Last year's successful Super Bowl run by the Colts brought a sense of good cheer to Indianapolis that managed to cut through the dreary, depression-inducing February weather.

As much as we could use it again this year, we'll enjoy no such reward. The Colts lost in the divisional round of the playoffs, and your plans for a replay of last year's Super Bowl revelry were cut unceremoniously short.

You may even be feeling so down over the whole affair that you're considering forgoing Super Bowl XLII altogether.

We feel your pain. But take heart, because we know the antidote to your Super Bowl blues: the Super Bowl.

Yes, it sounds counterintuitive at first. But we see it like this: Just because the Colts coughed (or more accurately, choked) up their chance to play in the big game doesn't mean you should deny yourself the right to enjoy it. Here are five reasons why.

1. It's a social thing

If it weren't for superstitions about apocalyptic millenniums, Prince probably would have sung, "Everybody's gonna party like it's Super Bowl Sunday."

Rivaled only by New Year's Eve, the Super Bowl is the ultimate occasion for a party. And there will be hundreds of them going on in Indianapolis come Sunday.

The urge to plant yourself on your couch rather than venture out is understandable, given the circumstances. But Molly Chavers, executive director of the local social networking organization IndyHub, recommends fighting off that temptation.

"There are times when the last thing I want to do is go to a party," she said. "But once I do, I'm always glad I did."

Chavers reminds us that there's much more to be gained from attending a party than free food and a hangover.

"The possibilities are endless," Chavers said. "You really never know who you are going to run into."

It's not just the prospect of fun that makes going out for the Super Bowl worthwhile -- although that's a nice bonus. It's also the potential for life-changing opportunities you might encounter, Chavers said.

"You hear it all the time in anecdotal stories from friends or colleagues who land a new job or meet a new friend at a party," she said. "These are the things that should encourage you to come out of your box.

"You may meet your next boss or run into someone you went to high school with who has relocated here," she said. "The bottom line is that being face to face with new people is a wonderful thing for all of us."

2. Schadenfreude

You're bitter. Hate is not a strong enough word to describe the way you feel about the Patriots. If you have to watch them win the Super Bowl, there's a good chance you'll projectile-vomit onto the TV screen.

But what if the Patriots don't win? What if Eli Manning and the Giants beat the long odds and defeat the Patriots?

And what if they not only defeat them, but defeat them in such a way that leaves the Patriots humiliated, embarrassed and totally disgraced?

Do you really want to miss that?

English majors will be familiar with the term Schadenfreude (pronounced SHOD-n-froy-duh) -- a German word for that feeling of malicious satisfaction that we sometimes feel at others' misfortunes.

For Colts fans, the potential Schadenfreude factor for this game is off the charts.

Ed Hirt, an associate professor of psychology at Indiana University, says sports-related Schadenfreude is a common phenomenon, especially in his neck of the woods.

"The way Colts fans are toward the Patriots, IU fans are to Purdue," he said. "You see the bumper stickers, 'My favorite team is IU and whoever is playing Purdue.' That's the way we deal with a lot of the group identities we have. We don't just identify with our own group; we disparage the group we aren't a part of."

Hirt pointed out that the rivalry between the Colts and the Patriots is uniquely well suited for Schadenfreude.

"The Colts seem like nice guys," he said. "Meanwhile, the Patriots -- just look at them. Randy Moss is a malcontent who just decided to play hard this year. (Tom) Brady has a kid out of wedlock, and has had a grungier image lately. And (Patriots coach Bill) Belichick is the lightning rod everyone loves to hate. He seems so smug and cocky. I think a lot of people want to see them get knocked off. Then we get the joy of seeing them get their comeuppance."

Is this mentality psychologically unhealthy?

"I'm not sure there is unhealthiness in it," Hirt said. "But it isn't good when these feelings translate into hostility and aggression, which sometimes happens.

"It is certainly not unique to sports and it is not going to go away."

3. Million-dollar babies

If getting off on the failures of others is beneath you, here's a less cynical reason to watch: the commercials.

If it seems a little silly to sit through a whole football contest just to watch the ads, consider this: The 2008 Super Bowl will contain more than 30 minutes of commercials.

The Fox network certainly thinks of the ads as a major part of the evening's entertainment. They've created a Myspace profile -- www.myspace.com/superbowlads -- exclusively for the Super Bowl commercials, which this year will cost advertisers an estimated average of $2.7 million per 30 seconds.

Charlie Hopper, a creative director at local advertising agency Young & Laramore, remembers when Super Bowl ads made the leap from run-of-the-mill advertising to must-see TV.

"It started with the Apple ad in 1984," Hopper said, referring to a 60-second Apple commercial that featured an athletic woman running through an Orwellian scene smashing TV screens. Directed by Ridley Scott, the commercial cost $800,000 to make -- an exorbitantly large amount for the time.

"That ad is famous for almost not airing," Hopper said. "But once so much money had been spent on it, they had to put it on. And it created such a buzz that it showed what a buzzworthy Super Bowl ad could do."

Anyone older than 30 should remember the first Bud Bowl. And who can forget the "Bud ... wei ... ser" frogs? Or the many dot-com commercials that aired during the Super Bowls of the late '90s?

In fact, you may remember the ads themselves better than the products or services they were designed to sell -- a common problem with Super Bowl ads, Hopper aid.

"Everybody remembers the Kevin Federline ad from last year, but hardly anyone remembers what it was for," Hopper said. "For one night, being an effective ad takes a passenger seat to just being the most-loved ad."

This year, expect to see the usual suspects (Anheuser-Busch has purchased a whopping four minutes of air time) as well as some newcomers (Tide will make its Super Bowl debut this year). But don't get your hopes too high, Hopper said.

"I think of it like 'Saturday Night Live.' There have been periods of time where they were on fire, but now you kind of hold them at arm's length," he said. "They have in the past been just magical, but if you set your expectations to 'magical,' it's awfully hard to match that expectation."

4. Petty concerns

While the Super Bowl halftime shows of the early '00s indulged in fun but fairly insubstantial radio pop (Christina Aguilera, 'N Sync, Britney Spears, Jessica Simpson), the NFL has in recent years chosen classic rock legends, sych as the Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney and, most recently, Prince to helm the halftime show.

This year, yet another classic rock superstar will regale the man-made concert audience that will surround the midfield stage: Tom Petty.

What's that? Tom Petty isn't exactly what you might call a living legend?

We respectfully beg to differ. While Mr. Petty may not have the cachet of a former Beatle or the man behind "Purple Rain," he can go toe to toe with either of them when it comes to penning a good rock tune.

Mike Redmond, who teaches the history of American popular music at IUPUI, says Petty belongs in any conversation about the best rock 'n' roll songwriters.

"His songs have characters and have a point of view that middle-class people can relate to," Redmond said. "He is a very good songwriter."

Redmond added that the qualities that make Petty less glamorous than many of his peers are the same qualities that so endear him to American listeners.

"If you think about it, he is quintessentially American," Redmond said. "The people he writes about, they are people you know. 'She loves Jesus and her boyfriend too' (a lyric from Petty's hit 'Free Fallin'') -- you know that girl, and you love that girl. It's just very evocative music."

And while Petty's music sounds fantastic streaming through the speakers of a car radio, it sounds even better live.

"He is a great performer," Redmond said. "He's very engaging, and he communicates well with the audience."

Perhaps most telling of all is that Petty has succeeded in becoming a superstar without superstar looks.

"You think back to when he first came out, he had that lean and wolfish look about him," Redmond said. "He looked like that guy who stood off by himself at school -- kind of a hippie/redneck/leather jacket type.

"Actually, a pretty good fit for the Super Bowl," Redmond laughed.

5. The game

If you're a true sports fan, you probably weren't swayed to watch the Super Bowl by the reasons discussed above. That's because you didn't need convincing.

No matter what the outcome, Super Bowl XLII is an opportunity to witness sports history. Either the Patriots will finish with a perfect season, or the Giants will pull off one of the biggest upsets in Super Bowl -- and sports -- history.

Jon Michael Vincent -- known best as JMV, the host of "The Drive," a local sports call-in show on WNDE-AM (1260) -- sums the contest up pithily: "There will be significant drama."

"You have two major markets competing here," Vincent said. "Tom Brady of the so-called evil-empire Patriots who have become the best NFL team ever, and then you have Eli Manning trying to defend the honor of not only his family, but the entire NFL, because nobody outside of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont or Maine wants the Patriots to win."

Is there any hope for a Giants upset?

"I think there is a level of hope," Vincent said. "The Giants are going to have to perform at a high level, and will have to sustain that performance. I never say a team cannot beat another team."

To make his point, Vincent harked back to a famed NCAA basketball championship game.

"If anyone reading is old enough to remember back when Georgetown played Villanova in 1985, it was the ultimate favorite against the ultimate underdogs," Vincent said. "Villanova played at a very high level for the entire game and shocked the world. If we see an effort like that from the Giants, who knows?"

It shouldn't take much coaxing to get hard-core Colts fans to watch, Vincent said.

"They want to see Tom Brady ticked off, they want to see Randy Moss make a mistake, they want to see that old linebacker corps miss tackles. They want to find anything wrong that they can with the Patriots, and they want to see a loss."

Not a Colts fan? Not even a football fan? Take heart, Vincent said. "Hey, any reason to get together with the fellas and throw down some beers is a good thing."

We couldn't have said it better ourselves.