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EVERY THING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT SUPER BOWL 56

     From Worldometer (new  COVID-19 deaths yesterday):

          DAY  USA  WORLD    Brazil    India    South Africa

June     9     1093     4732         1185        246       82
July    22      1205     7128         1293      1120     572
Aug    12      1504     6556        1242        835     130
Sept     9      1208      6222       1136       1168       82
Oct     21      1225      6849         571        703       85
Nov    25       2304    12025        620        518      118
Dec    30       3880    14748       1224       299      465
Jan     14        4142    15512         1151        189       712
Feb      3       4005    14265       1209       107      398
Mar     2        1989     9490        1726       110      194
April   6         906     11787         4211       631       37
May    4         853    13667        3025      3786      59 
June   1         287    10637         2346      3205      95
 July   7          251      8440        1595         817     411
Aug    4          656    10120        1118         532     423 
Sept  22       2228      9326          839        279     124
Oct    6         2102      8255          543        315       59
Nov   3         1436      7830         186         458       23
Dec    1        1633      8475          266        477       28
Jan    7         2025      6729         148        285      140
       14          2303      7872         238        430      128
       21          2777      9091         396        489      103
       26          3143   10,554         606        575        94
       27          2689   10,261         662        627        71
       28          2732   10,516         779        862      133
Feb  2           2990   12,012         946        991      175
        9           2785   11,827         1295      1241      213
      10           2465   11,110           922        659     203
      11            1917    11,193          1121        804      146

Summary:
  • The decline of new deaths/day is happening in the USA.
  • We have also lost the lead in most new cases/day:
    • #1  Germany  229,989
    • #2  Russia  203,949
    • #3  Brazil  166,003
    • #4  USA   149,318
    • #5  France  131,376
    • #6  Japan  100,097 
Incidentally, if we were on our world cruise, which would have departed Los Angeles on January 19, our ship would now be in the Tasmanian Sea...where Tropical Cyclone Dodi at Category 2 is just about striking New Zealand.  Both this country, and our next stop, Australia, still do not allow foreigners to enter.  We could have been people without a country trying to avoid a major ocean storm.

The Super Bowl is not as popular today as 7 years ago, even with streaming, but remains as the most watched TV event in the USA.  There will be around 100 million watching tomorrow.  Here is a comparison:

  • Super Bowl XLIX in 2015 drew 114.4 million viewers.
  • #1 to #9 were all Super Bowls.
  • #10 was the 1983 Goodbye, Farewell and Amen final show of M*A*S*H.
  • #10 to #21 were Super Bowls.
  • #22 was the Leon Spinks vs Muhammad Ali second fight in 1978 with 90 million.
  • #23 to #30 were again all Super Bowls.

Worldwide, though, the Super Bowl does not get close to making the top 100.   Here is what the world watched:

  • #1  the UEFA Euro 2020 (soccer matches) in 2021 had an estimated audience of 5.23 billion!!!
  • #2  amazingly enough, the 2016 Rio Summer Paralympics with 4.1 billion.
  • #3  London 2012 Summer Olympics with 3.6 billion.
  • #16  ICC 2019 Cricket World Cup  3 billion.
  • #17  Michael Jackson memorial service in 2009, 2.1 billion.
  • #23  Muhammad Ali vs Leon Spinks II in 1978, 2 billion.
  • #29  Funeral of Princess of Wales Diana in 1997, around 2 billion.
  • #33  Live Aid, 1985, 1.9 billion.
  • #36  Elvis Aloha from Hawaii in 1973, 1.5 billion.
  • #48  First inauguration of Barack Obama in 2009, 1 billion.
Of course, the USA has only around 4% the world population, 334 million to 7.9 billion.  Yup, we are getting awfully close to 8 billion.  One projection has it occurring as soon as the end of this year.

So back to SBLVI on 13February2022:

Map from Los Angeles to SoFi Stadium.

  • SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, home of the Los Angeles Rams.  
    • Interestingly enough, the Bengals are the home team, and will call the coin toss plus choose which uniform to wear.
    • Actually the structure is in Englewood, California, which is 12 miles away.
    • Few know that SoFi is SoFi Technologies, a San Francisco-based online personal finance company which paid $30 million for use of their name for 20 years.
  • Game starts at 6:30PM EST on NBC.
  • No TV set, stream on Peacock or fuboTV
  • Al Michaels of Do You Believe in Miracles fame of the 1980 Winter Olympics will be the play-by-play announcer.
  • Rams' quarterback Matthew Stafford was the first overall pick by the Detroit Lions in 2009 and spent 12 mediocre years there.
  • Bengals QB Joe Burrow was the first pick of the Bengals in 2020.  He led LSU to the NCAA championship that year.  This becomes important, for I could not make up my mind as to what I would be eating for my "tailgate" tomorrow, as there is nothing particularly distinctive about Southern California or Cincinnati food...so I will go Louisiana Cajun.
  • Bengals are definite underdogs, by 4 points.  The under/over is 48.5.
    • Bengals first SB appearance since 1988.  Before this season, had not won a playoff game since 1990.
    • Youngest head coaching matchup:  Sean McVay (36) and Zack Taylor (38).   Taylor once worked under McVay.
  • About betting, here are some of the typical propositions:
    • Color of liquid poured on the winning coach:
      • Orange +250 (29% probability)
      • None  +350
      • Blue  +400
      • Clear  +450
      • Yellow/Green  +450
      • Red/Pink  +600
      • Purple +1000 (9%)
    • Will a player propose after the game?  Remember, February 14 is Valentine's Day.
      • Yes  +400 (20% probability)
      • No  -650 (87% probability)
    • Which media company commercial will air first.  Clearly this information has already been leaked:
      • Meta -170 (63%)
      • Amazon Prime +225
      • Google +275
  • Players to watch, Rams' receiver Cooper Kupp and Aaron Donald, Bengals QB Burrow/receiver Ja'marr Chase, both from LSU, and DJ Reader.
  • How appropriate, but Mike, the mascot of LSU, is a Royal Bengal Tiger.  Football is played in Tiger Stadium.  The original Mike, reigning from 1936 to 1956, was purchased from Little Rock Zoo with money raised by collecting 25 cents from each LSU student.
  • Country singer Mickey Guyton will perform the national anthem and there will be five performers at halftime:  Dr. Dre, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, Snoop Dogg and Mary Blige.
  • Who will win this game?  Of course, the Cincinnati Bengals.  This is the year of the Tiger.  Perhaps LSU will also do well, with a new coach, Brian Kelly, who came from Notre Dame.
The Super Bowl is the only athletic event I watch where I go to the restroom when the game is playing.  The commercials have lost some luster, for they get leaked early on purpose.  Here are, for example, Scarlett Johansson and Colin Jost for Amazon Alexa, Demi Moore and Mila Kunis for AT&T, Snoop Dogg and Martha Steward for Bic Lighters, Arnold Schwarzennegger for BMW, another Bud Clydesdale and a lot more.

In the first SB of 1967, the price of an advertisement was around $40,000.  This year, it is up to $6.5 million for a 30-second spot.

I can go on and on, but I'll next turn to what I will eat.
  • When I was in Cincinnati, I noticed they had some top-class restaurants.  However, Super Bowl food is not supposed to be of gourmet quality.  The best they can do is chili dog, ice cream and smiley face cookies.
  • Paul Brown Stadium doesn't have anything particularly distinctive, with cheese sandwiches, chili, Buffalo Wings and beer.
  • SoFi Stadium has good Mexican dishes, and I was tempted to go down that lane.  Except I don't like the Rams.  Never have because I've long been a San Francisco 49ers fan.
  • So it came down to Cincinnati.  Then deeper to Joe Burrow and his link to Louisiana, which led to food from that state.  
    • Too complicated to prepare gumbo, jambalaya and beignets.
    • A po'boy, submarine-type sandwich made with French bread, seemed reasonable.
    • But there is Popeye's.  The first opened up in New Orleans, while the second outlet appeared a block from where I lived when I was at LSU.  There are now 2451 Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen restaurants worldwide in 30 countries.
  • But what do I drink?  Can't get Jax Beer in Honolulu.  Started in Jacksonville, Florida, so that's why it is called Jax.  But now wholly brewed in New Orleans.  Saw it ordered in Streetcar Named Desire (97/90 ratings from Rotten Tomatoes), which was filmed there.  Pat O'Brien's Hurricane is just too sweet.  Gin fizzes are popular.  I'll figure this out by tomorrow.
To end, you got to watch, also tomorrow, the XVIII Puppy Bowl on Animal Planet from 2PM ET, featuring Jill Biden and Commander.  In Hawaii, Spectrum (1329) has the pre-game at 8AM, followed by the three hour bowl from 9-12.

- 

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