The Morning: Ready for the Super Bowl?

Plus, Donald Trump, German politics and art in New York.

View in browser|nytimes.com February 9, 2025 Good morning. Today we've got a guide to the Super Bowl. We're also covering Donald Trump, German politics and art in New York. The Kansas City Chiefs' quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, during Super Bowl LVII. Doug Mills/The New York Times A super sequel By Tom Wright-Piersanti I'm an editor on The Morning. The Kansas City Chiefs meet the Philadelphia Eagles in New Orleans for Super Bowl LIX tonight, and it's likely that more than 100 million people will tune in. For many, it will be the only football game they watch this year. If you're among that group, good news: This is an ideal matchup for casual fans. For one, it's a rematch. Philadelphia and Kansas City played each other in the Super Bowl just two years ago, and plenty of familiar characters will return. Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce are back. Kelce's girlfriend, Taylor Swift, will probably be there, too. And there's history at stake. Kansas City is trying to win its third straight Super Bowl, which no team — not even Tom Brady's New England Patriots dynasty — has ever done. In the rest of today's newsletter, we've got a guide to the Super Bowl, with contributions from my colleagues around The Times. The teams One thing to know about Philadelphia: The Eagles have pioneered a play called the "tush push," in which players line up behind the quarterback Jalen Hurts and shove him forward to gain a yard or two. When the Eagles ran the play this season, it worked more than 80 percent of the time, according to The Ringer. But that's no guarantee it will work during the Super Bowl. As The Ringer notes, Kansas City shut down several tush pushes by the Buffalo Bills during the A.F.C. championship game. One thing to know about Kansas City: The team was 15-2 this season, but it won 11 of those victories, plus another in the playoffs, by a single score (meaning eight points or fewer). It won 17 straight one-score games, an N.F.L. record. The Athletic's Mike Sando calculated that the odds of such a streak are about one-tenth of 1 percent. Is that a sign that Kansas City is lucky — or just great in clutch moments? The halftime show Kendrick Lamar Amy Harris/Invision, via Associated Press Kendrick Lamar's smash "Not Like Us" is a lot of things: a Drake-slaying diss track, a No. 1 single, a Grammys darling. Tonight, it might also be part of a Super Bowl halftime show. But while casual viewers will hear an easily digestible crowd-pleaser, it's also a strange hit for Lamar, a Pulitzer Prize winner and one of the most revered M.C.s of all time. In recent years, Lamar had shied from the spotlight. He released an album about therapy and trauma. Now, on "Not Like Us," he spends almost five minutes calling Drake — the most popular rapper of the last decade — a pedophile (Drake says this is false, and he's suing the record label), along with a "jabroni" and a "colonizer." Will the diss, which has been featured in promos for the performance, be the centerpiece of the show? Or will Lamar minimize its role — or even elide it entirely? —Joe Coscarelli, music reporter Read more: "Not Like Us" reinvented Kendrick Lamar. Is the Super Bowl ready for it? The commercials If 2022 was the cryptocurrency Super Bowl, this year's broadcast will be remembered for its artificial intelligence ads. Viewers will be hit with pitches for A.I.-enabled personal assistants, reservation services and sunglasses. This year's commercials are also low on controversy and creativity, with advertisers looking for safety in strenuous silliness and familiar celebrity faces. —Mike Hale, television critic Read more: Mike is ranking all of this year's ads from best to worst. (The list will grow through the day as more ads are revealed.) The host city The return of the Super Bowl to New Orleans has taken months of extensive work. Around the French Quarter and the Superdome, there are new streetlights and sidewalks. Some buildings have been covered in colorful murals. Tourism drives the city's economy, and the Super Bowl — which will draw as many as 150,000 people — offers an unrivaled platform to pitch itself on TV as a destination. The rush of improvements has provoked a complicated reaction among residents. One lamented that the area now looks like a Disney theme park. Others have found it somewhat heartening after the deadly New Year's Day terrorist attack. And the changes have stoked frustration over the city's persistent potholes and decaying infrastructure. "Finish fixing the streets," a resident said. "Finish beautifying, finish putting flowers out. Keep the stuff well lit. Keep the police presence. We deserve all of that." —Rick Rojas, Atlanta bureau chief Read more: After New Orleans's Super Bowl makeover, some residents say: What about us? More Super Bowl coverage President Trump is expected to attend the game, a first for a sitting president. He has a fraught history with the N.F.L., dating to his failed attempts to buy a team. When the players enter the stadium in flashy outfits, you can thank Kyle Smith, the league's first fashion editor. This Eagles fan wears a different jersey every day. He's got 300. NYT Cooking has a collection of recipes, including air-fryer wings, pickle biscuits and baked mac and cheese. From The Athletic Here's how the two teams — their coaches, quarterbacks and more — compare, by the numbers. Tom Brady, no stranger to the Super Bowl, is calling the game on TV for the first time. Joe Buck, Al Michaels and others offered advice. Putting together a pool for your Super Bowl party? Here's a list of fun prop bets about the game, the broadcast and the halftime show. THE LATEST NEWS Trump Administration Russell Vought, the newly confirmed director of the Office of Management and Budget, instructed employees of a federal financial watchdog to cease activity. Federal employees blocked several Democratic lawmakers from entering the Department of Education. A judge ordered a halt to Elon Musk team's access to Treasury payment systems. Some are concerned that the team's work makes the system vulnerable to Chinese and Russian hacking. Trump's opponents have turned to the federal courts to frustrate his flurry of executive orders. The judiciary, however, may struggle to keep up. Trump's heavy-handed approach to traditional journalists echoes Richard Nixon's attempted press crackdown 50 years ago, Jim Rutenberg writes. More on Politics Vivek Ramaswamy Haiyun Jiang for The New York Times Vivek Ramaswamy is yet to formally announce his campaign for Ohio governor but his celebrity and ties to Trump already give him an edge. The city of Springfield, Ohio, sued a neo-Nazi group for intimidating Haitian residents and locals who spoke in support of them. International In central Gaza.  Saher Alghorra for The New York Times Hamas handed over three Israeli hostages in exchange for 183 Palestinians jailed by Israel. Hamas fighters prodded the gaunt hostages to give short speeches thanking their captors. Children living near Ukraine's front line attend school underground or online. Experts say the nation's students are falling behind. At least one thing unites Germany's political parties: rejection of Angela Merkel's legacy. Other Big Stories A winter storm has brought snow in the northeastern U.S. Donors on GoFundMe have given more for Los Angeles fire relief than for all natural disasters worldwide last year. In New York, three ducks at the Queens Zoo died because of bird flu, and Bronx Zoo is conducting flu tests on 12 more birds that died. THE SUNDAY DEBATE Should Musk have this much power? No. While Americans focus on Musk's cost-cutting mission, they don't realize he is also collecting vast amounts of private data. "An 'unelected, unaccountable billionaire' threatens civil servants' privacy and national security," The Washington Post's Colbert King writes. Yes. Musk's reforms — including buying out workers and dismantling agencies — are extreme because he is reforming an extremist government. He is up against "a government whose agencies themselves were often maximalist and went too far," The Wall Street Journal's Peggy Noonan writes. FROM OPINION "The Palestinians are here to stay": While governments debate the future of Gaza, five Palestinian scholars discuss what self-determination means for them. Here are columns by Ross Douthat on the American empire and Maureen Dowd on Trump's "Mean Girls." Subscribe Today The Morning highlights a small portion of the journalism that The New York Times offers. To access all of it, become a subscriber with this introductory offer. MORNING READS James Denmark's "Untitled."  via James Denmark and Lloyd Toone; Photo by Stan Narten Galleries: See new art in New York City this month. Routine: How the costume designer for "Wicked" spends his Sundays. Space: The odds of an asteroid striking Earth in 2032 keep going up and down. Here's why. Vows: They got married in Antarctica. Lives Lived: Sam Nujoma directed a guerrilla army in a 24-year war for Namibia's independence from South African rule, and became his country's founding president. He died at 95. BOOK OF THE WEEK By Elisabeth Egan "This is a Love Story," by Jessica Soffer: The title doesn't lie — this is a love story. But, just in time for Valentine's Day, Soffer's unapologetically romantic novel includes many tales that tug at the heartstrings. First and foremost is the long marriage of Abe and Jane, a writer and an artist whose complicated, colorful life together is winding down as she lays dying. While he runs through a litany of their memories together — a veritable "14,000 Things to be Happy About" plus enough stinkers to keep it real — we catch glimpses of other great loves: their son's connection with his grandmother, Jane's mind meld with an old friend, Abe's affinity for the march of words on a page and New Yorkers' devotion to Central Park. Soffer's saga goes down like bittersweet chocolate, with a hint of sugar to soften the sharp edge of loss. THE INTERVIEW Devin Oktar Yalkin for The New York Times By David Marchese This week's subject for The Interview is the legendary actor Denzel Washington. He's starring in the title role of "Othello" in a new Broadway production that begins previews on Feb. 24. I'm always curious about actors, and artists generally, when they realize that their art is also a business. Does that affect how you approached the work itself? When I learned about my least favorite uncle, my Uncle Sam, that was the eye opener. I'm like, He takes what? That's the reality of it, and a dollar is not a dollar. By the time agents, lawyer, business manager, Uncle Sam, everybody else gets finished with you, a dollar's about 38 cents. So you've got to cobble those 38 cents together to make a real dollar. But does that affect the work? If you know that something is a money job, do you go about that job any differently? You're asking me, Did I ever take a job for money? No, I'm asking — Because I was about to answer it. OK. I've taken every job for money. There's no job I've taken where I went: You guys just keep the money. I'm just so glad to be an actor. I don't even want the money. This is a base question, but did you find that you cared about not getting an Oscar nomination for "Gladiator II"? I was sitting there smiling, going: Look at you. On the day you didn't get a nomination for an Oscar, you're working on "Othello" on Broadway. Are you kidding me? Awww. Oh, I'm so upset. Listen, I've been around too long. I'm getting wiser, working on talking less and learning to understand more — and that's exciting. Read more of the interview here. THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE Photograph by Naila Ruechel for The New York Times Click the cover image above to read this week's magazine. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Boost your productivity when working from home. Subscribe to recycled toilet paper. Wake with a sunrise alarm clock. MEAL PLAN David Malosh for The New York Times In this week's Five Weeknight Dishes newsletter, Emily Weinstein suggests making a spicy creamy Bolognese (which features a brilliant secret ingredient: red curry paste), a blackened salmon, and lemony chicken with potatoes and oregano. NOW TIME TO PLAY Here is today's Spelling Bee. Yesterday's pangram was anarchical. Can you put eight historical events — including the first flowers, the first domesticated dogs, and the carving of the Grand Canyon — in chronological order? Take this week's Flashback quiz. And here are today's Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your weekend with The Times. Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Editor: David Leonhardt Deputy Editor: Adam B. Kushner News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Need help? Review our newsletter help page or contact us for assistance. You received this email because you signed up for the Morning newsletter from The New York Times, or as part of your New York Times account. To stop receiving The Morning, unsubscribe. To opt out of other promotional emails from The Times, including those regarding The Athletic, manage your email settings. To opt out of updates and offers sent from The Athletic, submit a request. 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