Nachos? Check. Beer? Check. ... Defibrillator?

2016 could be the year of losers

(NEWSER) - XLVI—the number of Sunday's Super Bowl—may be clunky, but at least it doesn't come with baggage. The NFL is preparing for the 50th Super Bowl in 2016, which will be Super Bowl L. Insiders are wary of T-shirts emblazoned with giant Ls: It could look like fans are just big losers, the Wall Street Journal notes. The "L" hand gesture is more recognizable than ever after TV's Glee adopted it in its logo. Maybe 2016 would "be a nice time to switch over to Arabic numerals," says an ad exec. More»

Brazilians not allowed to ban booze, soccer chief says

(NEWSER) - Banning beer at the 2014 World Cup is not an option, FIFA chief Jerome Valcke has warned Brazil. The world soccer kingpin, visiting the country for an inspection tour, says he isn't happy about the state of Brazil's infrastructure, the pace of construction at stadiums and, in particular, a government squabble over alcohol sales at the 12 venues that will host the World Cup, the BBC reports. More»

Next Sunday's games will determine who advances to Super Bowl

(AP) - For Eli Manning and the New York Giants, Lambeau Field has become a familiar launching pad. After beating the Green Bay Packers at home for the second time in four years, they only hope this trip ends the same way—at the Super Bowl. Manning threw three touchdown passes and the Giants shocked the Packers 37-20 in an NFC divisional playoff game today. Manning threw for 330 yards, sending the Giants to San Francisco for the NFC championship game next Sunday night. More»

By half time, the shirts are 2.5 times heavier

(NEWSER) - Nike is selling a ton of its new specially-designed Barcelona kits (that’s uniforms for the Americans in the audience), but there’s one big problem: The team hates them. Why? Because the eco-friendly shirts, which are supposed to improve performance somehow, actually get so dang sweaty that the players feel weighed down by them, the Guardian reports. Players came back from their preseason US tour complaining the shirts “weighed a ton” and “stuck to the body like a limpet.” More»

It's America's biggest game, but don't expect world to care

(NEWSER) - The Super Bowl is like America, writes Michael MacCambridge in the Washington Post —"big, convivial, gaudy, passionate and, surely, self-important." But as popular as the Super Bowl is, there are five big myths about the big game:

• It's the world's most-watched sports event. Nope, just America's. Last year's Super Bowl was the most-watched program in US television history, with 153 million viewers—a mere shadow of the 700 million who watched last year's World Cup final. For the rest of the globe, football pales in comparison to, well, football.