By Mandy Feder
Some folks say they”re as old as dirt.
Not me. I”m as old as the Super Bowl.
Since the Super Bowl has evolved essentially into an American holiday, I usually watch it. I enjoy the camaraderie of friends, family, the new commercials and the halftime show at least as much as the game.
And I like football. I keep a football in the back of my car, in case anyone wants to toss it around with me. Occasionally we play catch in the parking lot of the Record-Bee.
I collected football cards as a child. My brother Steve and I used to order them from a catalog. While Don Shula was coaching, I was a Dolphins fan. I am also the same age as the Dolphins. I”ve never been to Florida.
When Marv Levy was coaching I liked the Bills.
I remember Joe Namath doing a pantyhose commercial while he was a player for the Jets. Every time I saw that I laughed.
Steve and I tossed the pigskin often. I played Powder Puff football in high school. When my children were growing up, we spent countless hours playing “three flies up.”
Steve coached World Football League in Scotland. His wife played women”s professional football for the Maine Freeze until a few years ago.
Just for fun, the following are some Super Bowl facts:
Unmatched: The Pittsburgh Steelers have won six Super Bowls, more than any other team and may win a seventh, the most in Super Bowl history.
Ouch! Since winning Super Bowl III, the Jets have never appeared in another Super Bowl.
Even the losers: Dallas linebacker Chuck Howley is the only player from a losing team to win the Super Bowl MVP award.
Zero for four: In four Super Bowls, Joe Montana never threw an interception.
In threes: Montana is the only player to win three Super Bowl MVP awards.
Long stretch: NFC teams won 13 straight Super Bowls between 1985 and 1997.
Leveling the playing field? The most lopsided Super Bowl game was XXIV, in 1990, when the 49ers routed the Denver Broncos 55-10.
Inflation? The average price of a Super Bowl ticket in Super Bowl I was $12. The game did not sell out. The average price for this year”s Super Bowl XLV is $4,200.
Historic moment: The first black quarterback to win a Super Bowl was Doug Williams of the Redskins. XXII, 1988.
Short streak: The longest Super Bowl winning streak has only been two in a row.
On and off the field: Mike Ditka, Tom Flores and Tony Dungy have all won a Super Bowl both as a player and a coach.
No show: No network footage exists of Super Bowl I. It was taped over, allegedly for a soap opera.
The price of fame: According to Reuters, advertising costs $2.8 to $3 million for a 30-second spot, which works out to costing $93,000 to $100,000 per second during the big game. Many people watch the Super Bowl as much for the premier of commercials as the actual game. I had a favorite Pepsi commercial featuring cops and cows with the ending catch phrase, “Case closed.”
Song and dance: My favorite halftime shows included artists Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, The Rolling Stones, The Who and Prince. It probably goes without saying that the most memorable halftime moment featured Janet Jackson. Enough said.
In the first decade or so, halftime shows mostly featured marching bands, though in 1972 Ella Fitzgerald, Carol Channing, Al Hirt and the United States Marine Corps Drill Team performed a salute to Louis Armstrong. I wish I would have seen that one.
Pigskin pig-out: Super Bowl Sunday is the second-largest U.S. food consumption day, following Thanksgiving.
Approximately 14,500 tons of chips and eight million pounds of guacamole are consumed on Super Bowl Sunday.
The party”s over: The result? An increase in antacid sales the Monday after the Super Bowl of 20 percent.
Way too much fun: About 6 percent of people call in sick the Monday following the Super Bowl.
I”ll close with a statement by one of the most quotable coaches: “Individual commitment to a group effort ? that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.” — Vince Lombardi
Enjoy your Super Bowl Sunday.
Mandy Feder is the Record-Bee managing editor. She can be reached at mandyfeder@yahoo.com or 263-5636 ext. 32.
