The Expo's Guide to Super Bowl Sunday
In case you haven’t heard, this Sunday, February 3, the New England Patriots and the Los Angeles Rams will face off in the 2019 Super Bowl, a matchup that has only been seen once before in Super Bowl History. The game this Sunday is a football event that essentially serves as an American holiday. Whether or not you watch the game, it’s impossible to ignore the hubbub surrounding it. So, as football and entertainment fans around the country gather together to watch the game (or maybe just to watch the commercials and the highly-anticipated Maroon 5 and Travis Scott halftime performance, we’re not here to judge), the Exponent Staff has chosen to give our suggestions about meal prep, planning and bets to watch out for to help you decide how you want to spend Super Bowl Sunday.
Super Bowl Odds and Prop Bets
As the Super Bowl approaches, oddsmakers scramble to set the right line for the game. In addition to allowing people to bet on the outcome of the game, bookmakers also set lines for a plethora of other things involved with the Super Bowl. These are called prop bets.
Note: Bets are listed as money lines which are also known as “American Odds.” Here is how they work: If a money line is say -300, it means a $100 dollar bet if placed correctly would win $300 for a total of a $400 payout. If a money line is +300, it means an individual would have to correctly bet $300 to win $100 for a total of a $400 payout.
Here’s a list of some of the best bets that have come out of the 2019 Super Bowl:
Bets & Odds
-Odds to win Super Bowl LIII- New England Patriots-150 Los Angeles Rams+130
- Coin toss
Heads -105/Tails -105
-Maroon 5 opener
- “One More Night” +300/
- ”Makes Me Wonder” +300/”
- Animals” +500/
- ”Don't Wanna Know” +600/
- ”Girls Like You”+600
-Will Adam Levine wear a leather jacket?Yes -200/No +160
-Will any performer fall down?Yes +500/No -900
-Liquid poured on winning coach:Clear +250/Yellow +300/Red +600/ Blue
+400/Purple +900/ Green +700/ Orange +400
-Who will the MVP mention first in their speech?God +300/Teammates +200/Coach
+600/Owner +750/Fans +1000/Refs
+5000/Family +600/None of above +400
-Will CBS show Saints-Rams pass interference?Yes +200/No -300
-How many plays will Tony Romo Over 7.5 -140 Under 7.5 EVEN
correctly predict during the game?
-Total Donald Trump tweets on Feb. 3Over 6 -120 Under 6 -120
-Will a fan run onto the field during the game?Yes +800 No -2500
- Will the Chick-Fil-A franchise in Mercedes-Benz
Stadium be open on Super Bowl Sunday? Yes +575 No -1100
FAN FOOD
Are you hosting or attending a Super Bowl party and aren’t sure what kind of food to provide? Do you just like yummy recipes in general? The Exponent has some easy recipes that will make any food fan happy while they watch the game.
Classic Buffalo Wings
INGREDIENTS
FOR WINGS
- 2 lb. chicken wings
- 2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
- Salt & pepper (to taste)
- 1 tsp. garlic powder
FOR SAUCE
- 1/4 c. hot sauce (pick your favorite)
- 4 tbsp. butter
- 2 tbsp. honey
DIRECTIONS
- Preheat oven to 400° and place a wire rack over a baking sheet. In a large bowl, toss chicken wings with oil and season with garlic powder, salt and pepper. Transfer to prepared baking sheet.
- Bake until chicken is golden and skin is crispy, 50 to 60 minutes. Flip the wings halfway through.
- In a small saucepan, whisk together hot sauce and honey. Bring to simmer then stir in butter. Cook until melted; about two minutes. Heat broiler on low. Transfer baked wings to a bowl and toss with sauce until completely coated. Return wings to rack and broil (watching carefully!) until sauce caramelizes; three minutes.
- OPTIONAL: Serve with ranch and vegetables.
Ham and Cheese Sliders
INGREDIENTS
FOR POPPY DRESSING
- 1/4 c. mustard
- 1 tbsp. honey
- 1/4 c. butter, melted
- 1 tbsp. poppy seeds
FOR SLIDERS
- 1/4 c. mayonnaise
- 12 slider buns
- 12 slices deli ham
- 12 slices swiss cheese
DIRECTIONS
- Preheat oven to 350° and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. In a small bowl, combine mustard and honey and whisk to combine.
- In a medium-sized bowl, combine butter, poppy seeds, and 1 tablespoon of the honey-mustard mixture. Whisk to combine.
- Split slider buns horizontally and place bottom half on baking sheet. Spread mayo in an even layer on the bottom half of slider buns, then top with an even layer of ham and cheese. Spread top buns with honey-mustard mixture, then place on top of cheese layer. Pour poppyseed dressing on tops of buns (using a pastry brush to spread if necessary) until all buns are coated.
- Place in oven and bake until cheese is melted and buns are golden, 10-12 minutes. Slice and serve.
Local Events
Not interested in cooking, but still have the human need to eat? Before, during or after the game, make sure to keep yourself nourished. Cheer on your team of choice with a full belly — you can’t go wrong with making good food a tradition of the Super Bowl. Those with a meal plan can head over to Miller Dining Hall for a special Super Bowl-themed menu. The fares include a wing bar, chili cheese fries and your choice of six-inch subs. Stop by between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. to score the ultimate dining hall touchdown.
Living off campus or interested in heading out to enjoy the game? Go downtown to the Rocking R Bar for a Super Bowl party. The game starts at 4:30 p.m., so be sure to arrive around 3:30 p.m. before it gets too busy. There will be a wing special, a mystery beer on tap, 19 TV’s and two 100-inch screens on which the game will be projected. The bar is also giving away four TV’s for fans in attendance.
If none of the above pique your interest, Eagles Club & Ballroom is hosting a Super Bowl pregame event from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. There will be soup and sandwiches, and the proceeds will go towards Veteran Suicide Awareness and Veteran’s Day Brunch.
But What If I Hate Football?
By Opinion Editor Kylie Webb
Listen: the best part about Super Bowl Sunday is not the game.
It’s not watching some amount of dudes (the actual number of men on the field at any given time depends on a smattering of different influences including but not limited to weather, the horoscope prediction of the Defensive Coordinator, and the flavor of Gatorade™ in the Gatorade™-branded cooler on the sidelines that is specifically to dump on the head coach) play with a vaguely egg-shaped “ball.”
It’s definitely not the halftime show, and don’t even think that we’re talking about the commercials, which have been in a slow, downward slide since Budweiser’s 2007 “Rock, Paper, Scissors” commercial.
The best part about Super Bowl Sunday is the smug satisfaction you experience watching all the people around you devolve into the primal animals as they scream at the little men on the television, as if the little men could hear them and would care about what your great-uncle thinks about that simply terrible kick.
The Super Bowl is nothing more than a contest between the two luckiest teams of the year. Yes, luckiest, because more often than not, it’s not the two best performing teams over the course of a season that play one another. It’s whoever happened to have a better team out of the 12 that go (out of 32 in the league) to the playoffs.
If it was based on skill, we wouldn’t pit the best team from the NFC against the one from the AFC. We would simply make the two best teams out of all of them play, and definitely not in only one game. Sports like baseball and hockey have it the closest with their series-based playoff runs, and even then luck and division-based seeding play a bigger factor than any sports fan would like to admit.
So sit back, relax, and eat some dip, smug football-hater, because you know none of this matters anyway. Just remember, though, while you’re watching the football fans around you devolve into screaming children with your nose in the air, most of the things you love and find important are just as inconsequential, meaningless and boring.
Now get out there and play ball!
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