#1-WIN THIS GAME, GO TO HALL OF FAME: This is the 9th Super Bowl played in Miami. The winning quarterback of the 8 previous Super Bowls played in Miami have gone on to the Hall of Fame. No kidding. Bart Starr, Joe Namath, Johnny Unitas, Terry Bradshaw [twice], Joe Montana, Steve Young and John Elway all won Super Bowls in Miami....and all are in the Hall of Fame.
#2-SPORTZ' PREDICTS: Colts 30-Bears 20. Super Bowls tend to be high scoring by nature...and despite the feeling that the Bears offense sucks, they did score the 2nd most points in the NFL this season. This is the rare Super Bowl where I don't have some sort of feeling for either team. Last year, I wanted the Steelers to lose. I hate the Eagles, so Super Bowl XXXIX was nice. The year before that, since I am from Charlotte, I rooted for the Panthers. I don't hate either team. I'd like to see Manning get a Super Bowl ring [he's a keeper on my fantasy team, so I am used to rooting for him]...but I picked the Bears in my office's Super Bowl pool.
#3-SARAH SPAIN: Go to the AOL's NFL Fanhouse and read about the story of Sarah Spain.
#4-SOUTH FLORIDA'S LOGO: Check out the logo above. The orange represents the sun; the blue represents the ocean. The Roman numeral "I" is made to look like an endzone pylon that is supposed to signify "the goal is to get to the game".
#5-CBS'S FIRST GO AROUND SINCE NIPPLE-GATE: This is CBS's first Super Bowl since the Janet Jackson halftime fiasco in Super Bowl XXXVIII. Something about a pasty, a boob and Justin Timberlake. On a tangent here, but isn't it odd that Prince is deemed non-threatening?? Didn't dude wear butt-less chaps to the MTV Awards many moons ago?
#6-WINNING TWO AT HOME: This is the first Super Bowl since 1996 that both participants won two home playoff games. The Colts beat the Chiefs and Patriots at the RCA Dome. The Bears beat the Seahawks and Saints at Solder Field.
#7-GAME TIDBITS: Dan Marino will flip the opening coin toss. Don Shula will hand out the Vince Lombardi trophy. Jim Nantz and Phil Simms will call the game [this is Nantz' first Super Bowl]. Prince performs the halftime show. Billy Joel will sing the National Anthem. The Bears, most likely, will wear their traditional black jerseys...and the Colts will wear white.
#8-DOLPHINS STADIUM ON A NEW NETWORK: This is the 4th Super Bowl played in Dolphins Stadium [or whatever name it's been]....and the 4th different network to cover a Super Bowl. NBC did Super Bowl XXIII; ABC did Super Bowl XXIX; Fox did Super Bowl XXXIII; and now CBS is doing Super Bowl XLI.
#9-AFC LOVES FEBRUARY: Since the Super Bowl has been played in February, the AFC is 4-0 in those games. The Patriots beat the Rams [in a Super Bowl that was pushed back into February due to postponment of Week 2 due to the attacks of 9/11], Panthers and Eagles and last year the Steelers beat the Seahawks.
#10-THE LUCKY NUMBER 8: Starting QBs who wear the #8 are a combined 5-1 in the Super Bowl. Troy Aikman won 3 Super Bowls with the Cowboys; Trent Dilfer won with the Ravens; Steve Young won with the 49ers. However, last year #8 Matt Hasselbeck lost the Super Bowl. So...is this good news or bad news for Rex Grossman??
#11-FIRST BLACK HEAD COACHES IN SUPER BOWL: Chicago's Lovie Smith and Indianapolis' Tony Dungy are the first black head coaches to lead their teams to the Super Bowl. Don't know if you've heard that one or not? And like the time the first black QB started in the Super Bowl [Doug Williams], one of these coaches will win in that first try.
#12-BUT THEY'VE BEEN HERE BEFORE: However, the two coaches aren't strangers to the Super Bowl. Tony Dungy was a safety [who forced a fumble] for the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XIII. Lovie Smith was the defensive coordinator for the St Louis Rams when they lost to the Patriots in Super Bowl XXXVI.
#13-LITTLE NAMES FOR BIG GAMES: The Colts and Bears meet up for a Super Bowl that marks the 2nd shortest combined team names in Super Bowl history. The Colts have five letters in their name....the Bears have five. That's a combined 10 letters. The shortestis Super Bowl III, which saw the Colts face the Jets, with just 9 letters.
#14-WHO WILL BE AT THE GAME?? Here ya go: Each team is given an allotment of 17.5% of the tickets to the game. The host team [in this case, the Dolphins] gets 5% of the tickets. The NFL gets 25.2% of the tickets....with each other NFL team to get 1.2% of the tickets. So...what does that mean? Well, each team can sell tickets to their fan base [most likely the season ticket holders] and such. The NFL does several things with their tickets. They hold a lottery to sell some of the tickets. Some more get sold in a "package deal" via a tour group that includes a lot more than just the ticket. The other teams use their tickets for their players, some "special fans" and used in various contests. The best way to buy a ticket for yourself?? Go somewhere like StubHub.com and pay thru the nose.
#15-LINGERIE BOWL: Yep...it's that time of year again. Lingerie Bowl IV!!! The Dallas Desire, Los Angeles Temptation, Chicago Bliss and New York Euphoria will do battle on the gridiron!! Jena Jameson will be there. So will Jim McMahon, The Fridge, The Boz and Kato kaelin. Go to LINGERIE BOWL IV - Home of the Lingerie Football League (LFL) for more info
#16-BEWARE OF THE DARK HORSE: In a game like this, sometimes someone that nobody planned for has a huge game and becomes the difference maker. Thisdates all the way back to Super Bowl I....when Max McGee [who spent the previous night partying in LA] of the Packers caught 7 passes. Weird, since he caught only FOUR all season long! Or the Redskins' Timmy Smith, who ran for a record 204 yards in Super Bowl XXII. Or Desmond Howard, who is known for twothings. His Heismantrophy and Super Bowl XXXI MVP. Or the Cowboys' Larry Brown, who went from a nobody to Super Bowl XXX MVP.....back to a nobody. So, who could be the darkhorses in this game?? Well, for Indianapolis, I'll take Aaron Moorehead; For Chicago, Desmond Clark.
#17-SOMEONE WILL SCORE BEFORE HALFTIME: There has never been a Super Bowl that was scoreless at halftime. NEVER. The closest came in Super Bowl IX when the Steelers took a 2-0 lead into the half over the Vikings. But the last five Super Bowls have seen NO touchdowns scored in the 1st quarter....with two of them being scoreless in the first quarter. In fact, only TWICE has the Super Bowl been tied at halftime anyways. Super Bowl XXIII, the Niners and Bengals weretied at 3-3 at the half. Then, Super Bowl XXXIX was tied 7-7 at the half.
#18-PROPOSITION BETS: These are the other betting scenerios during Super Bowl Sunday. Bets such as the coin toss, who will score first, who will score last, who will get the first 1st down in the 2nd quarter, the last score of the first half, who will punt first, will there be a missed FG attempt, who committs the first penalty, who uses the coach's challenge first, will that challenge be overturned, first QB sack, first timeout,etc. Go to Bodog Sportsbook for more betting info.
#19-SUPER BOWL AND NBA FINALS: Sort of. This marks the 2nd straight season that the Super Bowl will be held in a city that also hosted the most recent NBA Finals. Last year, the Super Bowl was in Detroit....who also saw a Pistons-Spurs NBA Finals. Now, it's in Miami....which saw the Heat-Mavericks Finals last year.
#20-SEC QUARTERBACKIN': Rex Grossman went to Florida; Peyton Manningwent to rival Tennessee. This is the first time the opposing quarterbacks in the Super Bowl have been from the same colleigate conference since Super Bowl XXXIII...when the Pac-10's John Elway [Stanford] hooked up with Chris Chandler [Washington].
#21-NO MORE GRASS: The Colts have lost their last three games on grass surfaces. Miami's Dolphins Stadium, where the Super Bowl will be played, has a grass surface.
#22-SUPER BOWL DROUGHT: The last time the Colts were in the Super Bowl....it was 1971. It has been 36 years between Super Bowl berths. That is the longest drought between appearances in Super Bowl history. The Chiefs [1970] and Jets [1969] can break that record with another trip to the big game.
#23-THE SUPER BOWL PREGAME GOATS: There have been many blunders in sports....but there three paramount screw-ups in the history of the Super Bowl. Stanley Wilson, Eugene Robinson and Barrett Robbins. Wilson was set to play for the Bengals in Super Bowl XXIII in Miami when the night before he was found by police high of cocaine after a binge. Ten years later, Robinson, who just won the Bart Starr Award for "high moral character", gets caught by an undercover cop trying to get a hooker toput her mouth on him the night before the big game. Robbins takes the cake. He disappeared from the Raiders before Super Bowl XXVII, went to Tijuana on a drinking binge. The team finally found him......in jail and on suicide watch.
#24-HEADING TO GLENDALE: Super Bowl XLII will be held in Glendale, AZ next year....where the awesome new University of Phoenix Stadium now sits. The UPS held the BCS National Championship game earlier this yearand is a marvel. Miami will see the Super Bowl back again pretty soon. Super Bowl XLIV in 2010 will be held there.
#25-CHAMPIONSHIP BANNERS: This is only the 2nd time Indianapolis has been on the championship stage....sort of. Only the 2000 Indiana Pacers of the NBA has made a pro team championship appearance for Indy. However, Indianapolis is one of the most popular Final Four sites. As for Chicago, just two years ago the White Sox brought home the World Series. In 1991-1993 and again in 1996-1998, the Chicago Bulls brought home the NBA Championship. In fact, Chicago has won their last 6 professional attempts for a championship. The last failed attempt was the 1992 Blackhawks in the Stanley Cup Finals.
#26-THE AD GAME: There are three major themes during the Super Bowl. The actual game, the halftime entertainment and the commercials. Whether it is Bud Bowl, the Bud-Weis-Er frogs, those dot-com companies littering our airwaves a few years ago, learning about 4-hour erections for the first time, Michael J Fox running around for a Diet Pepsi, the Apple computer ad in 1984[which didn't feature the product], Jordan and Bird banking shots all over the place in the ultimate game of horse, or the Pepsi or Coke delivery guy trying to get a sip of the competition and getting caught on the security camera spilling all the drinks. Ya know....YOU KNOW....that there will some some ad that everyone will be rolling on the day after the Super Bowl. Go to SuperBowl-Ads.com for more on those crazy ads.
#27-SMALL ARENAS: The Colts and Bears boast the smallest stadiums in the NFL. The refurbished Soldier Field in Chicago holds63,000 fans....lowest in the NFC and 2nd smallest in the league. The RCA Dome in Indianapolis, which willbe around just one more season, holds a meager 56,127...smallest in the NFL.
#28-COLTS DOUBLE DUTY I: The Colts join the Raiders and Rams as the only franchises to play in the Super Bowl from two seperate cities. The Raiders have played in Super Bowl as Los Angeles and Oakland. The Rams have played as Los Angeles and St. Louis. The Colts have now been to the Super Bowl as both Baltimore and Indianapolis.
#29-COLTS DOUBLE DUTY II: The Colts are trying to become the second team to win Super Bowls with in two different cities. The other is the Raiders, who won Super Bowls in Oakland and Los Angeles.
#30-COLTS DOUBLE SIDED: The Colts are the only franchise to have represented both sides of the coin. In SuperBowl III, the Colts were the NFL/NFC Champion. In Super Bowls V and now XLI, the Colts were the AFC Champion.
#31-TEN POINT COMEBACK: Sure, this is a biased remark...but it seems to be true. Super Bowl XXII.....Denver goes up 10-0 quickly. Then came the 2nd quarter. Doug Williams, Ricky Sanders and Timmy Smith led Redskins onslaught. Five TDs in an 18-play frame that took up 5:47 off the clock. 35 points. When halftime came around, Washington was up 35-10....and coasted in the second half for a 42-10 victory. Timmy Smith ran for 204 yards, still an NFL record. And the 10 point deficit is still the largest comeback in Super Bowl history.
#32-WIDE RECEIVING TO AN MVP AWARD: The last two Super Bowl MVPs have been wide receivers [Deion Branch, Hines Ward] marking only the fourth and fifth times a WR has won the award. But, it is the 2nd time receivers have went back-to-back. In Super Bowls X and XI, Lynn Swann and Fred Biletnikoff won the MVP award [the only other WR to win the thing was some dude named Jerry Rice]. Could Reggie Wayne or Marvin Harrison be the next one?
#33-KICK RETURNING: Much is made about the Bears' Devin Hester returning kicks this year [he has 3 punt returns for TDs]....but no punt has been returned for a TD in Super Bowl history. None. In fact, only once has a punt been returned for more than 35 yards [John Taylor's 45-yd puntreturn in Super Bowl XXIII]. And no opening kickoff has been run back for a TD, either.
#34-BAD QB PLAY: Many people will wonder how Rex Grossman got his team to a Super Bowl? He will likely go down with Tony Eason, Kerry Collins, Trent Dilfer, David Woodley, Craig Morton, Joe Kapp, Vince Ferragamo and Neil O'Donnell as one of the worst QBs to ever make the big game. Of those QBs, only Dilfer won the game. By the way, Ben Roethlisberger last year set the record for worst QB game rating for a Super Bowl winner.
#35-NO TWO-AND-OHS: The Bears are makingjust their 2nd Super Bowl appearance. They won their first trip, back in Super Bowl XX, joining the Ravens, Buccaneers and Jets as the only franchises to win their only trip to the Super Bowl. However, no franchise is 2-0 in Super Bowls. None. The only franchise that has made more than one Super Bowl appearance and is still undefeated is the San Francisco 49ers...who are 5-0.
#36-AFC DOMINATION: The AFC has won 7 of the last 9 Super Bowls, including three in a row....just after the NFC ran off 13 straight wins in the 1980s and 1990s. The NFC still holds the advantage at 21-19. But take outthe NFC's 13-game win streak....and the AFC has won 19 of 27 games. The only NFC champions to with the game in the past decade are the 1999 Rams and 2002 Buccaneers.
#37-INDY'S IN THE SUPERBOWL: Scratch Indianapolis off the list of current NFL cities to never go to the Super Bowl. The ones left: Detroit, New Orleans, Phoenix/Glendale, Cleveland, Jacksonville and Houston. If you break it down to cities who have had nothing to do with the Super Bowl at all....all you had was Indianapolis and Cleveland. Detroit, New Orleans, Phoenix/Glendale, Jacksonville and Houston have all hosted Super Bowls. Now, only Cleveland stands alone.
#38-MIAMI HOSTS 9th SUPER BOWL: Miami joins New Orleans as hosting their 9th Super Bowl [the 10th will come in 2010].
#39-ANIMAL POWER: This Colts-Bears Super Bowl will only be the 2nd time that both mascots are animals. The first time was in Super Bowl XXXIII when the Falcons and Broncos matched up. Technically, this will be the first meeting of mammal mascots.
#40-CLOSEST SUPER BOWL EVER: Chicago andIndianapolis are just 159 miles apart. That is the closest proximity between two Super Bowl cities ever. Coming in 2nd is Baltimore-New York....which is 173 miles apart. The odd thing about that is that the Baltimore-New York connection met up twice, yet involved four different teams. Once, it was the NY Jets and Baltimore Colts....with the NY Giants and Baltimore Ravens being the other matchup.
#41-TWO LIKE OPPONENTS: The Colts and Bears have just two like opponents during the regular season: the Patriots and Giants. Both teams beat the Giants in New York. But the Colts beat the Pats [twice] while the Bearslost to them, 17-13, in Foxboro.
1 comment:
I'm fairly good friends with Lingerie Bowl veteran Lana Kinnear.
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