Excess trumps success at Gillette

I certainly don't have the answers, but I can say that Thursday night's pregame show was another strangely dysfunctional event. Suffice it to say that unadvertised guest Ozzy Osbourne stole the show -- he performed his wild-and-woolly song ''Crazy Train" on a stage inside a giant-size helmet that folded back to reveal the Ozzman in a Patriots jersey, mugging for the cameras and singing with a keen abandon (with his solo band, not with Black Sabbath).

But much of the rest of the show was just plain weird. For the first 30 minutes of the one-hour event, we didn't even hear acts that were in the stadium. Instead, we got two Rolling Stones songs (the obligatory ''Start Me Up" and surprise choice ''Rough Justice") beamed on video from a taped broadcast in Detroit. And we got remotes of rapper Kanye West and pop rockers Maroon 5 from a generic-looking red-white-and-blue stage in Los Angeles.

Maroon 5 came off vapidly doing ''Harder to Breathe," while West did one tune, ''Heard 'Em Say." Yet it was disconcerting to hear his name booed loudly by Patriots fans who evidently didn't appreciate his nationally televised comment the other night during a Hurricane Katrina benefit that President Bush ''doesn't care about black people." The boos were thunderous and lasted for much of his number.

Carlos Santana & Co. acquitted themselves well with past hit ''Smooth" and new single ''I'm Feelin' You," with singer Michelle Branch taking a nice guest turn as she was wheeled to midfield on a stage shaped like a football. But again, why was Santana given headliner treatment? Green Day has had a much bigger year.

Pats owner Robert Kraft elicited the most cheers when he presided over the banner unveiling and praised ''the greatest fans that any sports team has ever had."

Nashville star Trisha Yearwood ended the hour by singing the national anthem, but the performance was marred by fireworks shot off during the line ''and the rockets' red glare." It was a cheesy moment (couldn't they have waited until she was through?). It threw her off and she struggled to finish, but it was just another bizarre occurrence during a pregame show that tried to do too much but ended up offering too little.