Super Bowl XLIX

Sunday, funday. Many Americans spend their Sundays on their couch glued to the TV from the preseason in August to that final game that usually falls around the beginning of February. To celebrate the end of their beloved season, they make sure it goes out on a high note with the Super Bowl game. Every year the game is the same: four quarters, 60 minutes, a halftime show, and a winner, and the viewers usually uphold traditions of their own.

The Super Bowl is one of the biggest events in sports every year, publicized with a huge lead up, people betting on a winner and always throwing parties to watch the game.

One tradition of the Super Bowl is the commercials. For 30 seconds of glory during a pause in the play, you have to pay $4 million, and the price doubles for 60 seconds of fame. Some people watch the game just to see the new commercials. They advertise a wide variety of goods, from Doritos to hotel commercials. The advertisements usually appeal to football fans.

Another tradition is the the food. Fans consume an average of 1,200 calories during the game. One huge super bowl food is chicken wings. Viewers have eaten an average of 1.23 billion chicken wings on super bowl sunday every year. Local grocery stores are packed during the days leading up to the game with party hosts scrambling to check every appetizer off their list.

Sophomore Jenna Hodgkinson said, “we always have chips and buffalo dip, wings, and lots of unhealthy foods.” In some cases, people are only there for the party. “I don’t really care who wins – I’m there for the food.”

People also have teams they traditionally root for. Junior Nick Buggy said, “I’m always voting for the New England Patriots but if they aren’t in it, I like to vote for whoever my family doesn’t think will win which is usually the underdog.”

Super Bowl Sunday brings superstition to a new level, going as far as sitting in the same chair or painting the sides of their faces certain colors. “My dad always wears the same hat and shirt no matter who is in the super bowl,” Hodgkinson said. Bets are placed and money is made depending on the winner or the scores at certain points in the game.

Super Bowl XLIX is a special Super Bowl for New England, with their own Patriots playing for all the marbles, but it is another Super Bowl, filled with all the same traditions as the years before.