Super Bowl Traditions and Superstitions

The Super Bowl is just a couple days away, and is considered by fans as a “holiday,” and an occasion to gather with family and friends. From the funny commercials, amazing half time show and the suspense filled game, the Super Bowl is entertainment at its best.

Did you know that there are a lot of Super Bowl Traditions and Superstitions?

At Atlas Cruises & Tours we’re all about traditions, so we wanted to share some of the most popular ones with you.

Super Bowl Sunday is usually held in late January or early February. From 1967, up until 2002 the Super Bowl had always been held on the last Sunday in January. Because of the September 11th attacks that occurred the previous year, the Super Bowl was delayed by a week that year. This year’s Super Bowl will make only the 7th time that the game has been held in February, but the next 2 year’s Super Bowls are confirmed for February as well, opening way to a new tradition.

Roman numerals aren’t just for those in Rome. The tradition of using roman numerals to express what year the Super Bowl is, started in 1971 with the fifth Super Bowl. This system is used because it’s supposed to help eliminate confusion about what Super Bowl it actually is. For the first time since 1971 however, the NFL decided to drop the Roman Numerals and opted for Super Bowl 50 last year.  The use of Roman numerals will be reinstated this year with Super Bowl LI at NRG Stadium in Houston.

The pregame show is now a household staple. For some, the pregame show is just as important as the Super Bowl. It wasn’t until 1976 that it was actually broadcast on TV. The first pregame show featured a release of 4,000 pigeons. Nowadays things like celebrities and fighter jets tend to be the stars of the show. It will be televised by CBS.  CBS boasts that there is a new EyeVision 360 camera system that will deliver high-resolution replays and this will be the first Super Bowl with pylon cams. Official kick off is at 6:30 pm EST.  You can expect to see a pre-Super Bowl show that starts 30 minutes before kickoff, which comes at the end of a four-hour Super Bowl pre-game show.

The amazing half time show & expensive commercials. In addition to the game, many look forward to the commercials and half time show. This year Lady GaGa will all perform. Advertisers are expected to spend over $5 million dollars on a 30 second commercial. Doritos, Budweiser, Snickers, Coca Cola and Pepsi will all be running commercials. The half time show is the most watched musical event of the year. Last year over 116.5 millions viewers saw tuned into the half time show.

Food: Large amounts of foods are consumed during the Super Bowl, only second to Thanksgiving. Chicken wings, chips and salsa and pizza top the list as the most consumed foods. Just how much food? Well an estimated 28 million pounds of chips, 1.2 billion chicken wings and more than 48 million pizzas will be served.

Bets: The Super Bowl is typically the most bet on sport each year. Last year an estimated $99 million dollars was bet legally – and who knows how much more was bet illegally. You can bet on just about anything. From how quickly the first score will be made and what the longest field goal will be, to what color Gatorade will be poured over the winning teams coach.

Even the President gets involved. It is a decades old tradition that the President of the United States calls the Super Bowl winners. The winning team also gets to visit the White House to get a behind the scenes tour. The Super Bowl champions in 1969, the New York Jets, were the first ones to start the tradition of touring the White House after winning the big game.

Super Bowl Superstitions: There are countless sports superstitions. Many will wear the same jersey or socks from the winning season (some without washing,) wearing certain colors or numbers, watching the big game with the same people that brought the team luck throughout the year, sitting in the same chair or the same place on the couch, not shaving before the game, praying (even those that are not religious)…the list goes on with rituals that fans feel they must do to avoid a catastrophe for their team. Another interesting superstition has to do with the stock market. It is believed that if a NFC team wins, the market and economy will do better during the year.

What do you think of these Super Bowl superstitions? Can you think of any that we might have missed?

The post Super Bowl Traditions and Superstitions appeared first on .