(WJXX)
LARGO, FL -- From what we eat to how we party, there are plenty of myths surrounding the biggest game of the year. We're separating fact from fiction.
Halftime toilet trouble
Here's a nasty Super Bowl rumor: it claims that if everyone gives their toilet a big flush at halftime of the big game, a city's underground pipes could suffer a smelly collapse.
Like the alligators that supposedly live down there, City of Tampa Wastewater chief Ralph Metcalf says this story is false. There are no "waves of sewage... with rodents surfing on them" coursing through the pipes under our feet, he said assuringly.
Avocado survival
What about the one that says America's avocado industry depends entirely on how much guacamole is sold around the Super Bowl? That's also false. But the Hass Avocado Board says the 46 million pounds farmers expect to sell will be neck-and-neck with the industry's other leading avocado-eating completely American holiday: Cinco de Mayo.
Empty Mouse house
Ever hear that Walt Disney World becomes a ghost town around kickoff time? We called to check this out, and a spokesperson for Mickey said -- well, actually -- he said that they won't say. Disney doesn't release attendance figures. The spokesman's verbatim quote? "Every day is the best day to go to Walt Disney World!"
Somebody's got a case of the Super Bowl Mondays
Have you heard the Monday after the game is the number one national sick day? That could be true. A survey last year by the company Kronos estimated six million Americans may call in sick or roll in late due to Super Bowl-itis.
Dangerous driving
Do auto body shops love the Super Bowl because cars are more likely to crash after the game? Yes they do, because it's true. A University of Toronto study found car crashes rose almost 50 percent in the four hours after the game, compared to other Sundays. The biggest increase comes in the area of the losing team's city.
Super Bowl stock market predictor
Can the Super Bowl predict the stock market? It sure seems to. For years, Bob Stovall, a money manager in Sarasota, has tracked it.
The predictor says if the winning team started decades ago, back in the old American Football League -- the stock market will do badly that year. If a team with its roots in the NFL wins, the market climbs. The accuracy all-time is a respectable 79 percent.
It's all luck and just for fun -- but -- this year, both teams have come from the NFL. The predictor says we're set to see a good year for the market.
That -- wouldn't stink at all.
