All about the "Super Bowl"

Super Bowl Sunday is always a Sunday and is usually the last Sunday in January. However, for the first time in it's history, it was held in February the 2002= February 3, 2002. The reason is, due to the September 11, 2001 attacks, the television schedules were all delayed by one week. The super bowl was shown on the Fox network and not on one of the main television stations ABC, CBS or NBC also. It is on Sunday, February 1st for 2004.

It is solely a United States celebration. Just like in the old old days when the old king was dethroned and a new king crowned at the start of the new year, the Super Bowl determines who wears the crown in football after a long series of elimination games.

The opponents are the winning teams from the AFL (American Football League) and the NFL (National Football League) that play each other at a pre-selected city (usually in a warmer climate or one with a covered stadium).

Super Bowl Sunday has become more than just a championship play-off event. In some cases, it is a national holiday. It is said that even the criminals take Super Bowl Sunday off. LOL :) In 1985, when the San Franciso 49ers played the Super Bowl in Palo Alto, CA, the crime rate in San Francisco dropped 75%.

For some wives, it seems that the Super Bowl has gone on forever! But, it actually all began on January 15, 1967 in the Los Angeles Coliseum with the Green Bay Packers beating the Kansas City Chiefs 35-10.

How the Super Bowl got started?

How did the name "Super Bowl" get started? Originally, many suggested it be titled, "The Big One" or "The Final Game." But a Texas financier and owner of the Kansas City Chiefs, Lamar Hunt, came up with the idea of calling it "The Super Bowl" after watching his daughter play with a Super Ball - a small, high-bouncing ball very popular at that time. Ironic, that a woman was responsible for naming this well-loved, beloved male annual event!

The games have always been identified with Roman numerals rather than numbers. It wasn't until Super Bowl IV in 1970 that the title, "Super Bowl" actually appeared on tickets.

Pre-game Shows

It took a few years before the pre-game show became a tradition. In 1976, Super Bowl X broadcasted it on television. And Super Bowl XII in 1978 was the first indoor game and drew the largest crowd at that time to have ever watched a sporting event on television also. Super Bowl XV in 1981, displayed a huge yellow ribbon (bow) over the main entrance of the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans to commemorate the 52 American hostages who had just been released by Iran after 444 days in captivity.

It was NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle who made sure that the Super Bowl provided entertainment on a big razzle dazzle scale. The first pre-game show released 4,000 pigeons and continuing pre-game shows have featured top Hollywood celebrities, jets with tailing plumes of dyed smoke of red, white and blue.

Another tradition of the pre-game show is who will sing the "Star Spangeled Banner"? It is usually sung by a well-known American pop singer. Usually, but there have been exceptions.

Winners, Losers & Gamblers

The NFL's Green Bay Packers dominated winning the Super Bowl for the few few years. Then, the New York Jets and their infamous star quarterback, Joe Namath aka "Broadway Joe" for his celebrity status, won Super Bowl III, proving that the NFL and AFL could compete equally and increasing it's popularity even more.

More popular = more money! The price of television advertising during the Super Bowl went from $85,000 a mnute to $200,000. And by Sper Bowl XiX, advertising was around $1 million. Today a Super Bowl ad will run $2 million or more, depending on how long, and what time slot of the game it's shown. It is estimated that 45% of all US homes have TV sets and tune in to watch the Super Bowl. Today, the ads and even the half-time show entertainment has become just as important as the game itself. Ironically, some advertisers start running promos of their ads days before the Super Bowl to promote their ads because they paid so much! One example is Apple Computer during Super Bowl XVIII, with a memorable commercial introducing it's Macintosh. And, if companies aren't buying commercials, well there is still the subtle approach to getting yourself seen during the Super Bowl. Companies put their logos on seat cushions, hats, mugs, to as high in the sky as the Goodyear Blimp! In some cases, the US government has used the Super Bowl as a kickoff event for it's bicentennial celebration in 1976.

Super Bowl Sunday is because it is always held on a Sunday. Ironically, religious leaders have never complained about it. Norman Vincent Peale is quoted as saying, "If Jesus were alive today, He would be at the Super Bowl." Even some of the US Presidents get involved in the game, recommending plays before hand, and sending congratulations to the winning team by telephone.

It has become a tradition in many groups such as clubs, bars, offices and schools (colleges) to place bets on the Super Bowl. How the betting is done varies. Some do it on a "point spread" between the two scores. Sometimes people draw slips of paper with numerical outcomes and the owner of the correct score will win. This is popular because it gives everyone a chance to win and it's not necessarily based on knowledge of any team. There are also "Football Boards" in which there is a huge board with numbers along the top from 0 to 9 and along the side 0 to 9.

However, they are covered up and they aren't sequential. Betters write their names in a square they feel is lucky not knowing the co-ordinates of that square until all bets are placed. Once the card is filled with bets, the side numbers are exposed (usually taped up) and then players can see their co-ordinates. An example is if you picked a square with 0 on top and 7 at bottom. The winners are determined by the score and who has the matching numbers with the scores for the 1st half, halftime, 3rd quarter and final. If you had 0-7 well you could win say twice? You could win with 0-7 for the first quarter and by the end of the game it could be 10-7 or even 20-17. They key is that the numbers end 0-7. Now someone else might have 7-0 as their co-ordinates. Some people feel that 0-0 is the best number because you start out a winner when the game begins! :)

Super Bowl Parties

Just a few weeks after New Years Day, comes the Super Bowl Sunday. These are typically day-long events held in private homes with beer, chips, soda, pizza, and a potluck supper. The highlight of the party is the game and finding out who won the money in the pool or on the board. Because this is in the dead of winter, it is also enjoyed by those who don't even like football just as an emotional excitement and social enjoyment break from the cold winter days.

The Super Bowl Trophy

The trophy is given to the winning team and is named after Vince Lombardi, whose game plan was "Attack, Attack, Attack!" The trophy is symbolic of the values Lombardi exemplified and the excellence he demanded of his players.
As I said earlier, the Green Bay Packers dominated the Super Bowl for the first few years under coach Lombardi. So for many years the team and the coach symbolized the game because Lombardi took over the Green Bay Packers in 1959, where they had lost almost every single game during the previous season. Within 2 years, Lombardi turned the Green Bay Packers from losers to winners of the NFL. And they won the first two Super Bowls in a row.

Now, other teams have had greater winning streaks such as the San Francisco 49ers, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Dallas Cowboys, it is the Green Bay Packes and Vince Lombardi who stands are as symbolizing what the Super Bowl represents to it's fans and the United States of America.