SpongeBob Barely Graced The Super Bowl With His Presence And His Fans Were Not Pleased

For many nautical nonsensers, it was far from a "sweet victory."

Yes, it happened. SpongeBob SquarePants performed at the largest, most important sporting event in America.

Spongebob intros @trvisXX during the #SuperBowl halftime show https://t.co/iwO7K8xmZZ

I don’t know why and how we got here, but Maroon 5, the halftime show's lead act, and Travis Scott paid tribute to the iconic Nickelodeon cartoon during probably the biggest, most high-profile performance of the year.

So back to How did we get here? Honestly, an evergreen question to everything in life right now.

🚨 IT'S HAPPENING 🚨 SpongeBob's 'Sweet Victory' will be part of Maroon 5's Super Bowl halftime show, per report: https://t.co/DaR8FoICiV

But, this convergence of quintessential early 2000s childhood and the biggest day in American sports came to fruition because, back in 2001, SpongeBob and his squad performed “Sweet Victory” at the halftime of the Bubble Bowl.

This created an iconic moment, that only recently rebubbled to the surface of our meme consciousness thanks to the powerful mix of famous people, boy bands, an online petition, and Twitter.

Some quick Sparknotes:

Last year, a mega-fan launched a Change.org petition requesting that the America's major sprotz event honor SpongeBob’s creator, Stephen Hillenburg, who died last November. More than 1.2 million people signed it.

Last week, Maroon 5 seemed to announce the petition had worked. In a teaser for the band's performance, SpongeBob appeared, suggesting the cartoon would be featured.

SpongeBob ended up introducing Scott to the crowd, because this is the world we live in now.

View this video on YouTube

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Like most things that explode online, people lost their damn minds.

SPONGEBOB. ARE YOU KIDDING ME. I'M SCREAMING. #SUPERBOWL

Fans said the little awkward sea sponge appearing was the best thing about the multimillion-dollar sports event thus far.

SPONGEBOB! Best thing about this super bowl so far haha

That without this brief blip of cartoon royalty, "Super Bowl 53 would be irrelevant."

if it wasn’t for spongebob with that sicko mode intro, super bowl 53 would be irrelevant

Many were all kinds of here for it.

my face when i saw spongebob halftime #SuperBowl

THAT IT ACTUALLY HAPPENED AND IT WAS NOT A DRILL.

And that Hillenburg got the attention and callout that his fans felt that he deserved.

This tribute to Stephen Hillenburg, the creator of Spongebob Sqaurepants during the halftime show is filling my heart with joy #Superbowl

But there were many, many fans whose thirst for SpongeBob and the rest of the nautical nonsense crew was far from quenched.

Smh I wanted a whole recreation of the spongebob band scene not that clip that barely fit in #SuperBowl like I was expecting an entrance like this

It was too short, they agonized.

"We wanted more," they gifed.

“I’m finally about to here SPONGEBOB at a REAL superball halftime” Super Bowl: “....Sicko mode”

"How dare this Travis Scott guy steal the spotlight from SpongeBob," they queried.

When Travis Scott interrupted Sponge Bob

Me watching the Spongebob tribute #SuperBowl

People lamented that, after all that buildup, they didn't even play "Sweet Victory."

You had one job and you messed it up... I wanted the actual Spongebob song to be played 🤦🏼‍♂️🤦🏼‍♂️ #superbowl #PepsiHalftime

This Twitter user took it especially hard, but reasoned that, after all that, his "favorite sponge" still had his (albeit brief) moment on the big screen.

I wanted a performance, I really did. But I can live with this. They honored him. We didn't get Sweet Victory but we did get Spongebob. They took time outta the super bowl to honor Stephen Hillenburg by putting our favorite sponge on screen during the super bowl. I'm content.

He said that sometimes, as that other kind of famous band once said, you can't always get what you want, but you get what you need.

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