Super Bowl Sunday an American tradition

Are you ready to watch some football?

Yup! It's Super Bowl XLIV. (And for those of us who forgot how to interpret Roman Numerals, that's 44. I looked it up.)

Yes sirree. It's time for 22 very strong and fit warriors to test their mettle on the old gridiron in those extremely tight-fitting spandex pants. Not a jiggle in sight. Ummmm um!

The testosterone levels will be skyrocketing on the football field in Miami, in sports bars, living rooms, family rooms and man caves across America.

It will be a fight for the title of the best football team in America, because of or despite the bad calls those #%#*! refs made. This year it's between the NFC Champion New Mexico Saints and the AFC Champion Indianapolis Bolts.

What?

Oh. The New Orleans Saints and the Indianapolis Colts.

What do I know. Once my team the Philadelphia Beagles were out of the running, I didn't pay much attention to the whole football thing. But at least the Cowboys didn't make it. (I just had to say it, George.)

Don't get me wrong. I like football. I even understand it. Most of the time. I know the gist of the game is to dribble the ball down the field, throw the ball to the opposite team, and if the ref calls three strikes, the quarterback has to do three scissor steps and ask, "Mother may I?" Oh, and if the little guy kicks it between those two thingees, it's a home run!

Just kidding.

I like Super Bowl Sunday. It's a great excuse to eat great food. Mom always makes roast beef and mashed potatoes for Sunday dinner. But on Super Bowl Sunday, it's Stromboli, wings, queso dip, nachos, chips and dips and our favorite beverages. To the women in our family, it's all about the food.

And the commercials. This is absolutely the only time I'm a fan of commercials.

We women sit in the kitchen and play Scat. But every time a commercial comes on, we make sure we watch. To us, they make the Super Bowl game.

At a whopping $2.5-3 million a pop for 30 seconds, these should be the best doggone commercials ever. The operative words here are, "should be."

Some of my favorites have been the E-Trade baby wet burp, the Doritos power crunch guy getting splattered by a bus, the Budweiser frogs and the Wendy's commercial with three little old ladies with one asking, "Where's the beef?" (Man, they got their money's worth out of that one, huh?)

I love the Mean Joe Greene one for Coca Cola and last year's replacement with Pittsburgh Steelers Troy Polamalu, not so much. Stick with what works, I always say.

But my most favorite out of them all are ALL the Budweiser ones that feature their beautiful Clydesdales. I think my most favorite is the one where the little Clydesdale puts on the yoke to pull the Budweiser wagon and actually moves it. What he doesn't see are the two big strapping Clydesdales pushing the wagon. The driver is watching this and turns to the Budweiser Dalmatian and says, "I won't tell if you won't."

They're like the Hallmark card commercials. They always make me feel good.

But have you noticed that you see these commercials one time and some are never seen again?

Like the EDS. solved commercial of cowboys herding cats. That was hilarious! But, never seen again. Except on YouTube.

Of course, I never heard of EDS. solved again, either.

And how about those half-time shows?

From the Rolling Stones, Diana Ross, Sting, Bruce Springsteen, Shania Twain, Paul McCartney, to name a few, to the 2004 Boob Bonanza of Janet Jackson. This year we'll have our socks rocked off by The Who.

The Super Bowl game is just a smorgasbord of entertainment for everyone.

So, I've picked my team, I've done my food shopping, I've got my dimes ready to play Scat and I'm geared up for 6:30 p.m. Sunday night.

I'm ready to watch some football!

Well, ready to watch commercials, half-time, eat and play cards.

Hey! It's an excuse for a party. If somebody invited me to watch someone herd cats, (did I tell you I loved that commercial?) I'd throw a round-up party.

After the last play in Miami is called and the winning team goes to Disney World, I bet Monday morning we'll be discussing the best and worst commercials and be commiserating on how we ate and drank too much.

Gosh! Isn't living in America wonderful?