The Super Bowl is unquestionably one of the biggest party days of the year. It is Americana at its finest and you can count me among those who believe that Congress should figure out a way to carve out another national holiday and my vote would be for Super Bowl Monday (with St. Patty’s Day a close second.)

Think about how much better the parties would be if folks didn’t have it in the back of their minds that they had to get up early for work the next morning. Might that provide a little economic boost? I think YES!

Super Bowl XLV for me is a bit like last year’s game featuring the New Orleans Saints and the Indianapolis Colts. Why? Well for one you had the underdog Saints who represented a city that has had its fair share of bad luck. The Saints story was the heartwarming one made all the better by their opponent, the reviled Irsay Mayflowers who did a Roethlisberger on Baltimore’s football heritage.

This year the team Baltimore despises even more than the horseshoe imposters is once again in the Super Bowl touting their Stairway2Seven credo. Got Pepto?

The Steelers will face the Green Bay Packers, a team that you would be hard pressed to find even a smidgen of a reason to dislike. Aaron Rodgers deserves this one and I hope it’s not his last. How great would it be that he delivers more Lombardi’s to Green Bay than ESPN’s favorite drama queen Brett Favre?

Ever been to Green Bay? The fact that this city not only has but even owns an NFL team is like a huge slice of old school. Talk about a throwback! Lambeau Field. The Frozen Tundra. Vince Lombardi. Bart Starr and the Green Bay Packers. Think Frederick, Maryland with its own NFL team and you’ve got Green Bay. Really!

How can you not root for the Packers?

If you are NOT pulling for Green Bay, you probably hoped Toto was slaughtered by the Flying Monkeys; or you wanted Clubber Lang to beat Rocky; cheered when Seabiscuit ruptured his leg tendon; maybe even wore a USSR hockey jersey in 1980 and shouted, “No I don’t believe in miracles!”

But of course Steelers fans will hear none of this as evidenced by the responses to this blog.

Oh and by the way all you Yinzers and Damon Yaffe, Google the word “yellow” and then click on “images.” The color you will see is the exact color opposite the black and white on your team’s uniform!

But I digress…

The Packers are favored on Sunday by 2 ½ points – the over/under is 44 ½. I think the fast indoor track favors the Packers spread offense – an offense that has given the Steelers trouble in the past (think Patriots).

Green Bay is the second No. 6 seed to advance to the Super Bowl. Coincidentally, Pittsburgh was the first, going to the 2006 Super Bowl. Then the favored Steelers defeated the No. 1 NFC seed Seattle Seahawks.

Look for the Packers to capture some of their own No. 6 seed magic on February 6. Over the past decade, the favorite has gone 6-4 in the Super Bowl. The last time Pittsburgh was the underdog in a Super Bowl was XXX. They lost.

They will lose again on Sunday 27-24 on a late field goal from Mason Crosby.

Back to the Pepto for a moment…

DID YOU KNOW…That on Super Bowl Sunday, more food is consumed than on any other holiday in America other than Thanksgiving? It’s true… Check out these numbers:

• 8 million pounds of guacamole are consumed on Super Bowl Sunday.
• It takes 49.5 million pounds of avocados to make that guacamole. To put that in perspective, cover the football field from end zone to end zone in 12 feet of guac!
• 22,000 tons of chips are eaten along with that guacamole.
• About 1.25 billion wing portions
• 9 million pieces of pizza
• Super Bowl fans spend more than $50 million on food during the 4 days prior to the super bowl.
• The average number of people at a Super Bowl party is 17.

MORE SUPER FACTS

• 5% of Americans will watch the game alone.
• Of the top 10 most watched television programs of all time, 9 of them are Super Bowls.
• Budweiser has been the exclusive Super Bowl beer advertiser for the past 13 years.
• The Super Bowl is measured in Roman numerals because a football season runs the span over two calendar years. The year the season began in 2006 and ends in 2007.
• Since the 1980s the Super Bowls have always started around 6pm Eastern Standard Time.
• More drivers are involved in alcohol-related accidents on Super Bowl Sunday than any other day of the year (except St. Patrick's Day), according to the Insurance Information Institute.
• The Vince Lombardi Trophy made by Tiffany takes 72 man-hours to produce; it costs $12,500.
• The NFL also pays for up to 150 rings for the winning team at $5,000 apiece (plus adjustments for extra gold or diamonds) and 150 pieces of jewelry for the losing team, each to cost up to half the price of the Super Bowl ring.
• 35% of people who attend the game write it off as a corporate expense.
• Over 700,000 footballs are produced annually for official NFL use and 72 of them are used for the Super Bowl.
• No network footage exists of Super Bowl I. It was taped over, supposedly for a soap opera. The two teams in Super Bowl I were the Green Bay Packers and the Kansas City Chiefs. The game was played in Los Angeles.

Many casual viewers will tune in to the Super Bowl for the commercials. Here’s a compilation of 2010’s best and then a sneak preview of a Go Daddy ad you will see this Sunday.