Super Bowl 101: Tidbits You’ll Need to Know for the Big Game

The Super Bowl is only a week away. Yes, one week.

One week until buffalo wing/pizza/guacamole heaven. One week until the biggest sporting event of the year. One week until the big halftime show. Are you ready for some football?

If you’re like many of the ladies out there, you don’t know many of the facts about the upcoming “big game” and you may not even care, but what better way to impress those sports lovin’ hotties at the Super Bowl party? And isn’t everything more fun when you know what’s going on and have someone to root for?

So without further ado, here is a basic Super Bowl XLIII 101.

The Teams

The game pits the top team in the NFC (National Football Conference), the Arizona Cardinals, against the top team in the AFC (American Football Conference), the Pittsburgh Steelers

The Arizona Cardinals:

-This is the first time in team history that the Cardinals are going to the Super Bowl. With 61 years under their belt, they have held the second longest championship drought in American sports.

-The Cardinals made it into the wild card round of the playoffs with a 9-7 record and shocked footballs fans everywhere when they won all 3 of their playoff games, despite being underdogs in each game. They are only the second 9-7 team in history to make it to the Super Bowl.

-The Cardinals are lead by quarterback Kurt Warner, the third oldest QB to play in the game (he’s 37). While leading the St. Louis Rams, Warner won the NFL MVP award twice , Super Bowl MVP once, and has one Super Bowl ring. (Pretty impressive guy, ladies!)

-The Cardinals have an explosive offense with Warner’s strong passing ability and wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald, who has an amazing ability to catch seemingly uncatchable balls while running all over his opponents.

-The Cardinals are 6 ½ point underdogs in the Super Bowl.

The Pittsburgh Steelers:

-The Steelers had a regular season record of 12-4.

-The Steelers has the #1 ranked defense in the National Football League. (Vince Lombardi, famous coach whom the Super Bowl trophy is named after, said “Offense wins games, defense wins championships.” We’ll see if that’s true.)

-The Steelers will be going for their sixth Super Bowl title. If they win, they’ll hold the NFL record for most SB wins. Their last SB win was in 2006, against the Seattle Seahawks.

-The Steelers coach, Mike Tomlin, took over the team in 2007. He is the third youngest head coach in any of the four major North American sports, the tenth African-American head coach in NFL history and the first in Pittsburgh, the third African-American and youngest head coach to make it to the Super Bowl.

The Game

-The 43rd Super Bowl will air at 6:20 p.m. EST on NBC.

-The game will take place at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. It is the second SB in this particular stadium, the fourth in the city of Tampa.

-The tagline for this year’s Super Bowl is “Believe In Now” (fitting, considering the Cardinals’ surprising appearance).

-The Super Bowl is famous for its halftime show which draws the biggest names in music (recent performers include U2, The Rolling Stones, Prince and Britney Spears) and has even caused scandal and controversy at the FCC (Nipplegate 2004 anyone?). This year Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band will be performing; it is his first SB half-time show performance.

-Jennifer Hudson will be singing the National Anthem before the game; it will be her first public appearance since the tragic murder of her nephew, brother and mother.

-The Super Bowl is almost as famous for its ads as it is for the game itself and this year will be no different. It’s the first year that a 30 second time slot cost $3 million. As of September 2008, NBC had sold all but 10 of it’s coveted advertising spots. Due to the economic crisis, some traditional SB advertisers, like General Motors and FedEx, will not be airing any ads this year.

A Few Fun Facts

-An average of 130 million people watch the Super Bowl.

-About 8 million pounds of guacamole and 14,500 tons of chips will be eaten on SB Sunday.

-Antacid sales increase by 20 percent on the Monday after the Super Bowl.

-Super Bowl Sunday is the top at-home party event of the year.

-SB Sunday is the second largest food consumption day, behind only Thanksgiving.

-A poultry farm and major supplier of wings (for buffalo wings, of course) in Texas recently went bankrupt, causing speculation that there will be a shortage of buffalo wings this year.

-The Vince Lombardi trophy, presented to the winning team, is created by Tiffany & Co, takes approximately four months and 72 man hours to create and is valued at $25,000.

-The winning team gets the coveted Super Bowl ring and a $78,000 bonus per player; the losing team gets $40,000 per man.

Now you’re ready for the Super Bowl.

Just don’t forget those Tums.