Super Bowl

The Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League (NFL), the premier association of professional American football. It was first played on January 15, 1967 as part of a merger agreement between the NFL and its then-rival league, the American Football League (AFL). It was agreed that the two leagues' champion teams would play in an AFL–NFL World Championship Game until the merger was consummated in 1970. After the merger, each league became a "conference", and the game was then played between conference champions. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather than the year in which it is held. Super Bowl I was played in 1967 to determine the championship of the regular season played in 1966, and Super Bowl XLIV was played on February 7, 2010 to determine the champion of the 2009 regular season.

 

Easton Press Football and Super Bowl books

  Run To Daylight! by Vince Lombardi - 2001
  NFL's Greatest - 2002
  Pro Football's Greatest Teams - 2002
  Pro Football’s Heroes Hall Fame - 2003
  Golden Boy by Paul Hornung - 2004
  The Super Bowl An Official Retrospective - 2005
  Pro Football's Greatest Quarterbacks - 2005
  Payton - 2005
  Sport's Illustrated The Football Book - 2005
  What It Means to Be a Nittany Lion - 2006
  Green Bay Packers The Complete Illustrated History - 2007
  What It Means to Be Crimson Tide - 2007
  What It Means To Be A Longhorn - 2007
  Super Bowl XLI Official Program - 2007
  Road Warriors: New York Giants Incredible Championship Season - 2007
  Football's Greatest Stars - 2008
  Super Bowl XLII Official Program - 2008
  Texas Stadium America's Home Field - 2008
  The Glory Game by Frank Gifford - 2008
  Dan Rooney 75 Years With The Pittsburg Steelers - 2008
  Sports Illustrated Brett Favre The Tribute - 2008
  Penn State Football The Complete Illustrated History - 2009
  Super Bowl XLIII Official Program - 2009
  Super Six The Steelers' Record-Setting Super Bowl Season - 2009
  Giants by Pat Summerall - 2010
  Super Bowl XLV Official Program - 2011
  Déjà Blue The New York Giants' Championship Season - 2011
  Super Bowl XLVI Official Program - 2012
  Super Bowl XLVII Official Program - 2012
  At Last! Kansas City Chiefs 2019 Championship - 2019

The day on which the Super Bowl is played is now considered a de facto American national holiday, called Super Bowl Sunday. It is the second-largest day for U.S. food consumption, after Thanksgiving Day. And in most years, the Super Bowl is the most-watched American television broadcast. Super Bowl XLIV, played in February 2010, became the most-watched television program ever, drawing an average audience of 106.5 million viewers and taking over the spot held for 27 years by the final episode of M*A*S*H.

 

 

Because of its high viewership, commercial airtime for the Super Bowl broadcast is the most expensive of the year. Due to the high cost of investing in advertising on the Super Bowl, companies regularly develop their most expensive advertisements for this broadcast. As a result, watching and discussing the broadcast’s commercials has become a significant aspect of the event. In addition, many popular singers and musicians have performed during the event's pre-game and halftime ceremonies because of the exposure.

The Pittsburgh Steelers have won six Super Bowls, while the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers have each won five. Seventeen other NFL franchises have won at least one Super Bowl. Only four active NFL franchises have not appeared in the Super Bowl: the Detroit Lions, Cleveland Browns, Jacksonville Jaguars and Houston Texans. The Lions are the only NFC team yet to play in one, the other three are in the AFC. The Browns and Lions have both won NFL championships prior to the Super Bowl era, while the Jaguars (who joined the NFL in 1995) and Texans (2002) joined the league after the Super Bowl era began.

Origin

The Super Bowl was created as part of the merger agreement between the National Football League (NFL) and its competitive rival, the American Football League (AFL). After its inception in 1920, the NFL fended off several rival leagues before the AFL began play in 1960. The intense competitive war for players and fans led to serious merger talks between the two leagues in 1966, so packer vs bears". According to NFL Films President Steve Sabol, then NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle wanted to call the game "The Big One". During the discussions to iron out the details, one of the AFL's founders and Kansas City Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt had jokingly referred to the proposed inter league championship as the "Super Bowl". Hunt thought of the name after seeing his children playing with a toy called a Super Ball; Though the first World Championship Game between the AFL and NFL was not called Super Bowl I. The advertisement on page 61 of the January 15, 1967 game day program read " Immediately following the Super Bowl, this will be the first down. It's an old Forester kind of day.( pictured an ice filled high ball glass of Old Forester the small, round ball is now on display at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. The name was consistent with postseason college football games which had long been known as "bowl games." Hunt only meant his suggested name to be a stopgap until a better one could be found; nevertheless, the name "Super Bowl" became permanent. Contrary to popular belief and NFL promotion, however, there was no Super Bowl prior to what is now called "Super Bowl IV". Tickets for the games played in 1967, 1968, and 1969 were printed with "World Championship Game"

After the NFL's Green Bay Packers convincingly won the first two Super Bowls, some team owners feared for the future of the merger. At the time, many doubted the competitiveness of AFL teams compared with NFL counterparts, though that perception changed with the AFL's New York Jets' defeat of the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III in Miami. One year later, the AFL's Kansas City Chiefs defeated the NFL's Minnesota Vikings 23-7 and won Super Bowl IV in New Orleans, the last World Championship game played between the champions of the two leagues, as the league merger finally took place later that year.

The game is played annually on a Sunday as the final game of the NFL Playoffs. Originally the game took place in early to mid-January, following a 14-game regular season and playoffs. Over the years, the date of the Super Bowl has progressed from the second Sunday in January, to the third, then the fourth Sunday in January; the game is now played on the first Sunday in February, given the current 17-week (16 games and one bye week) regular season and three rounds of playoffs. This progression of the date of the Super Bowl has been caused by the following: the expansion of the NFL regular season in 1978 from 14 games to 16, the expansion of the pre-Super Bowl playoff field from eight to twelve teams, necessitating the addition of a third round of playoffs (also in 1978), the addition of the regular season bye-week in the 1990s, and the decision prior to the 2001 season to start the regular season the week after Labor Day, moving the start of the season to a week later than it had been (in 1997, for example, the regular season started on Sunday, August 31). Former NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle is often considered the mastermind of both the merger and the Super Bowl. His leadership guided the two competitors into the merger agreement and cemented the preeminence of the Super Bowl.

The winning team receives the Vince Lombardi Trophy, named for the coach of the Green Bay Packers, who won the first two Super Bowl games and three of the five preceding NFL championships (1961, 1962, 1965). Following his death in September 1970, the trophy was named the Vince Lombardi Trophy, and was first awarded as such to the Baltimore Colts at Super Bowl V in Miami. Though the first World Championship Game between the AFL and NFL was not called Super Bowl I. The advertisement on page 61 of the January 15, 1967 game read " Immediately following the Super Bowl, this will be the first down. It's an old Forester kind of day.( pictured an ice filled high ball glass of Old Forester) 

Super Bowl ring

The Super Bowl ring is an award in the National Football League given to the winners of the league's annual championship game, the Super Bowl. Since only one Vince Lombardi Trophy is awarded to the team (ownership) itself, the Super Bowl ring offers a collectible memento for the actual players and team members to keep for themselves to symbolize the victory.

These rings are typically made of yellow or white gold with diamonds. They usually include the team name, team logo, and Super Bowl number (usually indicated in Roman numerals). The NFL pays for the cost of 70 rings to the winning team, at roughly $5,000 apiece, depending upon the fluctuating cost of gold and diamonds. The winning team can typically present rings to whomever they choose, including usually, but not limited to: players (active roster or injured), coaches, trainers, executives, personnel, and general staff. Some teams have also been known to give rings to former players, despite not having been on the winning roster. Sometimes a team will give rings to fans as part of a charity raffle.Teams can distribute any number of rings, but must pay for any over the 70-ring limit. A recent trend over the last 15 - 20 years has been lesser rings awarded to front office staff. These are commonly called "B" and "C" level rings and are smaller and contain less diamonds or contain faux diamonds. The first instance of this was the Cowboys Super Bowl XVII ring when many in the front office received rings that were not solid gold and contained cubic zircona stones (fake diamonds). When Tampa Bay won Super Bowl XXXVII, the players and coaches received rings with a diamond-centered Lombardi trophy. Some staff received rings with a metal Lombardi trophy and real diamonds surrounding the trophy and the "C" level ring did not contain any diamonds.

Many rings feature diamonds in the shape of the Vince Lombardi Trophy or a football. Some feature diamonds or gold in the shape of a team logo. Others illustrate the number of Super Bowls that franchise has won. Also, the rings are customized with the player's name and uniform number.

 

The Green Bay Packers Super Bowl XLV ring contained more than 100 diamonds. The Packer logo, in the center of the ring, is made up 13 diamonds - one for each title the team has won, dating back to 1929. In a break from tradition, this is the first super bowl ring to be made of platinum, not gold. 

Entertainment

Early Super Bowls featured a halftime show consisting of marching bands from local colleges or high schools; but as the popularity of the game increased, a trend where popular singers and musicians performed during its pre-game ceremonies and the halftime show, or simply sang the national anthem of the United States, emerged. Unlike regular season or playoff games, thirty minutes are allocated for the Super Bowl halftime. The first halftime show to have featured only one star performer was Super Bowl XXVII in 1993, at which Michael Jackson performed. The NFL specifically went after him to increase viewership and to continue expanding the Super Bowl's realm. Sports bloggers have ranked Jackson's appearance as the No. 1 Super Bowl halftime show since its inception. Another notable performance came during Super Bowl XXXVI in 2002, when U2 performed; during their third song, "Where the Streets Have No Name", the band played under a large projection screen which scrolled through names of the victims of the September 11 attacks.

The halftime show of Super Bowl XXXVIII in 2004 generated controversy when Justin Timberlake removed a piece of Janet Jackson's top, exposing her right breast with a star-shaped pastie around the nipple. Timberlake and Jackson have maintained that the incident was accidental, calling it a "wardrobe malfunction". The game was airing live on CBS, and MTV had produced the halftime show. Immediately after the moment, the footage jump-cut to a wide-angle shot and went to a commercial break; however, video captures of the moment in detail circulated quickly on the internet. The NFL, embarrassed by the incident, permanently banned MTV from conducting future halftime shows. This also led to the FCC tightening controls on indecency and fining CBS and CBS-owned stations a total of $550,000 for the incident. The fine was later reversed in July 2008. CBS and MTV eventually split into two separate companies in part because of the fiasco,[citation needed] with CBS going under the control of CBS Corporation and MTV falling under the banner of Viacom (although both corporations remain under the ownership of National Amusements). For six years following the incident, all of the performers in Super Bowl halftime shows were artists associated with the classic rock genre of the 1970s and 1980s (including three acts from the British Invasion of the 1960s), with only one act playing the entire halftime show. Paul McCartney (formerly of The Beatles) played Super Bowl XXXIX in 2005, The Rolling Stones played Super Bowl XL in 2006, and The Who played Super Bowl XLIV in 2010. The halftime show returned to a modern act in 2011 with The Black Eyed Peas. But during the halftime show of Super Bowl XLVI in 2012, M.I.A. gave the middle finger during a performance of "Give Me All Your Luvin'" with Madonna, which was caught by TV cameras. An attempt to censor the gesture by blurring the entire screen came late.

Excluding Super Bowl XXXIX, the famous "I'm going to Disney World!" advertising campaign took place at every Super Bowl since Super Bowl XXI, when quarterback Phil Simms from the New York Giants became the first player to say the tagline.

Trivia

The Super Bowl uses roman numerals to differentiate each game rather than the year it was held since confusion commonly arises as the NFL season spreads over two calendar years. For example, the New England Patriots, winners of Super Bowl XXXIX are the champions of the 2004 NFL season, even though the championship game was played in February of 2005.

In 1994, the 49ers became the first team to wear a throwback jersey during the Super Bowl. Since it was the league's 75th season, every team wore a throwback jersey during the season and San Francisco decided to continue to wear their jerseys all the way through the playoffs and into Super Bowl XXIX. The jerseys they wore paid tribute to the 1957 team.

In the months leading up to Super Bowl XXX (30) it was discovered that some proxy servers were blocking the web site for the event. The reason for this was that "XXX" is usually associated with pornography, and proxy servers thought those trying to visit that site were trying to access pornography.

Super Bowl XXXVI was originally scheduled to be played on January 27, 2002. But the game was moved back one week to February 3, 2002 because of the September 11, 2001 attacks. This was the first Super Bowl to be played in February. Most of the events two years afterward were scheduled in February. Also, because of the attacks, the Super Bowl is now a National Special Security Event (NSSE).

Super Bowl XXXIX was the first such game to be tied after three quarters of play.

No American Football Conference (AFC) team has ever won a Super Bowl that was broadcast on ABC (The NFC is currently 6-0). The closest an AFC team came to winning the Super Bowl on that network was when the Buffalo Bills lost to the New York Giants 20-19 in Super Bowl XXV.

The NFC won 13 Super Bowls in a row from 1985 to 1997, starting with Super Bowl XIX. The AFC broke the streak in 1998 in Super Bowl XXXII.

The last Super Bowl to start at 3:30 pm Eastern Standard Time was Super Bowl XI which was played in Pasadena. This is also the last Super Bowl which was played outside to not end in dusk. Since the early 1980s Super Bowls have been starting at around 6 pm Eastern Standard Time. The kickoff has been since moved back to 6:30 pm Eastern starting with Super Bowl XXXVII.

Source and additional information: Super Bowl