Along with Super Bowl XL, parties and advertisements associated with the event highlighted the news last week.

For the past four years I have watched the game with the members of Chapter 5 Disabled American Veterans at 139 S. Saratoga St., and this year the chapter went all out to please those who attended.

I learned from different news programs that 800 million people watch the Super Bowl game worldwide, which included 200 countries — 43 percent women and 57 percent men.

Many watch the game just for the commercials, and this year there were 10 that cost each advertiser two and a half million dollars for a 30-second time slot.

To be judged a favorite among viewers, the ad had to be funny and have a surprising ending. The Budweiser beer commercial involving the refrigerator and the dining area on a revolving wall came in first. The worst ads were the one about the Gillette Fusion razor and the ESPN mobile cell phone.

Super Bowl Sunday is the second largest food consumption day of the year and Thanksgiving Day is the first.

The biggest take out food is usually pizza, that includes one out of every seven orders, and totals 1.6 million pizzas statewide. To help things run smoothly, many Domino chains will call former employees in for a physical-training session to keep up with the steady pace.

Chicken wings usually total 200 tons and snacks alone, such as chips, popcorn and pretzels, usually total more than 33 million pounds, doubling the daily average.

On an average day, 0.6 million barrels of beer are consumed. On Super Bowl Sunday, 10.5 million barrels are consumed. Sodas usually total one million gallons.

When I arrived at the DAV building at 5:30 p.m., it seemed that they had every food, but pizza. Members of the chapter were very busy placing food on the serving table. On the menu were barbecue and plain pigs feet, barbecue chicken and pork, fried chicken, spaghetti and meatballs, garlic bread, a cheese tray, ham biscuits, party mix, cake, pie and a variety of beverages.

We watched the game on a 105-inch gigantic screen, and some not interested in watching the game played checkers and chess in a section of the room set up for games.

Local DAV members total slightly more than 200, with about 15 active members. Rudolph Auston is commander of the chapter.

I was looking forward to the game, but was also suffering from a sore toe that I had stubbed earlier. I did it

while wearing heels, and hurrying from church to go visit my daddy in Chesapeake, so that I could get back in time for the pre-game show and kickoff. Even after I changed to sneakers, before I went to the party, the toe was still uncomfortable.

There were an equal number of women compared to the men there, and I counted up to 100 people. Pittsburgh Steeler fans outnumbered Seattle Seahawk fans and I was going for the underdog-Seahawks.

The Steelers were winning the game when I left the building at the beginning of the fourth quarter. I just needed to get out of those sneakers.

During the drive home, I thought at least I enjoyed the Motown Review and Aretha Franklin singing the National Anthem. That show brought back many memories of the past. I also liked the way Mick Jagger performed during the halftime show, proving that he can still move as well as he did in the ‘60s, even now at the young age of 62.

Once home, I pulled off the sneakers in a hurry and took a deep sigh of relief of the pressure that was being released from the toe. I turned on the tube and continued to watched the Seahawks lose 21-10.

At that time I imagined how the Steeler fans at the DAV building were celebrating a big victory, while the Seattle Seahawks and I were beginning to feel the agony of (the feet) defeat.

Walls is a former News-Herald writer and regular contributor to this page.