Bowls abound this weekend with peeks, puppies and geeks

Bowls are everywhere this weekend, and not all of them are super.

Hours before the Pittsburgh Steelers and Seattle Seahawks clash in Super Bowl XL, a group of wannabe gridiron greats employed at local technology firms and brick-and-mortar businesses will meet on a Herndon field in the seventh Capital Cyber Bowl.

Need more bowls so soon after the conclusion of college football’s Bowl Championship Series?

• Lingerie Bowl III is available tomorrow on pay-per-view and again will give a peek at scantily-clad ladies tossing the pigskin around.

• Puppy Bowl II will air tomorrow at 3 p.m. on cable’s “Animal Planet.” The three-hour program, which includes a kitty halftime show where the furry felines will play a mock game, will be repeated throughout the evening.

• Cooking queen Paula Deen is hosting a Supper Bowl marathon on the Food Network from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. Along with episodes of her series “Paula’s Home Cooking,” the fest includes repeats of her specials “All-Star Kitchen Makeover” and “Paula Goes to Hollywood,” plus a special edition of “Behind the Bash.”

• Bud Bowl 2006 comprises two nights of parties in Detroit sponsored by Budweiser and Bud Light.

The Cyber Bowl will benefit the Touchdown Club Charities of Washington, D.C., and will be broadcast live online by TV Worldwide.com Inc., said the Chantilly company’s chief executive officer, Dave Gardy, who also plays wide receiver for the Web Warriors.

“Seven years ago, we started a webcast of the game and it got a lot of hits and now has a cult following,” said Mr. Gardy, 47, adding that the players’ age range is 23 to 50. “We get these old guys playing, and it’s developed into a real rivalry. This year is the rubber match, so there’s been a lot of trash talking.”

The Web Warriors won the first Cyber Bowl in 2000, and the 2002 and 2005 contests. The Bricks and Mortar squad took the title in 2001, 2003 and 2004.

The trash talk is more funny than scary.

“We’re going to avenge last year’s game when they were able to throw a wrench in our gears. … This year, we’ll send those Internet tech-geeks running back to their data centers,” said Bricks and Mortar tight end Mike D’Amato, a shipyard engineer.

“The whole Brick and Mortar game plan looks like it’s been corrupted by a virus, and we intend to exploit the anomaly, render their protection scan useless and penetrate their defenses,” said Microsoft’s Steve Lough, Web Warrior quarterback.

The league has existed for 22 years and usually features games of eight players on a side. But the Cyber Bowl draws more interest and will have the traditional 11-on-11 format, Mr. Gardy said.

“I’m hoping that the technology guys beat the brick-and-mortar [team] to show that even though dot-coms fell, the technology’s back,” said Gary Nakamoto, president of the Touchdown Club and chief executive of Base Technologies Inc. in McLean. “And that we raise a lot of money, the guys have fun, and nobody gets hurt.”

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