us.

Welcome to WNYC.

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