Title town, USA: after a season of fun from Seattle to Miami, it all comes down to a wild show in Houston. Oh, yeah, there's going to be a game, too.(Super Bowl-O-Rama)

Within Houston's borders live 1.9 million people and NASA, a combination that makes the SpaceCity nickname possible. America's fourth-largest city is host for the NFL championship game, plus a stampede of celebrity entertainers, well-known athletes, connected politicians, corporate bigwigs and scandal-thirsty media. It's a combination that makes Super Bowl excess possible--and simply holding a football game impossible.

The Super Bowl no longer is about the outcome of collisions between genetically gifted, medically enhanced and scientifically fortified human beings seeking to grasp a 22-inch, seven-pound piece of sterling silver crafted by Tiffany & Co. No, that's just a football game caught in the middle of the swirl of events now engulfing Houston.

ALL SYSTEMS GO

Now on the officially sanctioned NFL launching pad ...

The NFL Experience (at George R. Brown Convention Center) is the league's popular annual theme park of interactivity--skills competitions, autograph sessions, card shows, clinics and, oh, yeah, merchandise sales. We're still trying to verify the rumors that activities banned from the 800,000-square-foot hall include Go Deep With Ephedra; Punt, Pass and Concussion, and a Haymakers autograph table.

There also is "A Houston Salute," the official opening ceremony of Super Bowl weekend at Reliant Stadium, with Jim Nantz as the host. Roger Clemens, Calvin Murphy and Bum Phillips are among the 38 sports figures being honored before a crowd paying $100 to $500 per seat. NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue and former President George H.W. Bush attend, and Yanni performs. True story: Hearing who was to be honored, Phillips reportedly said, "There are so many names they are tossing, it makes me feel like a cow chip somebody threw in the punch bowl." Do you think Yanni can write up some music to go with that pickup-truck prose?

Finger-flick football with notebook paper folded into triangles is as much a part of the American education system as spitballs, wedgies and forged notes from home. Now, at something called the Flickball Stadium, it's part of the American Super Bowl system at Bud Bowl 2004, a two-day festival for families at Minute Maid Park. Remember the days when Bud Bowl was a game between beer bottles as part of a must-see advertising campaign? It has evolved (devolved?) into Tim McGraw singing; the NBA Rockets, MLB Astros and NFL Texans signing, and the Budweiser Clydesdales snorting. Sure, but how will those Clydesdales do against Yao in flickball?