Big game, interrupted

New Orleans: It was not New Orleans' brightest moment. About 90 seconds into the second half of Sunday's Super Bowl, the lights on one half of the Superdome's roof suddenly went out. Internet connections in the press box were cut and the scoreboards went dark.

After the sudden break in the action, the 71,024 fans started murmuring. The public address announcer made several muffled statements about the power failure. Strangely, the cheerleaders for the San Francisco 49ers and the Baltimore Ravens continued to shake their pompoms.

The roughly 35-minute power failure, which came just moments after the Ravens' Jacoby Jones' 109-yard kickoff return for a touchdown, was one of the odder and more embarrassing moments in Super Bowl history.

In choosing New Orleans to host the game, the NFL wanted to signal that the city was back in business after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The Superdome, which was turned into an emergency shelter after the storm, had been overhauled and rebranded through a sponsorship deal with Mercedes-Benz.

The NFL, which runs the Super Bowl with an iron hand and brutal efficiency, is not used to random events during games, which are tightly scripted  for television networks and the hundreds of millions of viewers at home. Weather has been unpredictable over the years, but rarely are games delayed for anything more than the occasional hiccup.

"Stadium authorities are investigating the cause of the power outage," an NFL spokesman said a statement.

Indicative of the lopsided score at the time - the Ravens were ahead 28-6 when the lights went out - the Ravens' sideline remained bathed in light while the 49ers were in the shadows.

The random blackout led to several quick decisions. The players could have gone to their locker rooms, but chose to stay on the field. Many of them stretched on the ground and tossed footballs to stay limber. A few looked as if they were relaxing on the lawn in a park.

Confused fans who had been watching the 49ers try to forge a comeback started doing the wave. A handful of them started screaming for the players to start playing again.

As each bank of lights popped back on, the players put their helmets back on and worked out in earnest. The crowd roared as the stadium gradually brightened. After a steamy interlude, the air conditioning started blowing again, too.

The break in the action may have been just what the 49ers needed as they scored 17 straight points.

After 35 minutes in the dark, the quick scores gave the crowd a solid jolt