Saddle up for Super Bowl Sunday

MAT-SU — it happens once a year.

It’s an event so monumental it commands worldwide attention, brings families and friends together and creates some of our culture’s most vivid memories.

While this event could be the president’s annual State of the Union Address or the Pope’s Christmas message, the estimated audience of more than 100 million tuning into today’s Super Bowl makes the National Football League’s title game one of the world’s most popular events.

Worshipping at the altar of professional football may be close to a religion for many sports fans throughout the season, but the Super Bowl’s draw is transcendental. Even those living in the far North of Alaska’s Mat-Su Valley aren’t out of range.

Today, weeks of hype and hyperbole will hit a crescendo when the AFC Champion Pittsburgh Steelers kick off against underdog Arizona Cardinals, upstart winners of the NFC. Whether viewed quietly at home alone or with a rowdy crowd in a local sports bar, more than football will draw locals to the Super Bowl.

“I’m all for the underdog,” said Lynne Woods, a member of the Mat-Su Borough Assembly about why she’ll be pulling for the Red and White.

“I’m rooting for the Cardinals all the way,” she said. “I know they’re the underdog. I’m a fan of the Steelers, but I feel the Cardinals have a lot of determination. They’re a top-caliber team. It’s always nice to root for our Western states.”

Although she spends plenty of time during the week seeking solutions to weighty issues at the Borough, Woods admits that on the weekends, she loves to escape into football.

“Oh yeah, I’m one of those women who loves sports,” she said. “I was too early a generation to play sports in high school, for girls anyway. I like football, though. My grandson plays for Wasilla High. I admire the athletes and like the spirit of competition.”

When it comes to the Super Bowl, Woods said, she’s drawn to the whole experience, including the much anticipated television commercials and halftime show. Today’s halftime extravaganza features rocker Bruce Springsteen.

Woods may be into the whole big-game experience, but for hard-core pigskin fans like Borough Manager John Duffy, it’s just another game.

Another game, that is, unless the Chicago Bears are playing.

“This one (with the Steelers and Cardinals) has me kind-of torn, because Arizona originally was a Chicago team,” Duffy said. “But also, I’m an NFC guy, but I do think the Steelers are going to (win) it.”

The Cardinals were founded in 1920 s the Chicago Cardinals, then moved to St. Louis in 1960. The team moved again to Arizona in 1994.

Nevertheless, today is the Super Bowl, and although the Bears aren’t playing for a championship, “I’ll be glued to the game,” Duffy said. “I probably won’t have a party, though, because I get pretty emotional. I probably shouldn’t have anything I could throw at the TV. I have been known to do that.”

Duffy wouldn’t want to throw anything at the television set if he were one of the many Valley residents who choose to purchase or rent a big-screen TV for the big game.

At Colortyme rentals in Wasilla, all available televisions were spoken for well in advance of the Super Bowl, manager Dan Peterson said. With sizes ranging from 20 inches to a monster 65-inch big screen, some party hosts will shell out a few bucks for the weekend. Renting the largest 65-inch set for the weekend carries a price tag of $300.

Another option is to let others do all the work.

At Tailgater’s Sports Bar and Grill in Wasilla, Super Bowl Sunday is typically one of the busiest of the year, manager Nicole Lundstrom said.

“It’ll be a really busy day,” she said. “People start coming in anywhere from noon to 1 p.m. The pre-game starts at 1. We should have a full house.”

Tailgater’s has been a favorite hangout during the season for a group of local Pittsburgh Steelers fans, so Lundstrom anticipates they’ll be there early and in force.

The same is true for the Moosehead Saloon in Palmer, where regulars will celebrate in a more homey fashion — a potluck.

The Moosehead doesn’t have a kitchen, but when the Super Bowl comes around, all are welcome to bring a potluck dish to share and have a neighborly party, said Dowie Ferguson, a longtime bartender.

“This is just a real homey bar,” she said. “We do a lot of that and it’s definitely open to the public.”

There’s one place in the Mat-Su where today is just another Sunday.

At the Mat-Su Pre-Trial Facility in Palmer, those incarcerated there will do “the same thing they’re doing every day,” said Lt. Jay Barnhart, operations superintendent for the facility. There will be no special parties or food for the inmates, who may watch the game. Each dorm area (which has about 20 inmates) has a single television set. If those in the dorm decide to put the game on, they can, Barnhart said.

Much ado …

For Palmer resident Tony Pippel, all the hoopla surrounding the Super Bowl detracts from his experience as a fan.

“I’ll probably watch it,” he said. “It’s one of the least fun games of the year to watch, though, because it has all the fluff with the ads and stuff. Well, the Super Bowl ads are kinda fun, but there are too many talking heads (game announcers). It’s just a football game and they make it sound like the greatest thing since Jesus. Yakkity, yakkity, yakkity. I don’t give a hoot what they think.”

Pippel thinks the Steelers will win (he predicts a 24-13 score), but like Woods is pulling for the underdog.

“I’m rooting for the Cardinals because it’s such a good story and I go for the underdog,” he said.

In the newsroom at the Frontiersman, Sports Editor Jeremiah Bartz writes about and analyzes sports year-round. But he’s still a fan, and professional football tops his list of favorite sports to watch.

“The Super Bowl is a holiday in the Bartz household, even if the Bears aren’t playing,” he said. Like Duffy, Bartz’s first fan loyalty is to the Chicago Bears.

“it would be easy to predict a lopsided Pittsburgh win, but as unusual as the NFL season has been, I see Arizona making a game of it,” he said, predicting a close 27-23 win for the Steelers.

So take inventory of the chips, dips, hot wings, veggies, hoagies, antacid and a liquid refreshment of choose. Kickoff is at 2:28 p.m. sharp on NBC.

Contact Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.