Wednesday, January 21, 2009

43 Stops to Super Bowl XLIII: #24-27


The "43 Stops to Super Bowl XLIII" is a series that will feature stories, stats and interesting trivia that you can use to act smart as you prepare for Super Bowl XLIII. I've done this on SPORTZASSASSIN.COM for Super Bowls XL and XLI and for AOL's FanHouse for Super Bowl XLII.

#24-BOTH QBs HAVE BEEN HERE BEFORE: This is the first Super Bowl since Super Bowl XXIX that features two starting quarterbacks that have won Super Bowls before. Kurt Warner won Super Bowl XXXIV with the Rams and Ben Roethlisberger won Super Bowl XL with the Steelers.

The interesting thing about Super Bowl XXIX is that both starting QBs had won Super Bowls as backups. Steve Young had a couple of Super Bowl rings backing up Joe Montana with the 49ers and Stan Humpries won a Super Bowl ring with the Redskins as Mark Rypien's backup.

The last Super Bowl to feature two starting QBs that actually started and won previous Super Bowls was Super Bowl XVIII. That would be the Raiders Jim Plunkett against the Redskins Joe Theismann.

#24-COIN TOSS MEMORIES IN YEARS THAT END IN "9": The coin toss for Super Bowl XLIII will feature Roger Craig, John Elway and Lynn Swann. Those men won Super Bowls in 1989, 1999 and 1979, respectively. Joe Namath, who won the Super Bowl in 1969, will be part of the postgame presentation of the Vince Lombardi trophy.

#25-ARIZONA CARDINALS ARE SECOND TO CHICAGO CUBS: The Cardinals' last NFL championship was 1947. Their 61 seasons since their last title is the second longest drought in major professional US sports. Only the Chicago Cubs' 100 seasons since their last title is longer.

#26-ITS GOOD THAT NO ONE ACTUALLY ISN'T TALKING ABOUT THIS: Mike Tomlin will be the third African-American coach to lead his team into the Super Bowl. The first two, Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith, met two years ago in Super Bowl XLI.

#27-NBC NEEDS FIVE HOURS: NBC will have a record 5-hour pregame show before the Super Bowl. Why? I mean, I know they have 72 people on camera during their Sunday Night Football coverage during the season. I guess they need to get all of them good air time on Super Bowl Sunday. By the way, this will be the last Super Bowl shown in an analog broadcast.

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