NEW ORLEANS — When the NFL does a big event, they do it B-I-G. Granted, this is my first time attending a Super Bowl and also my first trip to New Orleans, so take it with a grain of salt.

But the second you step off the airplane at Louis Armstrong International Airport in New Orleans, you are inundated with the Super Bowl. Yes, those people living under a rock you’ve heard of before in that popular saying, even they are aware the Super Bowl is in town.

Freeways, streets and any other surface you can imagine are flooded with Super Bowl ads, notices and signs. Super Bowl-specific fan stores are littered throughout downtown. Heck, even my hotel room key has a Super Bowl insignia on it. (It’ll be on eBay next week if anyone’s interested).

In my first look at the unique-shaped Superdome, lit up in the Mardi Gras colors of green, purple and gold, I easily confused it as an alien spaceship just stopping by. Until of course I saw the giant Super Bowl XLVII logo nearby.

So in case you weren’t aware, the Super Bowl is New Orleans. Not that they’d let you forget even if you wanted to.