Did you know that women drive 80% of all purchases in the United States?  And within that demographic, women ages 45-60 control the largest share of household spending?  AND women typically make up 47% of Super Bowl audiences AND AND this year was projected to see viewing audiences nearly double compared to last year AND AND AND commercial inventory for the 2026 Super Bowl was completely sold out and, anecdotally, brought in a record-setting $1B in revenue?

And what does all that mean?  It means that the goal of the Super Bowl was to get women ages 45-60 to sit and watch the game – but, more importantly, the commercials – for as long as possible.  The weeks leading up to the Super Bowl?  That was for men; women ages 45-60 were too busy watching Heated Rivalry and researching GLP-1 pills and estrogen patches.  The Super Bowl itself, though?  Ferda girls.

In case you’re like, “No, Amanda, that’s dumb,” here’s an example: Volkswagen had a commercial at the Super Bowl.  According to USA Today, Volkswagen “saw huge spikes in shopping and search interest after their Super Bowl ad aired this year.”  Do you think a lot of dudes were sitting around in their living rooms this Sunday shouting, “Yo, let’s pound some wings, make some prop bets, and scroll the Volkswagen website!”  Or was it their wives who make 80% of the purchasing decisions and control the largest share of household spending using the time between commercials – you know, the game time – to check out the 2026 models?  I guess we’ll never know.

I, a woman aged 45-60, watched the whole entire game because I like football and I like the Patriots (I used to live in Boston) and I like Sam Darnold (he used to play for the Vikings) and I like the commercials (I am a marketing director), and I like pounding wings and scrolling websites (everyone likes that).

They started up the Super Bowl with Green Day so that all of us women could tell our children about how we went to a Green Day concert in 1999 and then remark on how good Billie Joe Armstrong sounded.  Then they showed Joe Montana and we got to remark on how good he looked, and then they showed Jon Bon Jovi and, again, we got to remark on how good he looked.   Then they showed Robert Kraft who did not look as good as Joe Montana and Jon Bon Jovi and kept yawning because it was 3:30PM in San Francisco and close to bedtime.  Robert Kraft was sitting next to a much younger woman, and so the female viewing audience got to play our favorite game of “Daughter or Date?”  To me, the answer was inconclusive.

The quarterback of the New England Patriots was a boy named Drake Maye who recently grew out of lemonade stands and into professional football.  Drake did not have a great start to the game but that was okay because he’s roughly 11 years old and we were really proud of him for trying his best.

The quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks was, as noted, Sam Darnold.  Sam has played for either 5 teams in 8 years or 8 teams in 5 years and he also did not have a great start to the game, but that was also okay because we were really proud of him for his perseverance.

By the end of the first half, the score was 9-0 Seahawks which is not a good score if you like football but a very good score if you are the kicker for the Seahawks.  During one of the field goal attempts, the camera scanned the crowd so that the women could see who was in attendance.

“This place is filled with celebrities!”  The announcer exclaimed.  “There’s Justin and Haley Bieber!  And there’s Adam Sandler!”  To which women across the United States texted in their mom group chats, “Not really FILLED with celebrities,” and “I do like Adam Sandler.”

The commercials in the first half were filled with things women age 45-60 approve of such as House of Pain’s “Jump Around” and piles of hair singing a song.  Levi’s made what I would consider a perfect ad that was a series of butts overlaid to James Brown’s “Get Up Offa That Thing.”  That commercial, coupled with Bad Bunny’s halftime show filled with women shaking their butts, reminded me that I used to be really good at Zumba and should get back into that.

In the second half of the game, Seattle’s running back, Kenneth Walker III, ran for roughly a million yards.  Kenneth Walker III was very fast and very short (for a football player) and looked a little bit like an ice cream cone with legs running down the field; I decided he was my favorite player of the game.  Coincidentally, he turned out to be the NFL’s favorite player of the game because he was later named the MVP.  Good work, Kenneth!  The camera showed his parents cheering him on in the stands which is something women ages 45-60 really like.  As I am 46, I really liked it, too.

Women must start turning off the TV somewhere in the second half because the ads started to change to more masculine content, although Jon Hamm, Matthew McConaughey, Bradley Cooper, and Chris Hemsworth were there so still plenty for the ladies.  There was also an ad for Dunkin’ Donuts that was a throwback to the 90’s featuring Ben Affleck, Jason Alexander, Jennifer Anison, Matt LeBlanc, Jasmine Guy, Jaleel White, Alfonso Ribeiro, and Ted Danson, and that was for the ladies of the 90’s, as well.

The Super Bowl ended with a final score of 29-13.  Drake Maye was sad, but since he was born something like five hours before the football season began and has a lot of career ahead of him, Kyle said he will be fine.  Sam Darnold was happy-ish, probably because of all the perseverance (and all the field goal kicking).

For my part, I ate a brownie and a probiotic and made several comments about how the game always ends too late, and then I ordered a pair of Levi’s.  Another successful Super Bowl; good work, NFL!

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My friends gave me the most super-awesome jacket to wear to my son’s hockey games. The front says “North Dakota;” the photo above is the back.

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This week on North Dakota Today, we talked about the AARC’s Christmas Ladies, my Nice People of the Week, as well as a call for volunteers for an upcoming youth fishing derby. (Valley News Live)

Here’s one of the paragraphs from my most recent column in the Grand Forks Herald: “Kyle and I, and all of the other parents, arrived at the performance hall at lunchtime and the room was abuzz. Kendall, Dawn, and Élise are more than Queens; they are full-time school teachers, and so my son and his fellow fifth-graders had spent the morning in private session doing all sorts of fun activities around music and, of course, practicing for the concert; now that the audience had arrived, the children were excited. Several classes of fourth-graders had been invited to forgo school in order to attend the performance, as well, and they were excited too.” (Grand Forks Herald)

A dog named Gary joined the Sioux Falls Police Department to help successfully locate and return home a missing 10-year-old boy. (KFYR TV)

Dickinson’s Liv Easum is North Dakota’s state student council president. (KFYR TV)

Thompson Middle and High School principal Jason Schwabe is North Dakota’s Secondary Principal of the Year. (Grand Forks Herald)

Minot’s Evan Trottier is the newest tiger trout record holder. (KFYR TV)

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