Just Try to Avoid the Super Bowl
Jan. 27, 2004 -- — If you're an NFL star or a pizza deliveryman, one thing is true — the Super Bowl could very likely be the most important day of your professional life.
We all know that the Super Bowl is more than just a football game. Those 30-second TV commercials have turned the Budweiser talking frogs and those "Whassup?!" guys into celebrities.
It's no wonder Super Bowl sponsors now pay $2.3 million for an ad. The most highly charged sports event of the year reaches more than 100 million TV viewers.
But even if you hate football, it's fairly clear that the Super Bowl has a bigger impact than most dates on the calendar, even most official holidays.
Consider this: Super Bowl Sunday now makes for more dangerous driving conditions than New Year's Eve. It's the biggest day of the year for the fast-food delivery business.
And when it comes to aggressive marketing, the Super Bowl is even giving Santa a run for the money.
I'm not saying these are the best ways to judge the importance of a national event. I'm just saying that the Super Bowl is the one sporting event you can't avoid.
Let's take a look at some of the strange ways, good and bad, that the Super Bowl is America's No. 1 unofficial holiday.
Penalties for Going Long:
Brace yourself for this public service announcement: Friends don't let friends drive after the Super Bowl.
In the hour after the big game ends, the danger of car crashes increases 41 percent. What's more, the accident rate is highest in the losing team's home state.
New Year's Eve is often thought to be the most dangerous night to be behind the wheel. But the odds of being in a car accident only increase 10 percent on that night.
"I'm not saying the Super Bowl should be canceled," says Donald Redelmeier of the University of Toronto, who based his research on U.S. Department of Highway data over the past 27 years.
"We just have to make people aware and take precautions. It's the awareness of driving after New Year's Eve parties that have made traveling that day somewhat safer."
In the interest of highway safety, we could move the Super Bowl to New Year's Eve — a move that might also cut in half the number of annual hangovers.
Losers Binge: When your team loses, you not only lose money, but you also gain weight. Fast-food chains report that sales increase in cities where the home team loses.
The Super Bowl has historically been Domino's No. 1 day for deliveries. The company expects to move 1.2 million pies nationwide, a 42 percent increase over the typical Sunday.
"The tipping is always better in the city that wins," says company spokeswoman Holly Ryan. "But from a sales standpoint, you have to root for a close game. Overtime is good for the economy."
Wingstop hopes to become the first chicken wing chain to sell more than 1 million wings in a 13-hour span on Sunday.
The chain of 160 restaurants has set new sales records on Super Bowls for nine consecutive years. "That's why we love this time of year," says Jim Flynn, Wingspot's CEO.
Flushing Out Myths:
Just like Friday the 13th, Super Bowl Sunday is shrouded in legend and superstitions that just aren't true.
Football may be brutal. Some men take it too seriously. But there's no proof that violence against women increases on Super Bowl Sunday, according to the urban legend trackers at Snopes.com
In 1993, several domestic violence experts cited a study conducted at Virginia's Old Dominion University. In reaction, the Super Bowl broadcast that year included a public service announcement addressing domestic violence.
However, The Washington Post found that the oft-quoted study simply didn't exist.
Other myths: Guacamole at Super Bowl parties does not account for two-thirds of U.S. avocado sales, nor have national sewage emergencies emerged as a result of the tremendous number of toilets being flushed simultaneously at halftime.
On Super Bowl Sunday in 1984, a 16-inch water main in Salt Lake City ruptured. But the game has never been cited as a cause, Snopes reports.
Slurping the Official Soup: If you don't believe the NFL has an official soup, perhaps you should consult the Super Bowl Host Committee's "Official Law Firm."
You can only air so many Super Bowl ads, so the NFL is finding an ever-increasing revenue stream by selling its name.
If football isn't your game, perhaps you'd rather watch gridiron legends Jim Taylor and Bobby Bell in the Breathe Right "Snore-Off."
Breathe Right is the Super Bowl's official nasal strip, used by more than 125 NFL players. Tuesday's snore-off is just one of the countless events Super Bowl week that raise brand awareness and money for charity.
In similar events, NFL legends Joe Montana and Dan Marino will battle it out in a Kraft Foods cook-off while the Philadelphia Eagles' Donovan McNabb and his mother compete in the Chunky Soup wagon race, which will result in 1 million cans of food donated to charity.
This year's Super Bowl even gave birth to the first NFL-sanctioned dog show, "The Dog Bowl," with proceeds benefiting Houston's PAWS (Pets Are Wonderful Support) program to help terminally ill pet owners take care of their furry friends.
Pooches got to dress as gridiron greats, as well as refs and cheerleaders. They also competed in a "sack the quarterback" competition by running through a maze and tackling a rawhide-flavored cutout. Pigskin Pajama Games: The NFL certainly doesn't have a hand in a lot of the game hoopla. One of the biggest sideshows this year is "The Lingerie Bowl," a pay-per-view event that features models playing tackle football in nothing but skimpy undies and cleats.
Flame-haired Angie Everheart, the supermodel who was once engaged to Sylvester Stallone, is among the competitors, and so is Playboy playmate Nikki Zierling, who demonstrated her tough moves as the nasty policewoman stripper in American Pie 2 and I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here.
"The halftime show isn't for everybody," says organizer Omar Mortaza. "Most guys start flipping channels, and this will sure hold their attention."
Two of football's greatest legends, Eric Dickerson and Lawrence Taylor, are lending their names to this event, as is announcer Michael Buffer, who will open the show with his trademark yodeling of "Let's get ready to rumble!"
The exception here, of course, is that most of the rumbling will come from the spectators — especially if the toilets explode, the guacamole runs out, and there's an upset in the celebrity snore-off.
Buck Wolf is entertainment producerat ABCNEWS.com. The Wolf Files ispublished Tuesdays. If you want to receive weekly notice whena new column is published, join the e-maillist.