This choice is a sign of the times

Super Bowl officials moved away from their AARP criteria in choosing a halftime performer for this season’s game.

Prince will headline the world’s biggest bathroom break in Glendale, Ariz., becoming the first under-50 entertainer to do the show in three years.

But for those who thought Janet Jackson’s tear-away jersey was inappropriate during the 2004 halftime show, this could be a little uncomfortable.

Jackson’s “wardrobe malfunction” during the MTV-produced show prompted the NFL to retrench, applying a cautious approach similar to Marty Schottenheimer’s playoff game plans. Paul McCartney provided the entertainment at the 2005 Super Bowl and the Rolling Stones performed at the game last February.

Bringing in Prince may be seen as an upon-further-review reversal.

He was, after all, considered so raunchy in his early days that the Tipper Gore-led group, Parents Music Resource Center, singled him out.

Then again, Prince has become the artist formerly known as controversial. His 2001 album “The Rainbow Children” celebrated his conversion to the Jehovah’s Witnesses, a long and winding road from his 1980 release “Dirty Mind.”

Obviously, Super Bowl officials are expecting more rainbows than dirt this year. Either that or, after McCartney and the Stones, they are trying to reach a younger audience with the 48-year-old Prince.

Royal selections

With Prince on the marquee, there are some Super Bowl certainties:

* The Denver Broncos may be a mile high, but their record is barely above sea level, so they won’t be partying like it’s 1999.

* The Chicago Bears may have the NFC’s best record, but as far as planning a victory parade in the Loop goes, let’s not go crazy.

* And, as for the Minnesota Vikings, Prince’s hometown team, the last place the Purple reigned was at an adults-only regatta.

Trivia time

Of the 25 quarterbacks who have won the Heisman Trophy, how many have later quarterbacked a team to a Super Bowl victory?

Rock ‘n’ roll

Tide, roll

If his record sales decline, Prince could seek work in the football world. Alabama is still looking for a coach.

Prince of the Crimson Tide?

Guitar hero, but no Series hero

Rock ‘n’ roll hurt Motown in October.

The reason for the wrist and forearm inflammation that plagued Detroit Tigers relief pitcher Joel Zumaya during the playoffs was revealed this week by General Manager Dave Dombrowski:

Video games.

Zumaya’s favorite? “Guitar Hero,” a PlayStation 2 game in which a player uses a guitar-shaped controller to simulate the performance of popular songs.

In a radio interview this week, Dombrowski said the Tigers’ athletic training staff discovered that Zumaya’s forearm pain was more consistent with the action of a guitar player than a baseball pitcher.

Zumaya, who missed three American League Championship Series games, stopped playing the video game and pitched without pain in the World Series. He was 0-1 with a 3.00 ERA in three appearances against the St. Louis Cardinals.

One song Zumaya has yet to master: Queen’s “We Are the Champions.”

Trivia answer

Two. Roger Staubach (Navy, 1963) took the Dallas Cowboys to victory in Super Bowls VI and XII. Jim Plunkett (Stanford, 1970) guided the Oakland and Los Angeles Raiders to wins in Super Bowls XV and XVIII.

And finally

Two-time world snooker champion Ronnie O’Sullivan walked out of his quarterfinal against Stephen Hendry in the U.K. Championship on Thursday in York, England.

The 31-year-old Englishman was trailing, 4-1, when he conceded the match. He shook hands with Hendry and referee Jan Verhaas before leaving the arena.

At least O’Sullivan was civil about it. At a tournament 10 years ago, he assaulted an official.

chris.foster@latimes.com