Super Bowl Questions

UPDATE 2-7-10: You know, I was thinking about doing some research and creating a nice long Super Bowl trivia quiz this year, but I just never got around to doing the research, so I filed the notion away for next year. And now I'm getting a lot of hits from people looking for "Super Bowl Questions", so I'm definitely doing it next year. These questions probably aren't what you all are looking for, but thanks for dropping by, folks! Go Colts! (But I won't be bothered if the Saints win.)

Roger asks some questions regarding the Super Bowl:

Do you watch the Super Bowl? (That's American football, BTW.) If so, is it for the commercials, the game or the halftime entertainment? Do you have special food for the occasion?

Yes, I watch the Super Bowl. In fact, with one exception, I've watched every Super Bowl since I became a football fan in 1988. (That exception was Super Bowl XXIV -- 49ers 55, Broncos 10 -- because I had something going on that night at college.) I don't pay attention to the commercials much; I tend to use them for their intended purpose (get more food, refill my glass, go to the bathroom, et cetera). In fact, every year when I hear people talking about their favorite commercials the next day, I'm always a bit clueless until I track them down online.

In terms of food, I just tend to get a bit of snack stuff, like chips and dip, if we're at home. Over the years we've been to a couple of Super Bowl parties at other people's homes. Lots of food is usually nice, but I prefer to be in the comfort of my own home.

And speaking of halftime, don't you find it interesting that it is The Who performing when the game is on CBS, since The Who provide the theme songs for all those CSI shows on CBS, such as CSI: Las Vegas, CSI: Miami, CSI: New York, CSI: Kalamazoo, and CSI: Portland (both the Oregon AND the Maine shows).

Yeah, that occurred to me this past week. I'm hoping that since the game's in Miami, the halftime show starts with David Caruso on stage, saying something goofy in that oddball delivery of his, and putting on his sunglasses as The Who smashes into "Won't Get Fooled Again".

By the way, I didn't know that The Who was even doing this year's halftime festivities until just last Monday, when I said to my main football-discussing friends at work, "Hey, who's doing the halftime show this year?" And he said, "Yes." Luckily I thought over his answer for ten seconds and realized what was going on, before we launched into some weird Abbott-and-Costello routine. ("So at haltime, Dan Marino and Shannon Sharpe talk about the first half and then they kick the attention over to who?" "Yes!")

If you don't watch the game, do you have a ritual for that? I had friends who always went to the movies on Super Bowl Sunday.

I watch the game. Sometimes I watch a movie earlier in the day.

And those of you outside the United States: can you even access the Suoer Bowl?

Obviously this is not applicable to me.

Do you know how to write 44 in Roman numerals?

XLIV. I think the Roman numerals thing is starting to look goofier each year -- we're six years out from the Super Bowl logo being a giant L. I think it would be funny if, when that year comes, the logo is simply a big cursive L like the one Laverne used to wear on all her sweaters on Laverne and Shirley. It would be funny to see all these big, hulking football players in the Super Bowl sporting nice, pretty, loopy, feminine L's on their jerseys.

Do you have a rooting interest?

I'm rooting for the Colts, but a Saints win wouldn't bother me much at all, except that we'd then have to hear a lot of crap about Peyton Manning being a choker and Gregg Williams's head would get bigger, and I'm sure the Super Dome has a hard time containing that guy's noggin already.

What do think of the Pro Bowl, the All-star game of the NFL, being played the week before the Super Bowl (i.e., today), instead of the week after?

The Pro Bowl sucks no matter when they play it. It just sucks. It's lame and boring and I never watch it because it's lame and boring. Plus, I don't like that lots of guys go because the guys actually voted to the thing don't, so you end up with something like half the league being called "Pro Bowlers". On the Bills, Marshawn Lynch is a "Pro Bowler", even though the only reason he got to be in the game a year ago is because a bunch of running backs ahead of him didn't play. Only the guys actually voted onto the roster should get to be called "Pro Bowlers", and frankly, if they just did away with the game and treated being voted a Pro Bowler as baseball does being awarded a Golden Glove, I'd be fine with it.

So yeah, I don't really care when they play the Pro Bowl. I do think that the NFL's rigid adherence to rules, thus requiring the Colts and Saints players to be in attendance even if they don't play -- resulting in them literally having to fly back to Indianapolis and New Orleans respectively and then turn right back around to return to Miami, since by another NFL rule, all Super Bowl players must travel with their teams together -- is just colossal idiocy.