For all the pomp and excess of Madonna’s Super Bowl halftime show, it is likely to be a single extended middle finger by guest singer M.I.A. that is most remembered.

The gesture, accompanied by a barely disguised expletive, came during a performance of Madonna’s new single, “Give Me All Your Luvin.'”

The screen briefly was blurred after M.I.A.’s gesture in what seemed like a late attempt to cut out the camera shot.

Madonna seemed like Roman royalty when muscle-bound men carried her extravagant throne across the football field to the stage for her opening song, “Vogue.”

Guests Cee Lo and dance rockers LMFAO also appeared with M.I.A. The singing and dancing on “Vogue” was smartly choreographed, as Madonna, 53, moved more deliberately but still adroitly.

She let a tightrope walker make the more acrobatic moves during a performance of “Music.”

Madonna carried gold pompons for a performance of her new single. Twitter was alight with questions about the vocals being lip synched or augmented by tapes, particularly during this song.

Cee Lo joined Madonna for the final song, “Like a Prayer.” They were joined by a robed chorus in the show’s most soaring performance.

With a puff of white smoke, Madonna disappeared down a trap door in the stage, and lights on the field spelled out “World Peace.”

The night before the big game, actor Alec Baldwin tried to do his best “Tebowing” while hosting the “NFL Honors” on NBC, during which The Associated Press awards for the 2011 season were announced.

After Baldwin knelt down on the stage, Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow, known for praying in public, stepped up and showed him how it’s really done.

“Bless you, Tim,” Baldwin responded.

Dancing ‘mob,’ remembrances honor Cornelius

NEW YORK – Fans of “Soul Train” boogied down Broadway wearing afro wigs on Saturday, while others recounted their favorite episodes at a Harlem meeting hall in tribute to the TV show’s late creator, Don Cornelius.

About 100 dancers descended on Times Square in a flash mob organized through the Internet. As tourists looked on, they recreated one of the show’s “Soul Train lines” in which people would take turns dancing toward a TV camera while showing off their moves.

“Don Cornelius was a big influence in my life, and I just wanted to pay tribute,” said disc jockey Jon Quick, as he held up a speaker blasting disco grooves. “He was playing the music that nobody else wanted to play.”

Cornelius, 75, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound last Wednesday. He had suffered from health problems, a difficult divorce, and pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor spousal battery charge in 2009.

But on Saturday fans praised Cornelius’ vision in creating, hosting and selling “Soul Train” to television stations that were originally skeptical about programming aimed at blacks. The show aired from 1971 to 2006.

In Harlem, the Rev. Al Sharpton, led a tribute to Cornelius as part of the weekly community meeting at the headquarters of his National Action Network.

Singer Roberta Flack said Cornelius was an inspiration to other black performers and entrepreneurs.