HURRICANE vs BUD: Preparing for the Super Bowl

Nothing to do with a hurricane hitting New Orleans.  Tomorrow is Super Bowl LIX or 59.  This logo was created by "Queen" Tahj Williams (below) of the Mardi Gras Indians.  They are African American carnival revelers in New Orleans.  Their origin goes back to around 1730 when they danced during the Mardi Gras.  This is the first time that the NFL has collaborated with a local artist on the design of a Super Bowl Emblem.  Note the fleur-de-lis, resemblance to ironwork balconies and color combo, evocative of New Orleans and the Mardi Gras.

Another first is that the Super Bowl game will be streamed for free via Tubi, owned by Fox.

The Philadelphia Eagles will be the home team, and has chosen to wear their midnight green home jerseys with white pants.  The Kansas City Chiefs will wear white with red pants.  These are the same uniforms worn when they met in SB57, won by the Chiefs.  Kansas City won again last year, and could become the first to ever win three-straight Super Bowl games.

Fox will use over 100 cameras, including a new 4K, 240 Hz Sony as its high skyscam.  There will be augmented reality graphics.  The production will be made available with Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos surround sound on Comcast Xfinity.

Jon Batiste will perform the U.S. national Anthem, and rapper Kendrick Lamar (who co-headlined the 2022 halftime show) will this year be the main star at half-time.  He just won 5 Grammys, and his Not Like Us was both song of the year and record of the year.  Did you know that Song of the Year recognizes the composition, while Record of the Year is for performance and production?

President Donald Trump will be interviewed live by Fox News anchor Bret Baier in the Superdome, becoming the first sitting president to ever attend a Super Bowl.  Joe will not come, but Jill Biden, a longtime Eagles fan, will be there with her grandson Hunter.  Other Philadelphia followers who might be in the audience include:  Will Smith, Bradley Cooper, Kevin Hart, Tina Fey, Pink, Sylvester Stallone, Danny DeVito, and Kelly Ripa.  Trump being Trump, His Meanness revoked Joe Biden's security clearance and stopped daily intelligence briefings.  

Regarding people attending the Super Bowl, more importantly, Taylor Swift will be coming for her second Super Bowl.  She will be the showcase for various propositions.  What will she wear?  A post Super Bowl proposal?  No is at +800.  Some other Chief fans who could attend are:  Brad Pitt, Paul Rudd, Jason Sudeikis, Henry Winkler and Melissa Etheridge.

There is a tense history regarding Trump vs Swift.

• Taylor was TIME's Person of the Year in 2023.
• Donald was TPotY 2024.
• Trump is 79 and Swift is 35.
• Going back further:

• 
  October 2018:  Swift supported Democratic senatorial candidate Phil Bredesen over Republican Marsha Blackburn.  Said Trump, I like Taylor's music about 25% less now, OK?
• August 2019:  Swift said Trump thinks he's in an autocracy.

• 
  In Swift's 2020 Netflix documentary, Miss Americana, she refers to Blackburn as Trump in a wig.
• 29May2020:  Swift calls out Trump for actions towards the U.S. Postal Service.
• October 2020:  Swift endorsed Biden over Trump.
• November2023:  Trump embraced the insurrection song "Justice for All, which his #1 on iTunes.  Said it beat Taylor Swift.
• 
  August 2024:  Trump posts AI-generated images of Swift and her fans endorsing him.
• 10September2024:  Swift endorsed Kamala Harris.
• 11September2024:  Trump disparaged Swift in a Fox interview.
• 15September2024:  Trump says he HATES Swift.

So say you want to be there with Trump and Swift in the Superdome, and you happen to be close enough to New Orleans, how can you get a ticket today.  

• You can go to Ticketmaster and find a seat for $2800.  
• Well, maybe not, for I just went to that site and found the cheapest for $3,213, Seat 1 in Section 621, Row 19.  Located way up there in a corner.  
• However, there are still 2 tickets left at the lowest level, Section 142C, near the 50-yard line for $11,000+ each.  Not sure what the + means.
• The most expensive ticket is listed at $24,995 in the first row of Section 139, which is in the corner of the end zone.

About that proposal mentioned above, what does +800 mean?  The implied probability is 11.11%.  Bet $10, get back $90 if you win.  You lose the $10 if you don't.  The right column of this blog site provides details.  Click on Go to: or  ODDS CALCULATOR to figure out betting odds.

51 minutes of Super Bowl 59 ads were sold, the most expensive being $8 million for 30 seconds.  

• The expectation is that in three years, the total cost will be around a billion dollars.
• The first Super Bowl in 1967 sold 30-second spots for $37,500 on NBC and $42,500 on CBS.  Two networks broadcast that game.  30-second ads finally hit $1 million in 1995 and $5 million in 2017.
• 
  The most expensive commercial was aired in Super Bowl LVI featuring real-life couple Scarlett Johansson and Colin Jost for Amazon Alexa.  90 seconds for $26 million.  

• 
  More than 120 million will be watching the game.  But note that the 2022 World Cup (soccer) final had 1.5 billion viewers, more than ten times the Super Bowl.  But keep in mind that the U.S. has only 4% the world population.
• A top celebrity cameos in these ads will earn some stars $2 million.  
• 
  Can you believe Ben Affleck was last year paid $10 million for his Dunkin' ad?  He's back, with Succession actor Jeremy Strong.  Want see this ad?  Click on THIS.
• Compilation made in 2022, but the Top 10 Super Bowl Commercials of All Time.
• Hate to spoil it for many of you, so don't watch it, but here is a video of the Best Super Bowl Ads of 2025.

Other propositions include:

• What major brand will be in the first SB59 commercial?

• 
  Which celebrity will appear first in a commercial?
• Who else will be with Kendrick Lamar on his half-time show?
• How many songs he will perform (under 10.5 is the current favorite at -125).  -125?  55.56% probability.
• Will there be a power outage?  There was one the last time the SB was played in the Super Dome.  delayed the game for half an hour.

• 
  Will the price of Bitcoin rise or drop?
• Tom Brady’s Tie Color?
• Blue (+175 or 63.64% probability)
• Gray/silver (+300) 
• No tie (+320) 
• Red (+600)
• Black (+1200) 
• Green (+1200)
• Pink (+1200)
• Yellow (+1200)
• 
  The Most Valuable Player is usually a quarterback, but Eagles running back Saquon Barkley also looks good this year.  Had him on my fantasy team.  But this prop is not on who will win.  Who will the MVP first thank in his acceptance speech.  
• God/religious figure is the clear favorite at -210 (67.74% probability)
• teammates (+325)
• family (+700)
• team organization (+1400)
• fans (+1600)
• coach (+2000)

I went to purchase a few items for watching the Super Bowl, and thought, as much as Budweiser is not one of my favorites, thought I'd buy a large can, for their SB ads are good.  Located right next to that can in the market, though, was a similar size Hurricane, also brewed by Anheuser Busch.  However, the Bud can cost $3.55, while the Hurricane was priced at $2.49.  Further, Hurricane has 8.1% alcohol, double that of Bud.  Of course I bought the Hurricane.  I'll have it with a Po' Boy, the sandwich of Louisiana.  Also Bloody Mary and Margarita with tacos.

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