# Discussion thread for the "Polls only" thread (Part 2) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 16, 2024, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636 "2024-02-16T02:56:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 282
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2025, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/5622 "2025-02-09T19:08:14Z")
> [@Bayaker](#): > > I will watch every minute of the Superbowl if you count what I see as I fast-forward through the halftime show and all of the time-outs. For the Superbowl I don’t skip the commercials just in case there’s a good one, though there haven’t been many in recent years. In years past, sometimes the commercials got more talk on Monday than the Superb Owl did; now, they release many of them in advance so everyone isn’t waiting to see them for the first time. Yeah, I’m like you, I’ll pretty much watch every second, including many of the commercial in the first half (you can have your movie trailers & any promo for the televising network). The halftime mega-production is a good time to get up for food & then back for all of the second half, unless it’s a blowout of two teams I don’t really care about, then maybe interest wanes in the 4th quarter. This year, I expect to watch every second of the game enroute to a **victory!** Kinda shocked at how many people in the poll voted they won’t even watch it. It is the most watched TV show every year, year after year, but an order of magnitude or two; something like half the country, & whether it’s the game or the commercials, water cooler talk tomorrow. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2025, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/5623 "2025-02-09T19:10:34Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > We go to a Super Bowl party every year, because they’re church friends and it’s a nice group. Still, I’m tired of these two teams and would skip the whole thing if it were socially okay. It turns out we can’t go, and I am delighted. We’re going to watch a movie tonight, and I won’t have to see the shots of the Orange Man, or the five commercials Musk bought to make claims about USAID waste. [or the game] ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2025, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/5624 "2025-02-09T19:17:11Z")
I find football complicated and boring. Those who find it fun and fascinating seem to manage pretty well without me, so we will just blink at each other in mutual incomprehension on Monday, and I’ll wait for them to get it out of their systems. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2025, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/5625 "2025-02-09T19:29:02Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > Kinda shocked at how many people in the poll voted they won’t even watch it. It is the most watched TV show every year, year after year, but an order of magnitude or two; something like half the country, & whether it’s the game or the commercials, water cooler talk tomorrow. I hate football. I am quite proud of the fact that I haven’t watched any since college, at least not willingly or completely. There aren’t instruments fine enough to measure how little I care about the sport. OTOH, I am quite pumped that pitchers and catchers report Tuesday for the start of Spring Training as the Dodgers try for a repeat. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2025, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/5626 "2025-02-09T20:08:22Z")
I had a couple of Super Bowl polls I was mulling over but on here there seem to be a lot more people excited to say how much they hate it than those that are happy to be watching. I’ll be watching the entire game. It’s just me and my wife watching at home. I’ve been to parties in the past and also went to Vegas for the weekend several times. Not ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2025, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/5627 "2025-02-09T20:11:23Z")
I don’t hate football but rather am just totally indifferent to it as I am to basketball and hockey. I have an interest in baseball but am not a fan by baseball fan standards – I can’t quote stats by the hour without a repeat – I just watch a game as a game and have a library of baseball movies. My main sport of choice is horse racing but that is dying as tracks and farms are closing left and right. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2025, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/5628 "2025-02-09T20:22:09Z")
> [@colinfred](#): > > I would definitely go to a Super Bowl event if you paid me. Well, depends on the food and the pay. I said no, but of course great food and say $1000 would convince me. If my friends had one along with board games, I would go- that was the last time I went. It was two dudes on the couch watching and four of us playing board games, with looking over at cool ads or highlights. We had a 'six foot submarine sandwich" and pizza. We tape the Bowl and watch the ads and sometimes the Halftime show. We have two large brocade things for the arms of one overstuffed easy chair. I guess you could say they are antimacassars. I always considered those to be those lace doily things. I dislike all professional sports. I did play a little college football for a community college team. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2025, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/5629 "2025-02-09T23:03:28Z")
I’m assuming college dorms count as housing “assigned to by another entity (government or military)”. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2025, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/5630 "2025-02-09T23:15:59Z")
I came up with 12 in the related thread about living places so voted that; but it’s really pretty blurry as not all of those 12 were places I would really have called “home” and it wasn’t really clear how to count different dorm rooms. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2025, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/5631 "2025-02-09T23:16:39Z")
I wasn’t sure whether the question meant to include places I lived as a child, so I counted them. ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2025, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/5632 "2025-02-10T00:38:41Z")
I included every place I’ve lived since the day I was born, including my college dorm and my current address (for a total of 21). ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2025, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/5633 "2025-02-10T01:26:28Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > Voted “other” on the Super Bowl party, because if you paid me enough then I’d go to one. I skipped that poll, because I’d probably go if you paid me, and certainly I’d go if people i really wanted to hang out with invited me to one. No one invites me to Superbowl parties because i don’t follow football, so I’m not great company at a football party. Which is fine, I’m happy to hang out with people doing stuff we are both into. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2025, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/5634 "2025-02-10T01:27:31Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > I own a component stereo system, and so voted. I haven’t used it in quite a while, though; I think it would work if I plugged it in, but I’m not sure. My tape deck no longer works. My guess is the rest does. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2025, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/5635 "2025-02-10T01:29:19Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > I’m assuming college dorms count as housing “assigned to by another entity (government or military)”. Oh, i missed those… I voted too few. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2025, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/5636 "2025-02-10T21:05:15Z")
My thought on the 80 year old’s performance has a lot more to do with distrust and lack of faith in HUMANITY in general, rather than an 80 year old specifically. Based on the voters in the US, roughly 50% of them would willingly embrace a fascist dictator, due to agreement, or at least, an inability to do a decent analysis. Holy S\*\*\*! Now consider the consequences of all the decisions even the best advised president has to make! Now, a poor 80 year old driver in suburbia might endanger, even kill a dozen people given a probable scenario. Maybe 2-3 times that if they plow into a parade or something. The number of people likely to die from an 80 year old screwing up as President goes all the way up to the entire population of Earth. Again, I’ll trust the 80 year old more on the roads and even freeways because the risks and consequences are so much smaller. But the answer is pretty much identical for any age group - as I said above, I have little trust in any part of humanity these days. [and yes, I’m calling out my fellow Americans in this a lot, but the sweeping tides of autocracy world-wide isn’t painting a pretty picture much of anywhere] ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2025, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/5637 "2025-02-10T21:47:02Z")
It’s going to depend on the individual 80 year old. And I don’t live in a suburban setting. Never have; I’ve lived in rural areas, small towns, and cities, but not in suburbia. So “an average suburban setting that you live in” is pretty much meaningless to me. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2025, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/5638 "2025-02-11T18:07:49Z")
My glovebox (although I grew up calling it a “glove compartment”) has no gloves, but does have the car’s manufacturer-issued instruction book, receipts for maintenance and oil changes, a spare pair of sunglasses, title and insurance info, an emergency $20 bill and various fast-food napkins. I’ve always said “on the contrary,” and I’m not surprised to see that getting the most votes, but in a nonfiction book I recently read, the author used the phrase “to the contrary” at least four times. I wet my toothbrush before putting on the toothpaste. Not a football guy - as George Will said, “Football combines two of the worst features of American society, violence and committee meetings.” If my childhood team, the Steelers, or my grownup team, the Browns, aren’t playing, I really don’t give a damn. I’d go to a Super Bowl party if family or friends were there, though, or if I were paid for it. Hall and Oates opened for the Electric Light Orchestra in the very first rock concert I ever went to, part of ELO’s _Time_ tour at the old Civic Arena in Pittsburgh (I see online that it was Oct. 16, 1981). I’ve always liked both groups. The duo’s name was often pronounced “Holland Oats” and I remember for awhile they tried to insist that people use their first names too, but it never really took. And now, I gather, they’re on the outs. Too bad. In counting where I’ve lived, I included my childhood home, my college dorms, the apartment from my semester abroad, my political campaign travel stays if for more a few weeks, and apartments and houses as an adult. That’s ten, by my count, but I’ve probably missed a few. All things being equal, I think 80 is too old for the very demanding job of being POTUS. But if someone was very fit, both physically and mentally, at that age, and I generally agreed with his or her policies, I would have no objection. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2025, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/5639 "2025-02-11T18:51:43Z")
For the purposes of the poll I’m assuming that not only the property value increases but someone is willing to pay that much for the house. Otherwise what would be the point? I voted property value. The dollar amount of 10x property value and 10x 401k are about equal. We are probably going to move in about a year so that made it an easy choice. I don’t have a 401k but I substituted my 457b for purposes of this poll. ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2025, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/5640 "2025-02-11T18:58:20Z")
10x bank savings increase, please. - I’m a renter: an increase in the value of this house could only hurt me. - I thought briefly about choosing the 401(k) increase, but (a) I’m doing alright in that regard, (b) I still have at least 13 more years to work, and (c) the market could wind up eating the increase at some point. Whereas more money in the bank would be…well…money in the bank. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2025, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/5641 "2025-02-11T19:11:44Z")
> [@Misnomer](#): > > I thought briefly about choosing the 401(k) increase, but (a) I’m doing alright in that regard, (b) I still have at least 13 more years to work, and (c) the market could wind up eating the increase at some point. I went with the 401K increase. 1) My 401k is worth more than my house or bank account, so since we’re talking about a multiplier rather than an absolute amount that one would result in the biggest gain. 2) That amount of money would probably allow me to retire tomorrow rather than working another 20 years. 3) I would move much of the money to less risky investments, as one does when one retires, to cushion myself from the possibility of the market eating up the gains. As an aside, I have no plans to sell my house, because that’s where I, you know, _live_. Unless I’m planning on moving in the near future I don’t care what my home’s resale value is. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636.md?page=281) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636.md?page=283)