I remember the first one. It was in 1967, and the Los Angeles Coliseum wasn’t even close to capacity.
The National Football League and its AFL counterpart were separate entities, with separate television contracts. As a result, NBC and CBS both broadcast the game.
Nobody gave the Kansas City Chiefs much of a chance, but they hung in against the mighty Green Bay Packers in the first half. Then, the Packers — no doubt coaxed by the legendary Vince Lombardi out of their torpor — blew the Chiefs away in the second half to win, 35-10.
The next year, the over-the-hill Packers — thrilled, I’m sure, to be out of frosty Green Bay, where they’d beaten the Dallas Cowboys two weeks previously in the celebrated “Ice Bowl” — pounded the Oakland Raiders in Miami. The game seemed destined to be an annual demonstration of the NFL’s vast superiority over its AFL upstarts until the next year, when Joe Namath guaranteed victory over the Baltimore Colts and the New York Jets delivered, 16-7.
That was enough to force a merger, which the AFL had wanted all along, and from that point on, the game began taking shape as the Super Bowl we’ve come to know and love.
Today, it is — as former NBA star Bill Walton liked to say — the real American holiday. Its appeal crosses every demographic you can imagine. Up, down, left, right, male, female, young, old, Mayflower or recently-naturalized … it doesn’t matter. Those darn Patriots had better not win again because we’re sick to death of them. And besides, they cheat.
Or, how can you root for any team from Philadelphia? They booed Santa Claus and threw snowballs at him.
In the Washington Post this week, there was a page called “Winning Super Bowl party recipes, from wings and dips to pizza and chili.” Some of the stuff is pretty sophisticated, through, frankly, a great big pot of macaroni and cheese with an equally big bowl of salad does wonders for the person who’s absorbed in the game. No fuss (though a lot of muss). Mindless eating works best in these situations.
The thing about the Super Bowl is that it’s not just a day for football fans. No, sir.
You may not know whether a football is blown up or stuffed (to quote three-time competitor and two-time winner Bill Parcells) and still the Super Bowl is must-see TV.
This is because advertisers pay millions of dollars for spots that may last a minute, and they save their best, most creative ideas, for these commercials. Or so they may think (truth be told, they are all over the board in the hit-or-miss department).
I know a person who tapes the game, and fast-forwards through the action so she can see the commercials. I suspect she is not alone.
I am old enough to remember when halftime in a football game was an opportunity for the local college band to strut its stuff. Now halftime shows are full-flown extravaganzas. During the season, halftime lasts 12 minutes. That’s all. That’s just enough time to hydrate and go over some adjustments.
In the Super Bowl, that can be expanded up to a half hour so the likes of Paul McCartney or U2 or Madonna can entertain us. This year it’s Justin Timberlake (we’re assuming Janet Jackson’s staying home). Already, there are pleas for him to keep the halftime show safe for kids.
I’ve seen Super Bowls on TV and seen two up close and personal — both of them Patriot losses to the New York Giants. I would prefer seeing them from my living room, or from any living room that’ll have me. For one thing, the view’s better. Unless your last name is McCartney, you cannot afford to buy a seat anywhere in the stadium where you can actually see. And, most disillusioning, they don’t show the commercials on the Jumbotrons. It is wall-to-wall noise — and LOUD noise — from the moment you walk into the stadium until long after you leave (though Tom Petty was great in 2008 and Madonna’s show was spectacular four years later).
Somewhere, between the food, the commercials, and the halftime entertainment, there is a game to watch. Underneath the din of family gatherings or noisy sports bars, we’ll try to decipher talk of cover-twos and hurry-up offenses.
The Eagles will probably look good for 3½ quarters before a) the Patriots wake up and b) Philly, when it realizes it could actually win, turns to jelly.
I know the Eagles have a good defense, and that they beat a decent Minnesota Vikings team to get to the game (though you could also call it a Minnesota no-show). But does anyone really think the Eagles are going to beat Bill Belichick and Tom Brady with a backup quarterback?
Patriots 28, Eagles 21.
Methinks the sands of time are running out, but that Brady and Belichick have one more good one left. Just like the Packers did in 1968.
