Thursday open thread: What is your favorite part of Super Bowl Sunday?

The Super Bowl isn’t just about a game. It’s an event. The biggest sporting event in the United States, to be more specific. There’s glitz (I think, I don’t really know what glitz is). There’s glamour. There’s commercialism and popular culture crammed into a four-hour composium of lights and food and sports and NOISE.

If I’m coming off as cynical, I don’t mean it. I love the Super Bowl. I love the Super Bowl as much as a Detroit Lions fan could possibly love the one thing that has been unattainable for my entire lifetime twice over.

So let’s celebrate how awesome the Super Bowl is, because sometimes it feels like there are fewer and fewer things to celebrate these days.

Today’s Question of the Day is:

What is your favorite part of Super Bowl Sunday?

My answer: It’s the game. It has to be the game. We’re about to be football-less for six months, so I want to squeeze every little bit of juice out of this Super Bowl. We’re going to have to subsist on whatever comes of it for half of a year.

But I love plenty of other things about the Super Bowl. I love the food. I love the extra excitement that Squares brings to the table. I love the high stakes and the tearful hugs in confetti. I love Super Bowl Twitter, and hell, I love the Puppy Bowl, too.

However, the one thing that I think I love above all else is the fact that for one day, the entire nation shares my biggest passion with me. I love the game of football, and on Sunday, it’s all that will matter to everyone else in America. It’s validating to know that the thing I love has value to so many other people, even if they’re watching for different reasons.

But I hate the commercials. And I’m really going to hate the inevitable “Dilly, Dilly” commercial. I blame you all for that one.

Your turn.