You might think double dipping a chip at a Super Bowl party this weekend is a victimless crime. Really, what’s the worst thing that can happen?

Here’s the worst thing that can happen. death. Lots and lots of death.

A study at Tulane University in New Orleans analyzed flu data from the past 35 years, and found an interesting connection to the Super Bowl.

If a city’s team is in the Super Bowl, their death from the flu jumps. People over 65 in that city are 18% more likely to die . . . and that’s not a coincidence.

The researchers say it’s because people are more likely to attend big Super Bowl parties with people they don’t know . . . and whose germs they aren’t used to.

And as they all get really into the game, they start double dipping chips, shouting, and coughing . . . and that spreads germs. And since older people are the most susceptible to dying from the flu, that’s really bad news for them.

Gizmodo

This is good to know right before the Super Bowl . . . it gives you lots of time to plan your move to a better football city before next season.

WalletHub.com just ranked the 245 biggest cities in the country from the best to worst places to be a football fan.

It’s based on stuff like the number of NFL and college teams . . . how those teams do . . . the total number of championships . . . the average ticket prices . . . how friendly the fans are on social media . . . and the number of sports bars per capita.  Cookeville came in at number 157 beating out Knoxville that came in at 197. Nashville took the top spot in Tennessee ranked at 57.

The top five are:

1.  Green Bay, Wisconsin . . . thanks to the Packers.

2.  Clemson, South Carolina . . . Clemson had a fantastic season this year.

3.  Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania . . . thanks to the Steelers.

4.  Tuscaloosa, Alabama . . . the University of Alabama won the championship this year.

5.  East Lansing, Michigan . . . Michigan State has been on a strong run for years.

There was a BIG difference between the two cities in this year’s Super Bowl.  Denver came in 6th . . . Charlotte came in 48th.

The worst cities to be a football fan are Kingston, Rhode Island . . . New Britain, Connecticut . . . and East Hartford, Connecticut.

You can see the rankings for all 245 cities here

Heinz took a page from Budweiser’s “cute animal” book, and got a bunch of wiener dogs . . . put hot dog costumes on them . . . and had them stampede through a field toward people who were dressed up as bottles of ketchup and mustard.  “Without You” is playing in the background.

Honda also went the animal route.  In their ad, a chorus of sheep sing “Somebody to Love” by Queen because it had been playing in the farmer’s truck before he drove off.  They stop singing when he comes back.

If Facebook annoys us so much, why don’t we all just quit? We’re behaving like addicts, people.

A new survey asked around 200 people in every state: What type of Facebook post annoys you the most? And they gave people five categories to choose from. Check out the results.

1. Posts about personal problems were voted the most annoying posts in 21 states.

2. Selfies, nine states.

3. Posts about politics, seven states.

4. Pictures of food, seven states.

5. And baby pictures, six states.

Fittingly, Iowa is one of the seven states where they hate Facebook posts about politics the most . . . while the rest of us are sick to death of hearing about politics in Iowa.

Adweek

Entertainer of the Year:

Jason Aldean

Garth Brooks

Luke Bryan

Eric Church

Miranda Lambert

Vocal Duo of the Year:

Brothers Osborne

Dan & Shay

Florida Georgia Line

Joey & Rory

Maddie & Tae

Vocal Group of the Year:

Eli Young Band

Little Big Town

Old Dominion

Rascal Flatts

Zac Brown Band

Album of the Year:

“Mr. Misunderstood,” Eric Church

“Montevallo,” Sam Hunt

“Tangled Up,” Thomas Rhett

“Traveller,” Chris Stapleton

“I’m Comin’ Over,” Chris Young

Female Vocalist of the Year:

Kelsea Ballerini

Jana Kramer

Miranda Lambert

Kacey Musgraves

Carrie Underwood

Male Vocalist of the Year:

Jason Aldean

Eric Church

Brett Eldredge

Chris Stapleton

Dierks Bentley

As usual, there are all kinds of stupid Super Bowl “prop bets” out there, which let you bet on all the nonsense that surrounds the game. Here are the lines on 16 unusual bets you can make at one online site. Read More »

Until Saturday, the following misunderstanding had happened approximately 75,000 times in movies and TV shows. And one time that I know of in real life. Read More »

A career website called Zippia analyzed Google searches to figure out what job the people in each state search for more than anywhere else Read More »

According to a new Career Builder survey, the three most common excuses for showing up late to work are: bad traffic, sleeping through your alarm, and bad weather. Now here are the ten weirdest excuses managers have heard . . .

1. I was going to quit, but then I decided not to.

2. My blow dryer set my hair on fire.

3. I was detained by Homeland Security.

4. A black bear was sleeping on the hood of my car.

5. My pet lizard had to have emergency surgery and died. Then I had to mourn while deciding whether to let the vet dispose of the body, or bring it to work.

6. A new store had its grand opening, and I wanted to take advantage of the sales.

7. I had to finish watching “My Name Is Earl”.

8. All of my clothes were stolen.

9. I had to chase my cows back into a field.

10. A Vaseline truck crashed on the highway, and cars were sliding all over the place.

The survey also found 25% of us are late at least once a month . . . 41% of employers have fired someone for it . . . 33% say it’s fine as long as it doesn’t become a pattern . . . and 16% don’t care as long as the person gets all their work done.

Every article about pickup lines always says the best pickup line is to just say ‘Hi.’ And to that I say . . . shut up and let us have fun.

People on Reddit are sharing their best pickup lines, and voting on the best ones. So if you believe in crowd sourcing, these might be the seven best pickup lines in the world. Or not. Check ’em out . . .

1. “Are you a 0% APR loan? Because I’m having trouble understanding your terms and you aren’t showing any interest.”

2. “Do you have a raisin? No? How about a date?”

3. “Are you my appendix? Because I don’t know anything about you but this feeling in my gut is telling me I should take you out.”

4. “Girl, I put the STD in ‘stud,’ all I need is ‘u.'”

5. “Are you a beaver? Because DAM.”

6. “I think you dropped something.” “What?” “Your standards.”

7. Carry a bunch of limes, walk up to a woman, and drop them. As you start getting them off the floor, say, “Can you help me? I’m really bad at pick up limes.”