Font ResizeLAS CRUCES - Sunday is here, and for many people, that means it is time to go to church.
No, not that church. Sure, it is good to worship and congregate with your fellow humans, but the church I'm talking about includes a large-screen television - if you're lucky - jerseys and banners as well as chips and dip, cold beer (or some other beverage), kielbasa, sauerkraut, queso, pierogis, halupkis, haluskis ... OK, I'm getting carried away, but you get the point.
That's right. This is Super Bowl Sunday! The biggest (unofficial) national holiday. We'll watch the game and we'll laugh, we'll cry, we'll wonder why. And we will party.
All right, I understand many of you don't care about the action on the field. But you do care about socializing, having some good food and maybe a libation or two, and critiquing the commercials. If you're like me, you like all of the aforementioned AND the game.
Game day gastronomy
Kickoff is about 4:30 p.m. our time, so that gives you some time to hit the stores and pick up some last-minute supplies. (Remember, liquor sales do not begin until noon on Sundays.) Today is, after all, a gourmand's dream.
I checked a variety of Internet sources and discovered that:
•Enough guacamole will be eaten to cover a football field 20 feet deep.
•Super Bowl revelers will eat about 450 million chicken wings.
•A whopping 14,500 tons of chips and 4,000 tons of popcorn will be eaten.
•No big surprise, there is a 20 percent
It doesn't end with food. The National Retail Federation reports that an estimated 4.5 million consumers intended to buy a new TV ahead of the game.
Commercials
Ever since Joe Greene drank a Coke and threw his stinky, sweaty jersey to some kid, and Apple introduced the public to the Macintosh computer with a Ridley Scott-directed, Orwell-inspired, hammer-throwing scene - fittingly in 1984 - the Super Bowl commercial has become an event.
This year, at a cost of $3 million for 30 seconds, there will be advertisements for beer, food, movies, cars and a host of other products.
Then, before the game is even over, people all across the Internet and blogosphere will start analyzing and rating the commercials.
Stephen Master, vice president of Nielsen Sports media research, told CNNMoney.com that half of today's viewers will actually watch the commercials more than they watch the game. So when the commercial breaks come, the die-hard fans can run to the bathroom and restock their paper plates with cocktail wieners, while those people who are lingering in the kitchen, chatting and munching on canapés, can rush out and fill those emptied seats to watch and judge the ads.
Fandom
Today is more than a holiday for me. As someone who grew up in the woods outside of Latrobe, Pa. - where the Steelers hold their training camp every year - I grew up fanatically rooting for Pittsburgh. So I will, of course, don my colors and zero in on the action.
My son Tyler promises he will help me stay calm and not swear; my daughter Jessie will dance and twirl and give me lots of hugs; my son Grant will experience his first Steelers Super Bowl - he won't remember, though, he's 1 - but he'll stop by from time to time for bites off my plate.
My patient wife, Terri - who has come a long way in football knowledge and appreciation - will root for the Steelers, too, but I'm not sure if that is because she wants them to win or she doesn't want a grumpy hubby.
To Skip and Connie (my folks), Gram, Jen, Kathy and Christy - the other guests who will be gathered to watch the game and socialize - I'd like to apologize in advance if I get out of hand. I've been known to punch the image of an official on the TV screen (I know, real smart) and I once kicked a hole in my desk while watching a game while in grad school. (That was how I introduced Twol, my friend from Ethiopia, to the game of American football and its crazy fans. I am still half ashamed and half proud of that moment.)
But I won't be crushed if Pittsburgh loses. I can remember watching all but two of the Steelers' seven Super Bowls, counting today's - assuming I don't get abducted to the mother ship before kickoff - and I feel lucky to have those experiences. I have really enjoyed the two-week run-up to the game. Green Bay is a franchise I like and respect, so it would not be as bad as losing to the Dallas Cowboys. Packers fans and Steelers fans are both blue collar, beer-and-a-bratwurst type of folks.
So, in a show of good sportsmanship, I'd like to wish Green Bay and its fans good luck and ...
Oh, who am I kidding? I hope the Steelers win by 50. When I spray stain remover on the salsa stains of my Hines Ward jersey, I want to smile at the memory.
OK, time to get serious. Church is about to begin.
Brook Stockberger can be reached at (575) 541-5457.
Watch the Game
•What: Super Bowl XLV.
•Who: Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Green Bay Packers.
•Where: Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
•When: 4:30 p.m. MST
•Line: Packers favored by 2.5.
•On TV: Fox, Comcast channel 8, DirecTV and DishNetwork channel 14.
•On the Web: www.superbowl.com
