As some of you may know, the Super Bowl is this Sunday. For sports fans, it's the holy grail of sports, a holiday comparable to Thanksgiving or the best day ever. For the rest of us, it's the day all of our favorite Sunday night TV shows are canceled or delayed (I'm not too happy I will have to wait another week to watch Once Upon A Time).
However, the Super Bowl is inevitable and you feel culturally and socially obligated to sit around the TV with your friends and watch the most important football game of the year. Every year, I start watching with all the fervor of my football-loving friends because football is one of the few sports I understand. Eventually, around the end of the first quarter, I get bored.
If you're like me, you may be in need of a few ways to keep yourself entertained and focused for the final three-fourths of the game.
Watch the commercials
The Super Bowl is one of the only times it is acceptable to tell your friends to quiet down because the commercials are on. Companies spend up $4 million for 30 seconds of airtime, according to Associated Press.
For this much money, the commercials are pressured to be not only memorable but talked about for days afterwards. Rumor has it Chrysler bought two minutes of time for just one spot featuring Eminem in last year's game, according to nbcnews.com. Personally, I can't wait to see what Doritos comes up with this year.
Buy a box
A box is a form of betting for the Super Bowl. Fans create charts with 100 boxes and people buy them - from $1 a box to $10 a box. You fill your name in once you have bought the desired amount of spaces. Right before the game, numbers are randomly assigned across the rows and down the columns. After each quarter, the score determines who wins. If your name is in the winning box, you get a predetermined amount of money.
If you participate in something like this, it gives you motivation to continue to pay attention to the game when you start to get bored. You might even get lucky and end up going home with a few extra bucks in your pocket.
Eat
Food is a major part of the Super Bowl tradition. Wings, chips, dip, pizza and chili are all common snacks to eat while watching the big game. Even if you don't know the difference between a touchdown and a field goal, you know hot wings taste great with bleu cheese. That's good enough to carry at least one conversation for the night.
It's also a Super Bowl tradition to support which ever drink is sponsoring the game. Plus, you will automatically look like a sports fan if you are lounging on the couch with a plate of wings in front of you and a beer in your hand.
Count down until the half time show
This year, Beyonc?(c) will be making an appearance 30 minutes into the game (football time), which means up to an hour and a half real-life time. So, if for nothing else, wait those 90 minutes to see Beyonc?(c) preform - because let's be real, she's worth it.
And you never know what might happen during the halftime show. Anybody remember 2004, Janet Jackson's highlight?
You don't want to be the one person in America who misses something like that.
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I hope I've given you some incentive to not only watch the game, but also enjoy it. Whether you're rooting for the 49ers, the Ravens or Beyonc?(c), it's going to be a fun night with friends, food and beer.
Email: rachel.kramer@ubspectrum.com
Photo: Paul Hokanson/UB Athletics
