I am not a superbowl fan, but I am a Prince fan, and I was not disappointed by the halftime show. I'm not just referring to Prince's kick ass performance in a downpour--which he turned into an appropriately-lit version of Purple Rain, natch. He looked fabulous in his teal suit and jammed with the marching band! No, I'm talking about his naughtiness. You know, the part where he played his guitar behind a sheet, so all you could see was his silhouette stroking the stategically placed neck of his guitar. The boy simulated masturbation at the superbowl, on national TV!You have just got to LOVE the gesture. Here we have a stylish man who dances in high heels, who has sung about incest, masturbation, voyeurism, oral sex and I don't know how many other sex acts, simulating masturbation with his guitar in a football arena, the most macho, and exceedingly commercial, venue one could imagine. I don't know why I kept flashing on a gigantic dude circle jerk, but I did.I was so surpised, though, given the smackdown Janet Jackson received after flashing a boob two years ago. That, coupled with the fact that Prince is now a Jehovah's Witness and doesn't sing any of his truly dirty songs anymore ("Sexy Motherf**er" and "Darling Nikki").I chose to view his act this way: as a nod to Janet, as a way to give the finger to censors, who've been harrassing him about his music and lyrics for years (Tipper Gore anyone?), and as a chance for Prince to just do his nasty thing in front of the biggest crowd ever. But I fully expected a brouhaha in the press the next day. You know, no one besides a few media critics and late night comedians cared. In fact many people are referring to it as the best halftime show ever!I did run across this thoughtful article, which posited that because Prince is a man, he got away with it. I don't buy that. I mean, Janet flashed us her tit! Imagine if Prince has bared his butt at the superbowl the way he did at the Grammys years ago (in a pair of assless chaps), that would've stirred things up (it's gettin' hot in here). But his gesture was just subtle enough to fly below the radar, both with the in-home viewers and the powers that be. I was sitting with a guy who had two kids, and while we both caught the masturbatory reference, the kids were clueless. Could that be it? Maybe. Or maybe when the music is just THAT GOOD, the theatrics can't even upstage it. Whatever the reason, my hat's off to that sexy mofo.