A “super” day…
If we compare to last year, 111.3 million of us will sit down in front of the television at some point this evening and turn on Super Bowl XLVII. The San Francisco 49ers — led by Coach J. Harbaugh — will face the Baltimore Ravens — led by Coach J. Harbaugh.
We will watch the obviously super brothers, and… we will eat…
In fact, we will eat a lot…
Some of us will grill. Regardless of snow covering half the country, Super Bowl Sunday is the second biggest grilling day of the year — the first being the Fourth of July.
We’ll eat chips; an estimated 11 million pounds of potato chips will be consumed.
(… uh, not a ton of health food…)
Pizza will be served in plethoras. It is, no doubt, the busiest day of the year for pizza restaurants, with major chains supposed to sell double what they do on a regular day.
Not to be out done, however, by wings and rings and even more things, as 1.23 billion chicken wings are expected to be consumed, accompanied by 49.2 million cases of beer.
Second only to Thanksgiving, Americans are expected to double their food consumption to 33 million pounds of snacks.
So we should be satisfied physically, enjoying the creativity of newly aired commercials and thus money exchanging hands…
CBS is charging advertisers an estimated $3.7 to $3.8 million dollars per 30-second spot. 30 seconds. 3.8 billion. That equates to $125,000 per second.
(…I could do a lot with $125,000 per second…)
How about betting? Is the Super Bowl the number one gambling day of the year?
Probably. According to “Business Week” magazine, “No one knows for sure since the huge majority of the money changes hands under the table. Last year, Nevada’s 184 sports books wrote $93.9 million worth of bets. The NCAA men’s basketball tournament, aka March Madness, recently surpassed the Super Bowl’s handle (the total amount wagered) in the state with roughly $100 million in bets, but that’s over 67 games. According to the American Gaming Association, a gambling lobby in Washington, the Super Bowl is still the biggest for illegal wagers. The AMA says the Nevada handle accounts for only 1.5 percent of the Super Bowl total, which would make for more than $6 billion nationwide. March Madness, the lobby says, citing the FBI, is a $2.5 billion betting event. But Pregame.com founder R.J. Bell estimated in ‘USA Today’ that March Madness topped the Super Bowl last year, $12 billion to $10 billion. Again, nobody really knows.”
So allow me to get this straight…
Tons of money exchanges hands…
Money that could arguably be more wisely spent is gambled away…
We will eat and drink lavishly, ‘stuffingly’, unhealthily…
And upon completion, the winners will call it the ‘best day of their lives’…
… the losers will articulate the utter agony of defeat.
All for what is best described as a “game.”
A “super” game, no less — but still just a “game.”
Yep, our country is sure messed up sometimes…
But can’t wait to watch… love those brothers Harbaugh…
Respectfully,
AR