[Harmless Teddy Bear]

How did it evolve so that people have all these parties and events surrounding it?

In a word, Television.

Back when it started TV's were not common. People would try to get their friends who had TV's to invite them over to watch the game. For the teams that were playing this was the only way most of them could see the game as the Super Bowl was never played in the home stadium of either team.

Now it is just an excuse to party.

[Dilbert San Diego]

Excuse to party, LOL. Yep I think that’s where we are now.

And some super bowls have been lackluster games.

A running joke among some friends, is that we usually see much better ,more exciting football games in the playoffs leading up to the Super Bowl, than the Super Bowl itself.