Illustration by Patrick Yeung.

Next Sunday, 125 million Yankees will congregate on couches from sea to shining sea and consume excessive servings of beer, chicken wings, chips and dip.

Super Bowl Sunday is the epitome of an American holiday — perfectly nondenominational, food-oriented and capitalist.

It is our second most gluttonous day of the year after Thanksgiving, finishing slightly before Christmas.

Yet something troubling separates the Super Bowl from our other two favorite holidays: We Americans don’t think about those in need while we stuff our faces in February.

As a nation, we need to remember that though we are warm and uncomfortably full of bean dip and guacamole during America’s game, there are many Americans who have neither a home nor an abundance of food.

There should be the same focus on charity during Super Bowl Sunday as there is during Christmas or Thanksgiving. On our days of copious excess, we have the responsibility to give food or money to those in need.

Now, the first response many will have to this statement is, “Christmas and Thanksgiving are a little different than the Superbowl.”

And that is true — unlike the Super Bowl, both holidays have morality fables that work to inspire people to help or share with their fellow man.

But we should be better than that. We should not need stories to tell us how to treat people.

Americans will spend $55 million on food on Feb. 6. And yet, the holiday’s major food drive, the Souper Bowl of Caring, raised only $4,484 last year, with only 15 organizations participating. Less than $5,000? That amounts to 0.001 percent of the money that we spend on snack food going to charity.

Now, compare that amount to the money raised on Christmas. The Salvation Army in Walworth County, Wisc. raised almost $330,000 during the holiday season, according to a Jan. 6 story in the Walworth County Today.

The discrepancy between our desire to give in December and in February is unacceptable. On both days, family and friends gather, celebrate in each other’s company, devour huge meals and watch football.

The only real difference seems to be the moral tale.Though the Super Bowl is not infused with the church’s moral guilt or America’s imperial guilt, we must find other motivation to help the needy.

We may be gluttons, but we still must look out for our fellow Americans.

So, when you’re buying Doritos next weekend, think about the thousands of people in Santa Cruz alone who have neither adequate food nor shelter and give a little to the homeless.

Instead of stockpiling 50 cans of black beans for nachos, start a canned food drive at UCSC or in your neighborhood. When you are trying to decide what to spend your last dollars on, please take a moment and choose compassion.

Illustration by Kenny Srivijittakar.

Ah, the Super Bowl. A day when people across America come together to cheer on their favorite football teams, chomp on chips, swill beer… and watch anti-abortion ads?

This year CBS is set to air a pro-life advertisement during the Super Bowl. This signals the end of the network’s policy of barring advocacy ads from sporting events, and ensures that Game Day will create a divide among spectators that is about more than the Saints and the Colts.

The commercial, paid for by the conservative Christian group Focus on the Family, will feature college football star Tim Tebow and his mother Pam. The ad will address Pam’s decision not to have an abortion when she was pregnant with Tim in 1987, despite the fact that it was recommended by a doctor due to her illness. This choice led to the birth of Tim, who went on to win the Heisman Trophy in 2007 and the BCS Championship in 2006 and 2008 during his college football career at the University of Florida.

While you may or may not agree with the message this advertisement is sending, one thing that pro-choice activists and anti-abortionists should be able to agree on is that these politically charged commercials have no place at the Super Bowl.

This is especially true considering CBS is picking and choosing which causes to give airtime to, which is evident from their decision to nix two pro-homosexuality commercials that were submitted for consideration.

An ad from GoDaddy.com, which stars a fictional former football player who becomes a fashion designer and launches a lingerie line upon retirement, was deemed to “have the potential to offend viewers,” according to the network. In addition, CBS discarded a Super Bowl commercial from ManCrunch, a Toronto-based gay dating website, which featured a kiss between two male football fans after their hands touch in a bowl of potato chips. Their reasoning? It apparently did not meet the quality deemed necessary by their Standards and Practices Department.

In response, Jarrett Barriors, president of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), issued a statement saying, “CBS has a problem when they do something like this at the same time as they allow an anti-gay group like Focus on the Family to place ads during the Super Bowl. The network should come clean to the public about what’s going on, because this seems to be a homophobic double standard.”

The network has faced similar accusations in the past, such as in 2004 when they rejected an advertisement by the United Church of Christ that emphasized its open stance regarding homosexuality.

Some questions that arise from these decisions: What are CBS’s standards? What makes them decide to include a blatantly anti-abortion advertisement in their Super Bowl lineup, but not a commercial that includes a football player turned fashion designer or two men kissing? Why do they think these ads “have the potential to offend viewers,” but apparently don’t think the same of a pro-life commercial sponsored by Focus on the Family founder James Dobson, a man who once said that gay marriage will “destroy the earth”?

While it is true that everyone has a right to free speech, the members of a single department at CBS should not be able to have the ultimate say in deciding what is and isn’t appropriate for the general public, especially when these choices show support for one political sect of the country over another. By limiting the free speech of certain groups by not allowing their advertisements to air during the Super Bowl, CBS is presenting itself as a discriminatory network, a portrayal that is not good to have during this tough economic time — or ever.

The Super Bowl is an event that is supposed to unify the country for a day. It is seen as a welcome break from a typical day in the news cycle, when talk of healthcare reform and war dominates the airwaves. But when blatant advocacy ads find their way into sporting events, it reignites the red state/blue state divide of the nation and brings politics into sports, where it does not belong.

So please, CBS. Keep your politics out of my Super Bowl.

Photo by Nita-Rose Evans.

Motiv
Where: 1209 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz (map)
When: 2 p.m. to midnight

Looking for the after-party? Go no further than the super-chic Motiv, which offers an opportunity to get down after the game. DJs and leather chairs will provide a hip atmosphere for those looking for a good time during and after the match-up. A huge sound system, two 55-inch HD screens and a 99-inch HD projector will surround the dance floor, which is sure to be crowded with all sorts of partygoers and football fans.

Photo by Nita-Rose Evans.

99 Bottles
Where: 110 Walnut Ave., Santa Cruz (map)
When: 11 a.m. to 12:30 a.m.

99 Bottles is a downtown Santa Cruz restaurant where you can find alcoholic beverages for those of age, but without the bar atmosphere. On Super Bowl Sunday they will be offering food that corresponds to the regions from which the Colts and Saints hail (Indianapolis and New Orleans, respectively). It doesn’t just stop with the food — the establishment will also have beers that correspond to the teams. With this special menu and a big-screen TV on the upper floor, 99 Bottles is sure to be a winner for local football fans this Sunday.

Photo by Nita-Rose Evans.

Rush Inn
Where: 113 Knight St., Santa Cruz (map)
When: 8 a.m. to 2 a.m.

This is the quintessential “dive bar” in Santa Cruz — simple with no frills. However, for the Super Bowl they will be spicing things up with their Salsa Cook-off. First-prize winner gets $25, second place wins $15, and third place gets $10.  It’s sure to be a heated competition, much like the game. The Rush Inn will also offer great bar food, cheap beer prices and a pool table for some good old-fashioned bar fun.

Photo by Nita-Rose Evans.

Crown Fireside Lounge
Where: Crown College
When: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

If you’re down to walk up those killer stairs and appreciate a wondrous spread of Costco food, Crown’s Fireside Lounge will play host to a handful of rowdy kids watching the Saints vs. Colts game on Sunday. Tabitha Chirrick, a second-year student associated with the college, explained it would be just a casual gathering. “We’re going to get together, buy some food and watch the Super Bowl,” she said. “Come have fun, eat food and watch football. It’s open to everybody, but I expect mostly Crown kids.”

Photo by Nita-Rose Evans.

Stevenson Event Center
Where: Stevenson College
When: 3 to 7 p.m.

Stevenson residents are welcome to head over to the Stevenson Event Center to watch the big game in an event sponsored by the Stevenson Student Council. The spacious room and oversized projection screen make for the perfect location to gather and watch the Super Bowl. A large viewing space allows for a sizeable crowd, but the audience is intimately related through college affiliation — thereby giving students a family atmosphere that feels like a home away from home.