Super Bowl XLIII will take place on Sunday. Along with this day comes months of built-up anticipation, the gathering of friends and family and the large consumption of snack foods.Over the years, this day has reached the rankings and celebrations of a U.S. holiday.

There are yearly traditions attatched to this day. Three Nicholls students discussed some of the practices they have come to hold dear on Super Bowl Sunday.

Randi Falcon, government sophomore from Morgan City, shared some of the annual festivities she and her family participate in each year.

“During the Super Bowl, sometimes me and my family will just sit down and watch the game,” Falcon said. “Other times, I’ll just go over to my friends’ houses, we’ll have a couple of drinks, watch the game and have a good time. Mostly, celebrating it with my family is more important right now.”

Tonya Kidder, English junior from Morgan City, was next to share her Sunday plans.

“My whole family, which is more than thirty people, all go to my grandmother’s house and she makes gumbo, and basically, we all just sit in the living room,” Kidder said. “Usually, she’ll have the fireplace on if it’s cold and we’ll have people fighting over who gets to sit next to the fire. My dad watches football all the time and I can be in my room with the door closed and I’ll just hear ‘what the hell was that!’ or something like that.”

Kidder said she is not as big of a football fan as most of her family but does enjoy getting into the spirit of the Super Bowl. Often, it is not just for the game.

“Honestly, I won’t usually care one way or the other which team wins. Mostly, I like the Super Bowl for the commercials,” Kidder said. “They’re awesome.”

Cameron Walls, English education freshman from Denham Springs, also discussed his Super Bowl traditions.

“We usually have all of our family and a bunch of friends over. My mom will cook something and there’s drinks, chips and dip, pizza, nachos, just a whole bunch of junk food,” Walls said.

Walls said that although a particular team of interest may not be in the big game each year, he and his fellow watchers always manage to find some competitive interest in it.

“Even though, you know, the Saints are never in the Super Bowl, we just all pick a team. Half the family will pick one and the other half will get the other and that’s fun,” Walls said.

“I’m going to go with the Cardinals this year. I always go for the underdog and no one thinks the Cardinals are going to win.”

Even with the current economic struggles, these students show that this year is no exception to the fact that events of exciting and epic proportion are better spent with friends and family.