It's Super Bowl weekend! This time last year I wrote about Tennessee Rep. Joe Towns Jr. and Sen. London Lamar, both of Memphis, introducing a bill to replace Columbus Day with "Super Bowl Monday," which would give workers the day after the Super Bowl off. I was all for that particular piece of legislation but, predictably, it seems to have gotten mired in committees and stopped short of the goal line. I guess we'll be going back to work Monday after gorging ourselves on hot wings, pizza, commercials and closeups of Taylor Swift celebrating. 

As I wrote in this space last week, I have no problem with having a little Swift mixed into the festivities. My wife Ashley has ensured our house is a Swiftie house. We even have a doormat stating "In this house, we listen to Taylor's Version." Thanks to Taylor, this is probably the first Super Bowl ever where Ashley will care who wins and she might even pay a little attention to the actual game instead of just watching commercials. 

I guess I'll be rooting for the Chiefs and Taylor's boyfriend Travis Kelce too. That's partly due to Taylor but mostly because, as a Dallas Cowboys fan since before "The Catch," it's pretty easy for me to root against the 49ers. In my many years of following football, I've only truly cared who won the Super Bowl four times - the three appearances by the Cowboys in 1993, 1994 and 1996 and the Titans' appearance in 2000. The rest of the time I'm just there for the spectacle; and I do love a good spectacle.

The Super Bowl is always great fun regardless of whether you have a rooting interest or not. It's less about football and more of an uniquely American holiday where you can take in all the festivities knowing that a whole lot of other people are watching the same things that you are and there will be a lot to talk about the next day. Most of it won't even be about football. 

The  endless pre-game show, the National Anthem, the halftime show, the commercials, the celebrities in attendance, the counter-programming from other channels with annual favorites like The Puppy Bowl, seeing who's going to Disney World, the debut of the CBS show, "Tracker," right after the Super Bowl, and so many other things will captivate much of the nation and bring us together in a way rarely achieved in today's world. 

With endless entertainment options fragmented across a pantheon of streaming services, the Super Bowl serves as a rare time when much of the country is all watching the same thing at the same time. So, happy Super Bowl, everyone! Don't party too hard. Unfortunately, we still have to work on Monday.

Standard Managing Editor Seth Wright can be reached at editor@southernstandard.com