Super Sunday is upon us. Bets are on that the Super Bowl will be over before it snows next in Sloatsburg. Las Vegas oddsmakers are holding steady with the New England Patriots as three-point favorites over the New York Giants. Both teams made it into the big game by the hairs of their chinny chin chins. Dropped passes in the end zone by both the Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers should have made for a different outcome. And then the hooked field goal by Baltimore kicker Billy Cundiff at the end of the Pats game showed without a doubt the choice of the football gods: rematch between Big Blue and Brady’s Boys.
So, East Coast fans everywhere get their dream game. And bars and pubs and eateries will benefit. The Calorie Control Council estimates that average fans and armchair quarterbacks, and the other 100 million people watching in tv land, will nosh down 1,200 per person during Sunday’s game. Lots and lots of food will be consumed. Fans are estimated to chow down on:
- 1.25 billion chicken wings
- 46 million pounds of potato chips
- 177 million pounds of snack foods like pretzels, tortilla chips and popcorn
- 71 million pounds of avocados (what?)
All those eats add up to nearly a billion dollars in snack food.
There are three main gathering spots around Sloatsburg where Big Blue fans are sure to get their share of food and football. Eric Lutz, who runs Sterlington Station off Seven Lakes Drive, said that his place will continue the Station’s Super Sunday tradition. “There will be plenty of free food at halftime and, of course, drink specials,” said Lutz. Sterlington will also hold its popular raffle.
Rhodes North Tavern will have its Super Bowl Budweiser Special, where — for $25 — fans get all the Bud and Bud Light they can drink all game, plus plenty of pizza and hero sandwiches. Bar Keep Richard Brightenback said his gut tells him that Big Blue fans will be out in force. “Sometime it’s hit or miss, but I think this year will be big. I hope it’s a close game,” he said, even though his Packers got knocked out by the Giants. “They deserved to lose because they couldn’t catch the ball.”
You can also cozy up at Character’s Restaurant and Bar, where regulars will be stationed around the comfortable side bar come game time. Starting at 12 p.m., special pints on tap will cost $2, with domestic bottles at $2.50 and shots at $4. Characters will also provide gratis a nice appetizer spread, including some of those billions of wings.
If you’d rather just cut to the chase, forget the game, and watch Super Bowl ads, go here, where you can watch every Super Bowl ad going back to 1960.
Will the Boys in Blue prevail and add a fourth title, XLVI, to their current three — XXI in 1986, XXV in 1990 and XLII in 2007. Of course, the Giants also have four titles in the pre-Super Bowl era: 1927, 1934, 1938, 1956. Or will Tom Brady, who certainly wins the super model wife contest, come through one more time for Beantown. Game on.
Enjoy America’s big Sunday game, coming to a screen near you February 5 @ 6:30 p.m.
Image credits: Associated Press, Saveonbrew.com.