Super Bowl - the one to stay in for

OPINION: Monday will start like most other Mondays even though there is only one Monday like it in New Zealand each year.

The alarm will sound at 4.45am, at which point the snooze button will be lightly tapped.

The alarm will leap back into life nine minutes later and be swiftly turned off, thus avoiding a well-placed Mrs Yalden elbow to the ribs.

This is followed by a bleary-eyed stagger to the bathroom and a lukewarm shower to help the awaken process.

Then its clothes on, brush teeth, do the hair, a squirt of CK IN2U for men, a quick check to make sure my son is warm and snug under the covers in his cot and off to work we go.

However, this Monday will only be a half day, finishing just after nine o'clock following a chat with Hamilton Mayor Bob Simcock about the state of our fair city.

Because this Monday is Super Bowl Monday; the US sporting event of the year, which must be savoured and honoured in an appropriate fashion.

Now I can hear you asking aloud "But Nigel the Super Bowl doesn't start until 12.35pm New Zealand time, why not just finish after midday and save half a day of annual leave?"

An excellent question my friend.

The main enemy when waiting for major sporting events to roll around is time itself.

The hands on the clock seem to move at snail's pace in even the best of workplaces, so it is vital to remove yourself from that environment and put yourself in an area where time moves at an accelerated rate – the Horsham Downs Golf Club.

Eighteen holes of time-consuming bliss (possibly another nine if it's a quiet day on the short nine hole layout) and before you know it game time is fast approaching.

Next stop is the supermarket to acquire snacks and beverages that compliment and enhance Superbowl viewing enjoyment.

While a packet of Bluebird Sour Cream and Chives chips is compulsory (I am a Kiwi lad after all), a packet of Doritos and pop corn with extra butter is also a necessity.

Likewise Reese's Peanut Butter cups and Hershey's cookies'n'cream chocolate bars (which are becoming increasingly more difficult to find, it must be said) combined with a plunger of Americano coffee make for the perfect viewing partner to the Super Bowl halftime show, to be performed this year by rock group The Who.

However, it is not all about food.

Fresh batteries for the remote(s) should also be purchased, likewise a four-pack of toilet rolls.

Nothing spoils a tight, tense game of American football more than heading to the toilet during the two-minute warning of the final quarter only to find nothing but a short cardboard tube hanging limply on the holder and no replacement in sight.

After completing the acquisition of the aforementioned essentials, it's home to freshen up, make some lunch (hot dogs is always a good way to go – quick and simple) and settle in for an event that is as much about what happens before, during and after the game as it is for the 60 minutes (or more) of actually playing time that ultimately decides the winner of Super Bowl XLIV.

For the record, I am picking the Colts to beat the Saints.

I readily subscribed to the "in order to win a final, you must first lose a final" theory.

Indianapolis won a Super Bowl just three years ago while this is the first appearance at the big dance for New Orleans ever.

While in Peyton Manning the Colts have the best quarterback in the NFL with a host of quality receiving targets, attacking an average-at-best Saints defence who have made some ill-advised comments leading up to the game.

Nigel Yalden is a Waikato-based sports commentator for Newestalk ZB and Radio Sport

- © Fairfax NZ News