Drinking, gambling and extravagant hotels are all a part of what makes Vegas so great, and a big reason why I've gone there three times in the last four years.
But if there are two things underrated about the place, it's the buffets and betting on sports. Like everything else in the city, the all-you-can-eat food and massive sportsbooks are a slap in the face to our country's economic situation. Where else can you justify paying $45 for a 24-hour pass to eat all you want, or putting $50 on a team to win a championship six months from now? The latter isn't even legal in 49 states.
In honor of my latest trip to Vegas, in which I won $800 on video roulette before proceeding to lose $400 of it at the Wynn, here are the favorites to win the Super Bowl in 2012, along with the food they best compare to on Vegas' countless all-you-can-eat buffets.
(Odds listed are at the MGM sportsbook)

Steak
Patriots (5/1)
They've been the favorites in the NFL for almost a decade now, and like steak on a buffet, you're not walking out the door without at least considering trying it out. However, it's almost too popular of a pick to bet on. Similar to someone who plays it safe at a blackjack table and comes home with a $20 profit, people are going to judge you if you tell them you went to Sin City and bet on the Patriots. "You could go online and put money on the Patriots," they'll say. "But if you're going to go to Vegas and bet on sports, at least take a flier on a sleeper team or something." (This is a fictional conversation of course, because as we all know, gambling on the Internet is illegal.

Lobster
Eagles (9/2)
The lobster makes up the "surf" in the surf n turf. It's the other big buffet favorite, and ever since the Eagles signed Nnamdi Asomugha, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, Ronnie Brown and Vince Young, the team has been right there with the Patriots when it comes to Super Bowl favorites. At the same time, I'm not sure why. Mike Vick is due for a big injury by Week 5, Asomugha has three interceptions since 2006 (none last year), Ronnie Brown has only hit the 1,000 yard mark once (1,008 in 2006) and Vince Young is a backup quarterback. It's a sexy, popular pick. It's different. But I still don't like it. Just like lobster.

Pizza
Falcons (15/1)
Call me crazy, but the pizza was the best-tasting dish from the Treasure Island buffet. Going in, you don't expect the pizza to be anything spectacular, but the great thing about Vegas is they do everything right. In other words, they're not taking a Hot n Ready out of the box and plopping it in the middle of the Italian food. After looking at every team's odds, the Falcons most resembled Vegas buffet pizza (metaphorically). They were my pick to win the 2012 Super Bowl. I can see Matt Ryan making a Aaron Rodgers leap with Tony Gonzalez, Roddy White, Julio Jones as options. Kerry Meier could be the 2011 version of Jordy Nelson, if for no other reason than they're white receivers from Kansas. Defensively, they added Ray Edwards to play alongside John Abraham. I like them to win it, especially with the eighth best odds in Vegas.

Sushi
Jets (6/1)
A real love it or hate it pick. About half of all people can't stand the thought of eating something with seaweed in it, but those that can love it. Think about it. How many times have you gotten on Facebook and seen an "I'm eating sushi at (insert random restaurant that secretly serves cats)!!!" status? Rex Ryan is the same way with his team. Everybody else hates them, but he likes his players enough that he's willing to talk about them constantly, whether any of us care or not.

Cake
Packers (5/1)
No matter how many disappointing foods you ate along the way, the sweet taste of cake at the end can redeem everything and leave you walking out the door with a smile on your face. While it might be a good thing for dessert to erase the memory of all that bad meat you just ate, it can also cloud your judgement of the experience as a whole. When people think of the Packers, all they remember is Aaron Rodgers getting hot in the playoffs as the team pulled off a string of upsets. The championship made everyone forget Green Bay lost six games (same as the Chiefs and Bucs) and needed to win a tiebreaker just to make it into the playoffs. Analysts of the NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE continued their annual practice of picking last year's champ to win it again, despite the team's up and down play a year ago. Obviously the defending champs deserve to have favorable odds, but listing Green Bay as the co-favorites along with New England seems like a bit much. They'll likely make a playoff run, but of all the great teams in recent years, is this really going to be the first one since Elway to go back-to-back? Of course not.

Meatloaf
Bears (15/1)
You don't know what's in there. You don't know how it's good. But a lot of times it is. People waited all season for the Bears to fall apart, and it never happened. That is, until they were a quarter away from the Super Bowl. Somehow they won 11 games last year and reached the NFC Championship with a quarterback who looked like he prepared for games by smoking pot and watching Pan's Labyrinth. They might still make the playoffs this year, but no team other than the Browns will be affected more by the new kickoff rules. Taking Devin Hester's returns away from the Bears is like taking that red sauce away from meatloaf. Without out, it's just not pretty.

Fruit/vegetables
Steelers (10/1) /Ravens (9/1)
You're talking about two of the main food groups. Neither is anybody's fan favorite, but they're always going to be there in the end. Pittsburgh-Baltimore has become the best rivalry in the NFL, Troy Polamalu might be the league's most fun player to watch and Ray Rice has quietly become the safest No. 1 pick in fantasy football. Ben Roethlisberger and Ray Lewis remind me of cartoon villains for their ability to come back from crimes like nothing ever happened. (ALLEGEDLY!) You might not like them for it, and maybe you'll never cheer for either team, but they're two of the most consistent contenders in the NFL.

Hot dog
Giants (20/1)
This seems to be a key element of every Vegas restaurant, but with all the choices at an all-you-can-eat buffet, are you really picking up a hot dog? The only thing advertised more heavily throughout the city than $1, $2 and $2.99 hot dogs are the similarly priced strippers. Cheap hot dogs are everywhere, and it ruins any chance you might have had of eating one at an expensive buffet. The Giants have a similar role in the NFL. Their odds are listed right outside the elite teams, but really there's not much that separates them from any other middle of the pack team. Eli Manning might be the one difference maker, and until last week you could've even made the argument he was underrated. Then he ruined the one thing the team had going for it by running around and comparing himself to Tom Brady.

Salad
Chargers (15/1)
Most people grab a salad at the beginning of the buffet the same way most people pick the Chargers to win the AFC West in the preseason. Both look like good choices from the beginning, and they might satisfy you for a while, but there's no way either one is going to be the last one standing at the end. When you leave the buffet, you're not going to look back at that memorable salad you ate, and when the Chargers make their annual late-season collapse, you're probably not going to reminisce about how well they played in the first five weeks of the year. To add to the comparisons, Philip Rivers reminds me of that blue-green, toothpaste looking stuff on the salad bar. Not many people like him, and those that do always walk away with a bad taste in their mouth.

Mac n cheese
Rams (50/1)
Nothing gives you that "feel like a kid again" feeling more than a bowl of macaroni and cheese. People might think it's funny when you order it as an adult, but it goes well with almost anything and is still the best side at most restaurants, including Henry T's. When I watched Sam Bradford and Stephen Jackson play last year without any help from the receivers, it looked like a team that had the potential to score like the 2000 Rams, the best offense I ever saw growing up. The only thing missing was receivers that didn't have torn ACLs. Now Donnie Avery and Mark Clayton are back healthy, plus they added receivers Mike Sims-Walker and Greg Salas (whose name might be recognizable to people who played college fantasy football, but otherwise, probably not). When you consider the division's other quarterbacks are Kevin Kolb, Tarvaris Jackson and Alex Smith, this team should be a lock for a playoff spot.

Donuts
Buccaneers (35/1) 
 While waiting in line for the buffet, there's a window where you can watch cooks preparing food. When we were there, they happened to be making mini-chocolate donuts. Naturally, after eating everything else, we had to try the donuts just to see how they turned out. NFL fans have gone through the same process with the Bucs. We've all watched Josh Freeman turn the league's worst team into a playoff contender, and now it's time to see if he can take it to another level. I still think they're a couple years and two or three big names away from making a playoff run, but that skepticism might just come from seeing Freeman play at K-State, under the direction of an in over his head Ron Prince.

Breakfast food
Colts (15/1)
You can have a buffet with every nationality and food group imaginable, but the spread just isn't complete without a breakfast section. Sure, I ate Chinese, Italian, American and Mexican food at the Treasure Island, but you know what? I would've like to have had some pancakes with it. The Colts, like waffles and omelettes, are a key component of any  NFL season, no matter how many times people might pretend they aren't. Upstarts might pop up every once in a while, like the Eagles this year, and make the Colts look like they're past their prime, and Super Bowl long shots, but as long as Peyton Manning is there, they belong in the top five of any list of contenders.

Chinese
Cowboys (15/1)
The Cowboys have a bigger fan base than any other team, so any time the NFL can market them as winners, the overall interest in the league is going to increase. It doesn't matter that they won six games last year, they'll still be listed with the same Super Bowl odds as the Colts, Bears, Chargers and other teams that are actually capable of finishing above .500. Why not? Delirious Cowboy fans are going to bet on them regardless of the odds. Buffet makers in Vegas follow the same line of thinking as odds makers when it comes to catering to their biggest demographic. There might be twice as many asians in the city than any other group combined. So you'd be crazy to leave Chinese food off the buffet, no matter how low-quality orange chicken made by Americans may be. Just by having it on your menu, you're reaching the largest group of people in Vegas, and without it, there's nothing keeping them from going across the street to the Panda Express.

BBQ
Chiefs (35/1)
Maybe I'm a homer for thinking Kansas City has both the best BBQ and a legitimate championship sleeper team, but I truly believe both of those statements to be true. I would have been much more compelled to walk into one of the restaurants with a "$3.99 New York steak" sign if it was a $3.99 KC strip. Just like I'd be more willing to bet on the New York Giants if they were listed with the Chiefs' odds (which is probably where they belong anyway). Despite making the playoffs last year with the same record as the Packers, it seems like people are still mentioning the Chiefs in the same breath as terrible franchises like the Bengals. They won 10 games and had the best running game in the NFL. I'd like to see them repeat their success another year before putting my mouth is, but if the Chiefs surprise people and make a playoff run this year, K-Swiss is going to look like a genius for buying low on a Matt Cassel endorsement.

Drinks
Saints (13/1)
With all that food you're eating, you're going to need a drink, and because you're in Vegas, that drink is going to have alcohol in it. No matter how much you drank the night before, and how much you hate yourself for it the next morning, there's something about Vegas that tells you it's OK to hit the bottle once again the following night. It's some kind of phenomenon. Just like Drew Brees' ability to keep winning and maintain his status as a likeable athlete throughout America. That's harder to do than you'd think. Tom Brady couldn't do it and neither could Peyton Manning. Odds are you hate one or both of those guys, and if Aaron Rodgers wins another title in the next year or two, we'll all turn against him. America hates a winner. But Brees is the one guy who's overcome all that thanks to his work outside of football. Similar to Manning, he brought this franchise back from futility and will have them in contention as long as he's there. The only difference is, people don't hate him for it.