Letters to Lyla and Lottie

A history of the SUPER BOWL. This is the only way I can get into the arcaic ritual (I realize I'm exposing the world to an inner vulnerabily; the NERD in me, but oh well. ) This is the first time I've realized how young this event really is. My dad was like 13 when the first bowl airred. Todd and I got talking about the history and realized neither of us knew exactly how things began (which is suprising bc Todd is such a sport's history junkie). So I decided to look it up. I thought this was interesting.....
p.s. isn't WIKIPEDIA wonderful?!?

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In professional American football, the Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League (NFL). It and its ancillary festivities constitute Super Bowl Sunday, which over the years has become the most-watched U.S. television broadcast of the year, and has become likened to a de facto U.S. national holiday.[1] In addition, many popular singers and musicians have performed during the Super Bowl's pre-game and halftime ceremonies. This is also the second-largest U.S. food consumption day, following Thanksgiving.

The Super Bowl was first played on January 15, 1967 as part of the merger agreement between the NFL and its younger rival, the American Football League (AFL) in which each league's championship team would play each other in an "AFL-NFL World Championship Game". After the completion of the merger in 1970, the Super Bowl became the NFL's championship game, played between the champions of the league's two conferences: the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather than the year it was held since the NFL season extends beyond New Year's Eve. For example, the New York Giants, winners of Super Bowl XLII are the champions of the 2007 season, even though the championship game was played in February 2008.

In the history of the Super Bowl, the following "firsts" have yet to occur:

1) Snowy weather. - While Super Bowl XLI was the first to feature rain, snow has yet to fall during the game. This is highly unlikely (barring a freak occurrence in Arizona, Florida, Southern California, or Texas, and/or a malfunctioning retractable roof) since the NFL only schedules the game in warm weather climates and/or indoor stadiums.

2)An all-wild card matchup (teams who failed to win their divisions). - Nine wild card teams (since the 1970 merger) have won conference titles, but never two in the same season.

3)A shutout. - Every Super Bowl participant to date has scored. In three cases the offenses have been shut out while the special teams scored a single touchdown:
Super Bowl VI: The Miami Dolphins finished with 3 points, the fewest in a Super Bowl to date (and the only losing team to date to fail to score a touchdown).
Super Bowl VII: The Washington Redskins returned a fumble for a touchdown after blocking a field goal attempt.
Super Bowl IX: The Minnesota Vikings recovered a blocked punt in the end zone but missed the extra point.
Super Bowl XXXV: The New York Giants scored a 97-yard kickoff return.
A punt return touchdown. - While many kickoffs have been returned for a touchdown, a punt has yet to be returned for one.

4)Home field advantage (playing in one's own home stadium). - The closest instances to this have been Super Bowls XI (featuring the Raiders playing down the coast) and XIV (featuring the Rams from nearby Los Angeles) both being played at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena; XIX (featuring the 49ers from nearby San Francisco) being played at Stanford Stadium which is about 25 miles south of the 49ers' home stadium, Candlestick Park; and XXXVII (featuring the Raiders again playing downcoast) being played in San Diego.

5)Overtime. - The narrowest margin of victory in a Super Bowl is one point, in Super Bowl XXV (1991). The closest instances to overtime, in which the result of the last play of the game could have realistically led to a tie and thus an overtime, have been:
Super Bowl V: Baltimore's Jim O'Brien kicked a game-winning field goal with :05 left.
Super Bowl XXXIV: Tennessee's Kevin Dyson was stopped one yard short of a tying touchdown.
Super Bowl XXXVI: New England's Adam Vinatieri kicked a game-winning field goal as time expired.
Super Bowl XXXVIII: New England's Adam Vinatieri kicked another game-winning field goal with :04 left.

6)An appearance by every team. - Six teams have yet to reach their first Super Bowl: Arizona, Cleveland, Detroit, Houston, Jacksonville, and New Orleans.

7)A team winning without a touchdown. - Every Super Bowl champion to date has scored at least one touchdown in their efforts (New York Jets scored only one touchdown in their Super Bowl III triumph).

8)No touchdowns scored. - In every Super Bowl to date, there have been at least two touchdowns scored (Fewest combined - 2, in Super Bowl III).
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AS FOR US....Todd and I celebrated in an anti-social way; just the two of us in our little apt. We had a few invites to parties but Todd has been pretty sick and I am trying to stick to my diet so we decided we'd be best served in our own little retreat. It feels like its been forever since the two of us just spent the entire weekend together. It was lovely. We did some Sugar House DI shopping, some laundry and rented a movie on Sat. Today we took it easy, I baked some yummy treats for Todd, and wrote a paper during the game. Todd wasn't too happy with the outcome of the game, but it was a good time.