Peoria Times
February 10, 2022
OPINION
7
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AROUND THE BLUHMIN’ TOWN
The Super Bowl is blocking Valentine’s Day BY JUDY BLUHM Peoria Times Columnist
What are you doing this Sunday? Let me guess, you might be joining about 100 million other Americans to watch the Super Bowl, where the Bengals and Rams lock horns (no pun intended). OK, so maybe our favorite team is not even in the game, but that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy a little football. What we witnessed during the playoffs was possibly the most thrilling battles we have seen in a while. Underdogs ruling the day. Overtime deciding the fate of teams. Mistakes, fumbles, interceptions and plain stupid calls played out in front of our disbelieving eyes. And yet, we also witnessed greatness, when a ball sails through the air to new heights, to be caught on the fly, or makes it perfectly through the goal posts. So, all we can do is cheer, yell and coach from the living room. Oh, we are great armchair coaches. What were special teams thinking when they sent out only 10 men to block a field goal? Yikes, and this happened to be the game-winning field goal. Idiots! Hold on, quarterback, why are you going for a touchdown at the one-yard line when you should call in the kicker? And wait, did we just see that in the final moments of a game when the quarterback spiked the ball, an umpire allowed the clock to run out? Hey, it seems unfair that a coin toss sets up overtime play! Of course, it’s not so “unfair” if you win. Let all the pundits and sports analysts dissect the season. We have big-
ger fish to fry. Not exactly fish, more like chicken wings. Yep, Americans love their wings, and this Super Bowl Sunday we will consume approximately 1.35 billion of them. And let’s not forget that we also love pizza. Americans will eat about 30 million slices of pizza on game day. How might we wash it all down? Well, let’s try with 325 million gallons of beer. Which actually goes well with the 9,200 tons of chips that we will be eating. In other words, on Super Bowl Sunday, we have become pigs. Super Bowl Sunday ranks only behind Thanksgiving as the biggest food
consumption day of the year. The average person watching a game will devour 6,000 calories of yummy treats and libations. OK, who said that watching a football game had to be healthy? The proof is in the Pepcid because sales of antacids increase by 20% within 24 hours after the Super Bowl. Guess all those chips, dips, wings, pizza and beer has consequences. And a shocking 6% of Americans will call in sick from work the day after the big game. Perhaps this year, Valentine’s Day is being eclipsed by a bigger celebration
— of indigestion and hangovers. Only kidding, we can love a little football and still eat candy on Valentine’s Day. Hmmm, not so sure. Get ready for football! Enjoy the spectacle of a great show. Grab your favorite antacid and munch away because wings, pizza and beer are recommended — but not required. PT Judy Bluhm is a writer and a local Realtor. Have a story or a comment? Email Judy at judy@ judybluhm.com.
