On Sunday, December 13, 2015, the Pittsburgh Steelers took on the Cincinnati Bengals in their hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio, at the Paul Brown Stadium. It would be a huge game for Pittsburgh because simply because of two facts. The first fact is that Cincinnati already has a win against Pittsburgh. Back on Sunday, November 1, 2015, the two teams met for the first time for the current season. Cincinnati defeated Pittsburgh, 16-10. What ensued afterwards was a war of words between both teams on Twitter , which stoked the fires of animosity they had for each other. Second, Cincinnati is currently ranked No. 1 in the AFC North. It would be well for Pittsburgh, currently ranked No. 2 in the AFC North, to defeat the team ranked No. 1.
In the end, the Pittsburgh Steelers had their revenge as they defeated the Cincinnati Bengals on Cincinnati’s home turf, 33-20. The biggest highlight of that night is when Pittsburgh defensive lineman Stephon Tuitt intercepted Cincinnati quarterback Andy Dalton’s pass. Dalton tried to stop Tuitt, but in the process broke his right thumb. Dalton will most-likely be out for the rest of the season.
For K-pop fans, however, that was not the highlight of the night (unless said K-pop fans are also NFL football fans too). Apparently, the K-pop community took notice when two songs by K-pop idol boy groups BTS and Block B were played during the game. They took this as a sign that K-pop is getting bigger.
As mentioned previously, there were two songs by K-pop idol boy groups that were played during the Pittsburgh vs. Cincinnati game, as reported by DramaFever . The first was “Dope” by Bangtan Boys (better known as BTS). It happened during the replay of when Cincinnati running back, DeAngelo Williams, ran into the end zone to score a touchdown.
The second song was “Nalina” by Block B. It played after a flag was thrown on Pittsburgh’s William Gay in excessive celebration after intercepting a pass by Cincinnati and ran 25 yards for the touchdown.
Only the instrumental portions of “Dope” by BTS and “Nalina” by Block B were played. This might be because the majority of people watching NFL football are most-likely unable to understand Korean, a fact that is of high importance since certain words in the Korean language can sound questionable who hasn’t heard it. Still, the fact that small portions of BTS and Block B’s K-pop songs were used for an American sporting event shows to them just how big K-pop is becoming in the United States.
If any songs by any K-pop idol would be used during a live taping of a NFL football game, BTS and Block B would possibly be on top of the list. BTS is recognized as one of the most-popular K-pop idol boy groups in the world today. The fact that the seven-member group consisting of Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Rap Monster, Jimin, V, and Jungkook, were voted as such in both the 2015 MTV European Music Awards and 2015 Mnet Asian Music Awards is a testament to such an honor. Block B is popular too, but not in the way BTS is popular. The seven-member group consisting of Taeil, B-Bomb, Jaehyo, U-Kwon, Park Kyung, Zico, and P.O., are known for their controversies and association with previous label, Stardom Entertainment. Yet, it is probably NFL used music cuts of said K-pop idol groups simply because those songs can fit being played for sporting events.
[Image via BTS’ Official Facebook Page and Block B’s Official Facebook Page ]