When you think of the Super Bowl, what comes to mind first? Its status as an American cultural orgy, or all the game's great finishes, players and teams? Is "Super Bowl Sunday" defined by its cultural icon status, or by two teams playing for the Vince Lombardi Trophy?

The distinction is sometimes blurry. With zero rooting interest save my office square pool numbers, I decided to keep an informal tally between the two as I watched the latest incarnation of this profoundly American event: Super Bowl XXXVIII.

The Romans: Speaking of its title, how long do we continue using Roman numerals to keep track of these games? Once we hit 40 things grow a little clearer, when an XL replaces the cumbersome string of X's. And 2016 will see the arrival of the game's 50th contest, which will be simply denoted with a big L ... in case you care.

The pregame show(s): Pregame programming on CBS, which was in full swing by 1 p.m. (for a 5:30 kickoff), made one thing very apparent Sunday: hours and hours of pregame drivel is good for only a) actual fans of the game's participants; b) the insanely bored; and c) the chronically drunk. As a Packer fan with laundry to do and no beer in the house, I had little use for the TRL portion or other pregame segments, splitting my afternoon tube watching between a Coen Bros. DVD and routine channel surfing. Despite my preferences, someone must have watched CBS between 1 and 5:30, so score this one for icon status. Icon 1, Football 0.

The pregame homage: Two years ago, Super Bowl XXXVI was bathed in patriotism. Sept. 11 had occurred just four months before, and the Super Bowl became a national day of reflection. Much of it -- led by a Budweiser commercial featuring a Clydesdale kneeling down before Ground Zero -- was tacky, but that's for another discussion.

Sunday the NFL paid tribute to the space shuttle Columbia disaster, which occurred one year ago. Yes, NASA is in Houston, but how does a choreographed pregame show featuring some N'Sync wannabe truly honor the memory of that tragedy? Poorly, I think. Icon 2, Football 0.

Nachos: For those of us watching the game at home, the contest is as much about eating as it is watching. Friends of ours welcomed my wife and I into their home, which featured the standard SB fare of nachos, bean dip, potato chips, caramel corn, chocolate turtles, Sloppy Joes, salad (I picked at mine), apple cobbler and ice cream. And, of course, beer.

By halftime, pain from a recently filled cavity was flaring up from too much caramel corn, and all the salt was aggravating a latent canker sore. More than you wanted to know, so suffice to say it was a great afternoon of chowing. Icon 3, Football 0.

Gambling: Wow, was this game boring. Scoreless late into the second quarter, the Patriots finally cashed in a Jake Delhomme fumble to take a 7-0 lead with 3:05 left in the half.

Personally, this was a positive development, as I was holding both 7 (NE) and 0 (Car) in the office squares pool. I also had 7 for Carolina, so a Panthers TD before half wouldn't hurt me.

With 1:07 left in the quarter, Steve Smith caught a 39-yard TD from Delhomme, and we were tied. The halftime pot was mine if Pats failed to score. But score they did -- Brady led a six-play, 49-second TD drive to make it 14-7. With 18 seconds left, some coworker holding 4 and 7 safely counted his cash. But a short kickoff followed by a 21-yard Stephen Davis run set up a 50-yard Carolina field goal and his personal loss of $50.

That loss hurt even more when neither team scored in the third quarter, giving two of the four quarterly payouts to a marketing exec who leaves his office only to take cigarette breaks or buy takeout food. A decent guy, but not my first choice to earn $75 (the third quarter was worth a measly $25). The office groaned, but at least the game was the cause. Icon 3, Football 1.

Halftime: Janet Jackson, P Diddy, Nelly, Kid Rock, Justin Timberlake. None of them are in my CD player; call me out of touch, if you must. When the Kid-ster hopped onto a hastily constructed stage and unveiled his USA flag poncho, I began filling out the necessary paperwork to revoke my citizenship.

Have you ever watched a Super Bowl halftime show with anyone who did anything but ridicule it? Is the point of the whole endeavor to retain a scoffing audience which may otherwise focus on gunning beers until play resumes? Whatever the case, spending roughly the GDP of Ecuador on a show which closed with Timberlake ripping off Jackson's top felt like overkill. Icon 4, Football 1.

Nudity: Yes, that was Jackson's breast making its appearance at the end of the presentation, though I wasn't taping the game and can't independently verify it (look for it in 25 emails today, however). But the nudity didn't end there, as a streaker pranced in front of the Panthers kickoff unit before the second half began. CBS reacted by showing an extreme close-up of Tedy Bruschi for 10 seconds while the intruder was apprehended by stadium personnel. True football fans love their nudity, so chalk this one up for sport. Icon 4, Football 2.

The ads: Whatever happened to the dot-com era of Super Bowl commercials? Where were the talking hand puppets, the $40 million Apple spots and the talking frogs? Frankly, where was the love? Yes, I chuckled when the basketball players ran into the 7UP truck, but that's the Madison Avenue equivalent of showing a guy getting kicked in the groin. For shame. A tepid victory for culture. Icon 4 1/2, Football 2.

The comeback: Trailing 21-16, the Panthers were in dire straits as the Pats drove into the red zone midway through the fourth quarter. But Brady threw an uncharacteristic interception in the end zone, giving the Panthers new life. Moments later, Delhomme connected on an 85-yard TD pass to Muhsin Muhammad to put the Panthers up 22-21. Better yet, the Panthers missed the two-point conversion to provide my pool numbers of 2 (Car) and 1 (NE) some very unlikely life. But, alas, there were nearly seven minutes left, and Brady had dissected the Panthers all night.

Sure enough, the Pats marched down and added a TD and a two-point conversion four minutes later. Barring an unlikely combination of safeties and PATs (w/o preceding touchdowns) in the final minutes, the $18 I plunked down on the pool would find its way into a coworker's pocket. Still, the game was finally living up to its Super moniker. Icon 4 1/2, Football 3.

The denouement: Delhomme had another drive left in him, however. He marched the Panthers 80 yards in seven plays to tie the score with just 1:08 remaining. Too much time for Brady? Yes, at least after John Kasay sent the kickoff out of bounds to start the Pats' final drive at their own 40. Doh.

The Panthers, who failed to sack Brady and refused to bring more than four rushers throughout, paid for providing the eventual Super Bowl MVP with too much time. He found Troy Brown and Deion Branch with several key throws to set up Adam Vinatieri's second SB-winning field goal in three years. He nailed it from 41 yards, denying football fandom its first Super Bowl sudden death.

Put down the bag of nachos and finish off that last beer; this one was over -- New England 32, Carolina 29. But for the thrilling finish, football earns a point-and-a-half. The final tally: Icon 4 1/2, Football 4 1/2.

That's about what I figured -- Super Bowl Sunday is equal parts hype and football. The memories of the final drive will last until Tuesday, but so will the debate over Timberlake's odd decision right before the third quarter began. I wonder if he did that during Saturday's rehearsal ...