Tanya Marsh

If football were the best part of the Superbowl, then every football game would be as special as the season-ender.

No, surely it’s the pregame or the extravagant halftime show or perhaps the commercials that make the Superbowl so special.

Or maybe it’s a little bit deeper than that?maybe the Superbowl is a time to be with family and friends.

Junior Beth Johnson doesn’t call herself a hardcore fan of football, but she’s anticipating Superbowl Sunday anyway.

“[I am] just going over to a friend’s house. He’s having a Superbowl party with food, friends, and a big TV.”

Johnson thinks the day will be special because of the people rather than the pigskin.

“All my friends like football, so it’s just a time to be with them,” she said.

“The people that I’m celebrating with are people I don’t get to see very often because I don’t go to school with them, so it’s a time to catch up.”

Besides the social aspect, Johnson said she does enjoy other parts of the Superbowl.

“[I like] the commercials.” she said.

“The halftime show can be good, depending on who’s in it.”

Others may not have plans made for certain, but would like to share the day with family and friends.

Freshman Jason Jungers said, “It would be fun to eat and drink and be merry with my relatives,” he said.

And since he doesn’t have a favored team going into the game, he has a plan for cheering strategy.

“I usually go with the underdog,” he said. “It’s fun to pick a team and make fun of my relatives when their team loses.”

However, freshman Ben Heitz already has an idea of which team he’ll be cheering on.

“I don’t really have a team,” he said. “But I’ll probably go with the Rams this year. I grew up watching Kurt Warner play football in Iowa.”

Heitz seems to focus more on the game than the trimmings. Although he does confess that the commercials are his favorite part of the Superbowl, the pregame and halftime shows aren’t what he’s after.

“I watch it but I don’t like it,” he said.

This stance is the opposite of that of freshman Jordan Nolz, who has no plans to watch the game but is anticipating the pregame show.

“[I’ll watch] just the pregame, to watch Barenaked Ladies,” she said.

“They’re so great. Barenaked Ladies is my favorite band.”

Since she lives in the dorm, Nolz says she may end up watching a little bit of the football end of the Superbowl as well.

“Depends on who’s there,” she said. “People come and go.”

But is the Superbowl the same-old, same-old, year after year? Friends, Tostitos and the “big TV, as big as we can get” that Heitz is after?

This year’s show may have a new twist.

“[This year] might be a little different with the whole Sept. 11 thing,” Heitz said.

“I think they’re going to do a tribute at halftime.”