No " Wardrobe Malfunctions " this year !

The evening saw more than 15,000 Tonnes of potato chips vanish from the surface of the earth !

But more than that everyone seems to be relieved that this years Super Bowl has passed without setting off any booby traps !

Some interesting statistics about the Super Bowl from an IANS article that appeared in the Economic Times today:

• Sunday witnessed over 7 million Super Bowl parties across the US of A


• Attended by more than 140 million americans


• The match itself was attended by more than 80,000 fans


• Who paid between $500 - $600 per ticket


• This year advertisers paid and average $2.4 million for a 30s TV ad-slot


• That's $80,000 a second or more than Rs. 36 lakhs per second !

The full article below:

New York, Feb 7 (IANS) Some 140 million Americans partied around their television sets munching chips and drinking beer watching the National Football League's (NFL) 39th Super Bowl - one of US' most popular shows.

Over seven million Super Bowl parties were reportedly hosted Sunday evening with the popularity of the holiday sometimes even surpassing Christmas in the US.

For those who love football, the clash between the champions New England Patriots and the Philadelphia Eagles was an irresistible draw in itself. And for those who did not care about the game, the attraction was cleverly crafted commercials.

The game itself took place in Jacksonville, Florida, but was seen around the country on homes, cruise ships, bars, clubs, hotel lobbies, brothels and even the White House.

One of the biggest attractions of the show was former Beatle Paul McCartney's live performance at half time. It was in marked contrast to last year's halftime fiasco where singer Justine Timberlake ripped off fellow pop star Janet Jackson's bustier exposing a breast.

The incident, described as a "wardrobe malfunction", brought the culture police and the Federal Communications Commission down heavily on the risqué stunt that went too far. Both Jackson and Timberlake strenuously explained that the bustier was not supposed to come off fully.

Some 80,000 people gathered at the stadium paying between $500 to $600 although given the popularity of the game tickets would have gone at a premium.

In keeping with peculiarities of American sports, although called football the game hardly, if at all, involves any kicking. Players looking like futuristic warriors, dressed up in figure hugging lycra uniforms, run at each other carrying the ball in their hands. The American football is often more about physical prowess than skill.

Apart from the game, food is the centrepiece of Super Bowl Sunday with Americans consuming more food than on any other day with the exception of Thanksgiving. According to one estimate nearly 15,000 tonnes of chips were consumed. There was no immediate estimate of how much beer was consumed but it could run into millions of bottles.

Broadcast by Fox Network, Super Bowl is one of the most expensive shows to advertise on with an average advertiser paying an average of $2.4 million for a 30-second spot. Almost invariably companies produce exclusive TV commercials for the game's broadcast. Companies spend millions of dollars often working around the year to produce that 30-second spot exclusively for this day.

Commercials get discussed and dissected next day on television networks.Meanwhile, the Dec 26 tsunami devastation had its echo on the game with the appearance of former presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, both appointed by President George W. Bush to raise money for the victims.

"I think we're doing some good. The American people have given hundreds of millions of dollars," Clinton said.

Clinton and Bush are both scheduled to travel to the affected areas soon to see how the relief efforts are going. So far half a billion dollars has been raised by the people in America.

By Mayank Chhaya, Indo-Asian News Service