Authored by Mark Peters in American Football
Published on 12-24-2008
During most of the last century, when it came to major sports championships, few contests could hold a candle to baseball’s World Series. That changed during the last few decades when the Super Bowl proved itself to be gaining yearly in popularity, and judging from television viewing audience alone, became possibly the biggest must-see televised sports event in the world. The Super Bowl has been home to blow out games that were letdowns for football fans every where and also home to some great games that will never be forgotten. There have been dynasty teams that have won the Super Bowl as if it were a foregone conclusion and teams that no one thought of as contenders at the beginning of the season but managed to work their way into the Super Bowl and emerge with a league championship. With the popularity that surrounds the game, it is hard to imagine much that has slipped by the standard football fan. But, here are five things you may not know about the Super Bowl.
1. Despite decent parity in both leagues, there have been times when one conference seems to succeed more than the other. Only one NFC franchise won a Super Bowl during the 1970s and that was the Dallas Cowboys who were victorious in Super Bowl VI and Super Bowl XII.
2. The reason behind the use of Roman Numerals in the name of the individual Super Bowls is to lessen the confusion that comes from the game being played during the calendar year that follows the season it is being played for. For example, the 2008 Super Bowl is played to determine the champion of the 2007 season.
3. Every Super Bowl played from 1984 to 1996 was won by a team from the National Football Conference (NFC). This winning streak was helped by the dynasties of the San Francisco 49ers of the 1980s and the Dallas Cowboys of the early 1990s.
4. Three times in Super Bowl history the game has been tied with less than a minute on the clock. Despite this fact, there has never been a Super Bowl go into overtime.
5. Five head coaches have taken multiple teams to the Super Bowl including Don Shula (Colts and Dolphins), Bill Parcells (Giants and Patriots), Mike Holmgren (Packers and Seahawks), Dick Vermeil (Eagles and Rams), and Dan Reeves (Broncos and Falcons). No coach though has ever won Super Bowls with two different teams.
Millions of football fans every where look forward to the Super Bowl yearly. Fans of the teams involved in the big game are of course highly interested in the results, but football fans in general that have no ties to either team playing in the contest are also attracted to the game in huge numbers. From the actual game itself, to unveiling of commercials, to the halftime show, the Super Bowl has far exceeded the dreams of those that organized in the beginning before it was even called the Super Bowl. The game will remain one of the most popular sporting events for many years to come.
