Bowled Over: The Not-Super Bowls

by Claudine Zap

Whether you flee from your TV around Super Bowl Sunday or you're all about the big�game, you're in luck: There are�other bowls are out there.

Puppy Upper
The rivalry is fierce. The anticipation is high. Sunday is game day and it's a dog eat dog world. Super Bowl? Nope. Puppy lovers can tune out the football and tune in for some canine competition for the fifth annual Puppy Bowl hosted by Animal Planet. The Bowl has been getting some puppy love in Search: "puppy bowl" and "animal planet puppy bowl" saw a notable increase.

Needless to say, it's tough to choose a favorite among all that adorableness. But the site does note that all the puppies are from shelters and have been adopted, so the fun is guilt-free. The game takes place on a mini gridiron complete with, if not pigskin, then plenty of chew toys for all competitors. The half-time show promises a frisky feline act, there's a water bowl cam and a starting lineup of cuteness.

Puppy Bowl fans can head to the Puppy Bowl fansite to vote for their favorite pup player, check out the Hall of Fame and get to know the appealingly goofy referee who says he was born to ref a fake football game starring doggies.

Just Wing It
If you were disgusted by the over-the-top football hype coming at you for this weekend's game, then you better stop reading here. Because some in Philadelphia believe that the best way to mark the uber bowl is by eating lots and lots of chicken wings. Yep, welcome to the Wing Bowl. It's, well, fowl. Fast foodies couldn't look away, with searches on "wing bowl" up 150%.

The competition has already taken place and someone known as Super Squibb won Philadelphia's Wing Bowl by downing 203 chicken wings in about 20 minutes. The annual feeding frenzy takes place the Friday before Super Bowl Sunday. You can get instant replay through the slideshow here, although a word of caution: don't eat while you look. Hey, we warned you.