The Super Bowl is more than a game

I’m not sure when it happened exactly, but at some point in the last three or four decades, the Super Bowl has become an unofficial national holiday. Hard core NFL fans have always watched, but the game has captured every demographic imaginable due to casual football fans and even non football fans tuning in. The game itself is almost secondary to the lengthy pregame show, the human interest stories, the musical acts, the National Anthem, the over the top halftime show, and the multimillion dollar commercials.

The first one I truly remember watching was Super Bowl XIV on January 20, 1980 (yes I’m old) when the Steelers beat the Rams. I was at my Dad’s house that Sunday, and he had the game on, which was surprising because it was the first time I ever saw him watching football. My stepbrothers were both football fans, which is probably why it was on, but regardless I spent that day watching the Super Bowl with my Dad.

The Super Bowl is an excuse to get everyone together for a party, and what’s a party without some tasty vittles?

I’ll be honest, there really isn’t anything I won’t eat when it comes to party food, but to me the key at a Super Bowl party is ease of delivery. How quick can I get it on my plate so I can get back in front of the TV and get back to the game. Pizza, wings, chips and dip, hot dogs, Italian beefs, burgers, and heck, I’ll even get down with some veggie sticks. A quick pass through the food line to load it up, then back to the tube.

This week’s SB Nation Reacts polls were all about the Big Game, and I wanted to share a few of them here.

There are no wrong answers in their food poll, but pulled pork sandwiches has been a popular party food in my experiences. Whether it be made in a smoker or a crock pot, it’s another easy item to feed the masses.

Normally I’d agree with this next poll, but the Super Bowl LVI halftime show is going to be epic. I can’t even remember the last really fun and interesting commercial that was created.

This year’s halftime show featuring Eminem, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, and Kendrick Lamar can pull from a library of hits, and I’ll expect all those songs listed in the poll below to get some time to shine. But there’s sure to be a few surprises too.

But for me anyway, the lead up and extra circulars are just the appetizer, because the matchup between the Los Angeles Rams and the Cincinnati Bengals should be an exciting one. The majority of our Reacts voters are going with L.A. and that’s my pick too.

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Bears’ fans, SB Nation Reacts is a neat way share your voice with fans across the NFL with their fun and topical surveys. Each week they’ll shoot out some questions to our plugged-in fanbase, both about the Bears and the other 31 teams too, and we’ll share the results here on Windy City Gridiron. Sign up here to join Reacts.