In reference to your point 1: Ask! It'll get you a funny look or two, maybe, but my experience has been that people love explaining things that "everybody knows" almost as much as they do expounding their opinions. (I couldn't care less about the Superbowl, but I recognize lots of people do -- so, when one of them asks me what I think of it, I shrug and say I don't know a thing about baseball. This always gets a laugh, which usually leads into a conversation that's enjoyable for all involved even if the informational content thereof isn't worth committing to memory.)