An athletic mega-event that's practically a national holiday, Super Bowl Sunday has a way of inspiring a whole lot of cooking, marketing, music-making and, yes, low-budget comedy bits.

Resident ESPN jokester Kenny Mayne recently decided to take viewers on a "hard-hitting" tour of the town where Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy grew up: Greenfield, a neighborhood in Pittsburgh, Penn., smack in the middle of Steelers territory.

And who should pop up in the footage? Oscar winner Matt Damon, over-the-top cranky in his role as a high-school rival (Damon actually went to high school in Cambridge, Mass.), griping about McCarthy from inside his posh Hollywood trailer.

If you've ever wondered what it would be like to see Betty Draper play Beer Pong, you got to see it last night on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Then January Jones helped Pittsburgh Steeler Troy Polamalu demonstrate the best way to tackle someone.

NBC continues to play musical chairs on Football Night in America, the network's Sunday night blanket coverage of the NFL including a prime time game. (I'm surprised NBC hasn't added Jay Leno to the broadcast!) The latest change is an interesting one: Super Bowl winning coach Tony Dungy is joining the panel and former running back Jerome Bettis is out. What's interesting is that they are two completely different types.

Bettis, whose nickname is "The Bus," is well-known as the smiling winner from the 2006 Pittsburgh Steelers' Super Bowl team. He's loud, boisterous and a larger-than-life personality. Dungy, on the other hand, was the architect and head man for the 2007 Indianapolis Colts' Super Bowl championship. He is cerebral and thoughtful and the author of a bestselling memoir, Quiet Strength: The Principles, Practices, and Priorities of a Winning Life. You could say that the two men are the anti-thesis of each other, which is likely why NBC has made the switch.

At the rate they're going, the 2008 presidential candidates will have made appearances on every kind of TV program before voting day arrives. No show is too insignificant, it seems. (Seriously, if only we could have seen Obama and McCain do the cha-cha on Dancing with the Stars!)

Therefore, it comes as no big shock that on the eve of the election -- Monday, November 3 -- the presidential candidates are going to appear on ESPN's Monday Night Football.

They will be interviewed -- separately on tape -- by half-time anchor Chris "Boomer" Berman. The anticipated time is 10:15 p.m. (ET), but because of the flow of the game, it could be closer to 10:30.

During the Super Bowl earlier this month, ABC micced up Jerome Bettis and occasionally played clips of his motivational speeches to teammates during the game. Apparently NBC considered that an audition, because he's been hired as one of the commentators for Sunday NFL games. He'll join Bob Costas and Al Michaels. His first game will be Sept. 7 in Pittsburgh, when the Steelers receive their Super Bowl rings.

Underneath all that beard, Grizzly Adams is a good looking fellow. Last night, Dave Letterman did what I wanted to do during the entire Super Bowl game on Sunday: shave Ben Roethlisberger's beard. The 23-year-old Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback is the youngest in NFL history to win a Super Bowl. He doesn't usually wear a beard, but he says it became his good luck charm after the Steelers lost to Cincinnati back in October. He told Dave, "I kind of went into a depression and didn't shave and we ended up winning the next game." It turns out, young Roethlisberger is a little bit superstitious so he kept the beard all the way through the Super Bowl.

This is the first year in my life when I actually am interested in who wins the Super Bowl. You see, I grew up in a baseball home. My first taste of football was in college (Go Griz!) and I've never had a national team to root for. Well, I still don't have a national team to root for. I live in Portland, OR, a city that lives vicariously through the professional sports teams that Seattle has. Therefore, I'm rooting for the Seahawks on Sunday.

In order to pretend that I know what is happening, I did a little research about both teams that I thought I would share with the rest of you who will be watching the Super Bowl for the commercials. By the way, the Super Bowl is on Sunday, Feb. 5th on ABC at 6:30 pm Eastern. In Detroit.