A halftime show is a performance given during halftime, the period between the first and second halves, or the second and third quarters, of a sporting event. Halftime shows are not given for sport

Sport

A Sport is all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical fitness and provide entertainment to participants. Sport may be competitive, where a winner or winners can be identified by objective means, and may require a degree...

s with an irregular or indeterminate number of divisions (such as baseball

Baseball

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

 or boxing

Boxing

Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...

), or for sports that do not have an extended period of stoppage in play. Ice hockey

Ice hockey

Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

 games consist of three periods, so there are in effect two halftimes at a hockey game: the first intermission

Intermission

An intermission or interval is a recess between parts of a performance or production, such as for a theatrical play, opera, concert, or film screening....

 is between the first and second periods, and the second intermission comes between the second and third periods. The intermissions are usually given over to contests involving randomly-selected audience members.

A halftime show can consist of cheerleading

Cheerleading

Cheerleading is a physical activity, sometimes a competitive sport, based on organized routines, usually ranging from one to three minutes, which contain the components of tumbling, dance, jumps, cheers, and stunting to direct spectators of events to cheer on sports teams at games or to participate...

 performances, majorette routines

Majorette (dancer)

A majorette is a person doing choreographed dance or movement, primarily baton twirling associated with marching bands during parades. It derives from girls', in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, involvement in drill and gymnastic teams or groups that used apparatuses similar to those found...

, marching band

Marching band

Marching band is a physical activity in which a group of instrumental musicians generally perform outdoors and incorporate some type of marching with their musical performance. Instrumentation typically includes brass, woodwinds, and percussion instruments...

s playing music, or other spectacle performances.

External links

• The Super Bowl Entertainment gives a list of all past pregame, anthem, cointoss, and halftime shows at the Super Bowl, with the producer, the theme and the talent featured in each one.
• Statement regarding the Super Bowl halftime show How NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue
  Paul Tagliabue
  Paul John Tagliabue is a former Commissioner of the National Football League. He took the position in 1989 and was succeeded by Roger Goodell, who was elected to the position on August 8, 2006. Tagliabue's retirement took effect on September 1, 2006. He had previously served as a lawyer for the NFL...
  
   feels about the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy
  Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy
  Super Bowl XXXVIII, which was broadcast live on February 1, 2004 from Houston, Texas on the CBS television network in the United States, was noted for a controversial halftime show in which Janet Jackson's breast, adorned with a nipple shield, was exposed by Justin Timberlake for about half a...
  
  
• Ohio History Central: Walter Lingo