ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, January 26, 1996 TAG: 9601260052
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Friday Something
SOURCE: NANCY GLEINER
While the Pittsburgh Steelers and Dallas Cowboys are bashing their bones together, guess who really rakes in the bucks? Not Deion Sanders, who will be the highest-paid player on the field, earning $12 million this season. Not the sponsors who will pay $1.2 million for you to have a 30-second peek at their stuff - assuming you're not head-first in the refrigerator during commercials.
No, it's the supermarkets! Super Sunday reigns supreme as the snacking-est day of the year, surpassing even July 4 and Labor Day. Maybe it's only fitting that the pork producers will have their 30 seconds of air time.
Pork. Pigskin. Get it?
Though there won't be any Bulls or Bears on the playing field, the big game will be an accurate stock market indicator. In 22 out of the 25 years in which a team from the original NFL has won, the market has increased. Better odds than the money managers can give you.
The real story, though, is getting the story. Ruth Lipnik and Wendy Clark, reference librarians for Roanoke County, and I went into hyperspace (that's cyberspace speeded up because your deadline is the next morning) to unearth facts about something none of us really cared about. Talk about public service!
We now know more than we ever cared to about Super Bowls, including the facts that Redskins running back John Riggins once painted his toenails green, and the first Super Bowl's second-half kickoff was nullified by an official because NBC was still in a commercial break.
``I hate football,'' Clark said. ``I'll be packing boxes. I'm moving.''
``I'll be riding my bike,'' Lipnik said. ``Who cares?''
As for me, I ask my kids to let me know when the commercials come on.
That's when they turn into the raiders.
LENGTH: Short : 41 linesby CNB