Starting next week until Sunday, Feb. 5, the most talked about people in the world will not be presidents or politicians; they will be the players and coaches for the New England Patriots and Atlanta Falcons.
Newspapers, radio, TV and blogs will be inundated with stories.
The Super Bowl is still The Game of the year, but it also a major event that is primarily owned by corporate America, which buys the bulk of the tickets.
The face value of a Super Bowl ticket runs between $2,500 and $3,000, or the price of four LG 60-inch high-definition, flat-screen TVs (Best Buy is having a sale).
Think about hosting a Super Bowl party with those babies hooked up around your house, or maybe even on the deck or porch like my friend John Riddle, who has turned most of his backyard into a man cave.
One tip if you are hosting or going to a party: If you are going to get pizza to go, do it as early as you can because the pizza places get slammed on Super Bowl Sunday.
And another tip if you were fortunate enough to land a ticket: Keep it in a secure place until you are inside NRG Stadium in Houston.
A few years ago the late Jerry Davis and his wife, Shirley, had tickets. Jerry had them in his shirt pocket, but when they got to the gate they were gone.
The Super Bowl attracts almost as many pickpockets as Mardi Gras in New Orleans.
Also brace yourself for the February feeding frenzy that eventually becomes March Madness, because the world of college basketball got a little crazy this week.
No. 1 Villanova, No. 2 Kansas and No. 4 Kentucky all lost Tuesday. Three of the top four teams losing on the same night hadn't happened in five years.
That was followed up by No. 6 Florida State and No. 8 UCLA losing Wednesday.
Not saying parity is here, but of the 347 teams that could play in the NCAA Tournament, only Gonzaga is undefeated. The Zags will move from No. 3 to No. 1 in the next Associated Press poll if they win at Pepperdine on Saturday.
Baylor is the only team with one loss. Seven teams have two losses, one of which is the Oregon team that two years ago wanted to fire head Coach Dana Altman, who led the Ducks to the Elite Eight last season and sits atop the Pac-12 standings with Arizona this year.
Altman is sort of the Arkansas Razorbacks former head basketball coach. He stayed one day and never signed anything, jumping back to Creighton because he didn't feel he had the support of the administration at Arkansas.
Speaking of Creighton, the Bluejays looked to be a major threat to win the Big East regular-season title and be a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Then they lost point guard Maurice Watson Jr. three games ago and lost both games afterward. That shows how important one player can be, although Creighton is still 18-3.
Two teams to keep an eye on are North Carolina, which quietly sits atop the ACC standings at 7-1 and 19-3 overall. Duke's fall since Coach Mike Krzyzewski took a leave of absence for back surgery is garnering most of the headlines, but the Tar Heels' three losses were to Indiana, Kentucky and Georgia Tech, which just knocked off Florida State.
The Cinderella -- although after beating No. 2 seed Michigan State last season that doesn't really fit -- is Middle Tennessee State, which is coached by Kermit Davis. The Blue Raiders lead Conference USA and are 18-3 overall. They are 2-0 against SEC schools after beating Ole Miss and Vanderbilt. They are on a seven-game winning streak.
The fun has just begun for college basketball fans.
Sports on 01/27/2017