Super Bowl Start Time

Kickoff for this year's Super Bowl (43 if you're New School, XLIII if you're Old School) is at 6pm eastern standard time. Or 6:20pm EST. No one wants to say precisely; the pre-game show and various set-pieces have to be shoe-horned in, and sometimes these don't come off quite as planned. But you can probably expect the ball will be in play by 6:30pm EST at the latest. A world wide audience of potentially 1 billion could tune in.

The pre-game show starts at 12:01am EST on Sunday morning and will run continuously for roughly 18 hours, the commercials having long ago become integrated into the programming. Topics covered will include profiles of key players, their families, pets, and home towns, profiles of the coaches, their families, pets, and home towns, profiles of the assistant coaches, profiles of coaches' hair pieces if any, and highlights from each of the previous XLII Super Bowls accompanied by dramatic music and commentary. Complete exhaustion of all relevant subject matter will be achieved by 3:00pm EST.

The actual game will pit the Arizona Cardinals against the Pittsburgh Steelers. As of this writing Pittsburgh is favored by a touchdown or nearly so, but in recent years the games have been close. And almost compelling enough to justify the hype. If each team’s playoff performance is anything to go by, this year could hold true to form.

It should be noted as an afterthought that although the westernmost range of the North American Cardinal does extend to Arizona, you are much more likely to find these birds in the eastern half of the country. Nor is steel made in Pittsburgh these days. The city's economy is now based on healthcare, education, technology, robotics, fashion, and financial services.