Super Bowl Memories

[wdm1219inpenna]

With the Super Bowl about 2 months away, and with my watching many of my NFL Films highlight dvds, I was curious to find out some info about the rest of the members here. Specifically your happiest Super Bowl memories, your least favorable ones, and which Super Bowl do you remember watching first. I'm particularly interested if any of you were alive and have memories of watching Super Bowl I in January 1967. I was alive for it, but I was only 27 days old at the time.

The first Super Bowl I remember watching was Super Bowl XI, in January 1977. I remember my dad and uncle Joe coming home, and I was moaning and groaning about something the Raiders did. I'm not sure why, but I was rooting for the Raiders to win that game. I remember how amused they were that I was mad about something the Raiders did.

I remember more vividly watching Super Bowl XII, the first one played indoors. I remember how dark it seemed and blah. It was the only Super Bowl that my dad and I got to watch together, as he would suddenly pass away six months later. I remember he detested Roger Staubach and he wanted Denver to win, but they did not.

Between my dad's death and a small house fire that my mom and I had in January 1979, I have no memories of watching Super Bowl XIII. I probably did, but I cannot remember where I was. Thanks to NFL Network rebroadcasting the game, I was able to watch it completely.

Some of my worst Super Bowl memories, Super Bowl XV, I bet $10 with somebody at school (a substitute teacher) that the Eagles would beat the wildcard Raiders. I lost the $10. My aunt found out from my cousin that I did this, and this teacher ended up losing his job as a result. My aunt was on the school board at the time. I will always regret it, and to this very day, I cannot root for the Eagles, and I detest them.

Super Bowl XXIII. I was in one of those "block pools". Had the Bengals final score ended in a 6, and the 49ers final score ended in a 3, I would have won $300. Less than a minute left, Montana to Taylor, touchdown, bye bye $300. 20 years later, and seeing that moment still makes me feel sick.

Super Bowl XXVIII, the morning of the game, I went out, and when driving back to my apartment complex, while there, going over a speed bump, these 2 kids on bikes came zooming out, and I knocked one of them down with my car. He was fine, but I was very shaken up. I was unable to enjoy that game that day.

Super Bowl XXIX, the 49ers crushing the Chargers. A very lousy game, and I remember I was home alone watching it.

Super Bowl XXX, it was 10 days after I lost my job where I had worked for 10 years. I wanted Pitt to win and they lost to the Cowboys, so all in all, it was a very unenjoyable Super Bowl.

Super Bowl XXXII the first one Elway won. I was having anxiety attacks due to my next job, and I actually resigned the next morning. When I was having anxiety issues during the Super Bowl, that's when I knew I was licked. I have since overcome them, I am happy to report.

What are some of your favorite and least favorite Super Bowl memories, and why? I'd be curious to know. I'm really curious to know if anybody remembers watching any of the first 10 Super Bowls especially.

Regards,

Bill

[Billy B]

The first Super Bowl that I can remember anything about was XXXI. There isn?t much I can remember except I didn?t wan the Packers to win.

The first Super Bowl that I can remember actually watching was XXXIII when the Broncos beat the Falcons to win their second championship.

The next year was the first time that I cared about who won, and all that I wanted was for the Rams to lose (I don?t know why I didn?t like the Rams though.) I also lost my first tooth during Super Bowl XXXIV.

Then everyone?s favorite underdog story in Super Bowl XXXVI (until the underdog became Goliath last year.) I think I was the only one at the party that was cheering for the Patriots but it all turned out well in the end.

Then my worst Super Bowl experience when the Bears lost to the Colts. The feeling was great when Hester started off the game with a touchdown, but it all went downhill from there.

[BBTV]

First game I remember: Super Bowl XX - Chicago vs New England

First memory: The shots of the parking lot with all the Patriots fans (yeah, both of them) beating a refrigerator with a sledge hammer.

[TBGKon]

The first Super Bowl I can recall was probably XXVII (Bills v. Cowboys)

The first game I watched was XXXII. (Broncos v. Packers)

The one I remember the most is XXXVII when the Buccaneers won their first Super Bowl. The story goes, stupid me forgot to request off Super Bowl Sunday from work at McDonald's, so lo and behold I got scheduled to work the night of the game. I think I was scheduled from 5pm-11pm, and boy was it slow there. I think total we had 4 or 5 employees working. As the restaurant didn't have a TV, the manager had someone drop off a stereo so we could at least hear it. As the night went on, the manager finally let me go home at halftime, as I was the only Bucs fan working. Thankfully I got to see the end and see my team win the Super Bowl.

[scottysprings]

Superbowl XXXI (1997) is the first I remember watching. I still have the picture of Brett Favre celebrating after the game in my head. My most memorable Superbowl is probably XXXIV (2000). I was a huge Titans fan with Eddie George and Steve McNair and I recall being so disappointed when they lost, though, what a great game it was.

[BlueSky]

Wow...lots of young 'uns here. The first one I remember watching was SB V, Cowboys vs. Colts. Way back then, I was a big Cowboys fan and was crushed when the Colts won on a last-second FG. Little did I know how that game set the stage for one of my best memories.

The next Super Bowl was in New Orleans. I had just turned 11. The morning of the game, our next-door neighbor came over looking like death warmed over, explained that he had the flu and couldn't go to the game, and offered us his two tickets. Money was tight so my dad said thanks but no thanks, but the guy then says, "No, no, you can have them." My dad didn't like crowds and such so I called my best friend, got dressed, and we headed for Tulane Stadium, where I watched the Cowboys win their first championship. It was awesome.

I still have my ticket stub - face value $15 - and a matching set of pennants.

[nyk]

1st Super Bowl I ever watched was XXV, Giants vs. Bills. So automatically my 1st Super Bowl memory was the missed field goal by the Bill for the Giants to win the game.

My favorite Super Bowl memory was Super Bowl XXXIV when the Rams stop the Titans short of the goal line.

[whalersjets]

First Super Bowl I remember watching was Cowboys vs Steelers. I wanted the Steelers to win, and was crying when my mom made me go to bed when they lost.

My favorite Super Bowl memory was 36 when Vinatieri made the last second, game winning kick.

Worst Super Bowl memory, last year. Enough said.

EDIT - To clarify, the Cowboys vs Steelers game in 1995.

[Jigga]

First: Super Bowl XX

Best: Super Bowl XXII - watching Doug Williams carve up the heavily-favored Denver Broncos.

[njmeadowlanders]

Super Bowl XXVII is the earliest one I can recall, and XXIX was my first Super Bowl party...I was 8, and loved it...

[winters in buffalo]

SB XVII was the first one I can remember watching. The only one since then that I haven't watched on TV is SB XXX, which is the only game I've listened to on the radio.

A lot of the games were duds, but XXXIV, XXXVIII and XLII were the most entertaining.

I'd like to forget XXV-XXVIII.

[Sport]

The First Super Bowl I ever watched was Super Bowl XXIII between the Bengals and 49ers. Of course I was only 1 year old at the time, but my dad had the game tape. He had been at the game because he was an employee of the Bengals at the time and he would pull it out every year during the super bowl and agonize over James Brooks dropping the interception in the endzone the play before the 49ers scored. I still don't think he's gotten over that losss because he knew all the players, and went to every game home and away.

The first super bowl I ever watched live was the Bills and Cowboys in Super Bowl XXVIII, but the the First Super Bowl that I can remember getting really into was the Charger-49ers the next year. I was in first grade and I wanted the Chargers to win because of my hatred for the 49ers.

[FiddySicks]

First Super Bowl I remember was XXX, and crying my eyes out afterwards that Dallas won. I was about 7 or 8. I remember seeing Deion lift the trophy and wanting to kick the TV.

WORST

XXXIV: I wanted the titans so bad that year, for two reasons. First I had jumped on the bandwagon at the beginning of the year because I had family in Tennessee, and because of the logo and uni change (Which is really what got me into this stuff in the fgirst place, its why I'm here). But more importantly, the week before the Rams had beaten my Bucs in a game that I still feel was awarded mainly due to poor officiating. I knew us winning was a long shot, but we were SO close. So close in fact that I assumed I'd never see a closer game in my life. I was wrong. When Dyson fell a yard short I was convinced I would never fully recover. To this day I'm still just a bit bitter.

XXXVIII: How the F do you kick the ball outta bounds on a kickoff that essentially costs your team the game? To me it took what was a pretty entertaining game and killed it.

XXXIX: I don't know what it is about this game specifically, probably the fact that I dsilike both teams. Probably a big part was I was just SO tired of seeing the Pats win. But damn this game was completely unmemorable. Oh look, Mike Vrabel just sealed it with an INT. Whoopie.

XLII (Untill the last two minutes): I don't care what anyone says, minus the last two minutes of the game this was by far the worst played dud of a Super bowl I have ever seen. I have never been so bored during a Super Bowl. Frasier Reruns are more entertaining. The last two minutes were enough to turn this game from worst ever to pretty damn good, but anyone who calls this the "Best Super bowl ever" is crazy.

BEST

XLI: I wanted the Colts to win, and was pretty happy to see it happen. I've always been a Peyton Manning and Tony Dungy fan so that was nice to see as well. But easily the best moment in the game was the opening kickoff. I have never seen a game start out that exciting. And on top of that the guy who returned it was a rook playing under the biggest spotlight possible made it that much better.

XLII (The last two minutes): Obviously David Tyree's catch was amazingly exciting. Normally it would sit a lot higher but when you put it in perspective it sits just outside of the tops of the top (In my mind anyway). First off Manning did an incredible job of avoiding the pressure, and Tyree did an awesome job of catching the pass. But truth of the matter is, the pass was terrible. Manning was lucky Tyree bailed him out with that one.

XXXII: The whole game was good, but specifically Elway's run for the first down.

XXXVII: Nuff said. I was like a five year old on Christmas opening the toy he's always wanted when Brooks picked Gannon for the 4th time to seal the victory.

[Harmening]

The First Super Bowl I ever watched was Super Bowl XXIII between the Bengals and 49ers. Of course I was only 1 year old at the time, but my dad had the game tape. He had been at the game because he was an employee of the Bengals at the time and he would pull it out every year during the super bowl and agonize over James Brooks dropping the interception in the endzone the play before the 49ers scored. I still don't think he's gotten over that losss because he knew all the players, and went to every game home and away.

The first super bowl I ever watched live was the Bills and Cowboys in Super Bowl XXVIII, but the the First Super Bowl that I can remember getting really into was the Charger-49ers the next year. I was in first grade and I wanted the Chargers to win because of my hatred for the 49ers.

Lewis Billups.

[TFoA]

The first Super Bowl that I can remember was the one where the Redskins beat the Bills in Minneapolis. The only reason I remember it is because it was also the first time I ever played some sort of Madden. My older cousin got me into it at halftime and I couldn't put it down...AT 4 YEARS OLD.

My favorite Super Bowl memory honestly was from XLII just because of the craziness that was involved. My dorm threw a party for the Super Bowl, and of course people put down money on the game. Almost eveyrbody I know put down money on the Patriots to win. Well, when Plax scored that last touchdown to put them ahead for good...let's just say someone was less than pleased with losing a large sum of money and THREW A CHAIR THROUGH THE RD'S WINDOW! Of course we got cussed out by the RD, but that was still a crazy moment just because of the fact that I've never seen people get THAT crazy over something like that.

A close second was the finish to the last Super Bowl that was here in Atlanta between the Rams and Titans. My family went NUTSO at the end of the game, and we were disappointed because my entire family was rooting for the team with the black quarterback.

My worst Super Bowl memory...Eugene Robinson. Damn you.

[Dnice]

I think my first one was the Niners over the Bengals in XVI, and the worst memory was XXXIII when Rod Smith torching the Falcon secondary. I took my jersey off and threw it on the floor later on, lol

[Sport]

The First Super Bowl I ever watched was Super Bowl XXIII between the Bengals and 49ers. Of course I was only 1 year old at the time, but my dad had the game tape. He had been at the game because he was an employee of the Bengals at the time and he would pull it out every year during the super bowl and agonize over James Brooks dropping the interception in the endzone the play before the 49ers scored. I still don't think he's gotten over that losss because he knew all the players, and went to every game home and away.

The first super bowl I ever watched live was the Bills and Cowboys in Super Bowl XXVIII, but the the First Super Bowl that I can remember getting really into was the Charger-49ers the next year. I was in first grade and I wanted the Chargers to win because of my hatred for the 49ers.

Lewis Billups.

Right, that's who I meant.

[AHcreative]

I went to Super Bowl XXXIV with my dad, grandpa, and my uncle. I had just turned 8 years old. It was the best experience of my life. I went to all of the events prior to Super Bowl Sunday (the NFL experience, the Coca-Cola Card show, etc.) During the NFL Experience I remember kicking 5 foot field goals, catching punts from the punt-machine thing, and I raced a bunch of kids in a 40-yard dash. A former Redskins running-back ran the race with us, his name escapes me at this moment, and I remember that I was the fastest kid running, so right before I got to the end of the race the ex-Redskin picked me up and ran to the finish to celebrate my victory.

The day of the Super Bowl, I remember, was very cold and icy. We got to the dome very early and stood outside to wait for the gates to open. We sat behind some Tennessee fans, they were pretty nice, and we talked about how much the opposing teams sucked.

I remember on the last play of the game, with 6 seconds left I had to pee EXTREMELY badly after devouring a souvenir soda and a frozen lemonade, so alas, I had to urinate in a beer cup. The last play of the game everyone was on their feet, and I was standing on the chair. We were right behind Tennessee's end-zone, so we couldn't see the play happening 100 yards away from us. As we watched to see the final outcome while George (I remember all of the Saint Louis fans chanting "Eddie, Eddie, Eddie" to try to get in his head) ran the ball I saw Mike Jones sweep across the field and tackle George. The entire stadium fell silent, and then applause and yelling by both sides, I look up at my dad and shout "he didn't make it, we won the Super Bowl!" My dad then proceeded to throw me up in the air and yell "Yes! We won, we finally won!". My father and grandfather, being lifelong Saint Louis football Cardinal fans, were extremely excited to finally see their home team win the big game.

After the game was over I remember an interviewer from Fox2 News came up to our section and interviewed a few Rams fans around us. My dad picked me up and shoved me in front of the camera and I yelled "this is unbelievable!".

Best. Day. Ever.

Oh, also, I remember Pokemon was big at that time, and one of my favorite Pokemon cards was a Charizard, but I did not have one. I bought a pack at a 7-11 down in Atlanta, and of course, there was a Charizard right as I was thumbing through the cards.

It was certainly a weekend to remember.

[wdm1219inpenna]

First Super Bowl I remember was XXX, and crying my eyes out afterwards that Dallas won. I was about 7 or 8. I remember seeing Deion lift the trophy and wanting to kick the TV.

WORST

XXXIV: I wanted the titans so bad that year, for two reasons. First I had jumped on the bandwagon at the beginning of the year because I had family in Tennessee, and because of the logo and uni change (Which is really what got me into this stuff in the fgirst place, its why I'm here). But more importantly, the week before the Rams had beaten my Bucs in a game that I still feel was awarded mainly due to poor officiating. I knew us winning was a long shot, but we were SO close. So close in fact that I assumed I'd never see a closer game in my life. I was wrong. When Dyson fell a yard short I was convinced I would never fully recover. To this day I'm still just a bit bitter.

XXXVIII: How the F do you kick the ball outta bounds on a kickoff that essentially costs your team the game? To me it took what was a pretty entertaining game and killed it.

XXXIX: I don't know what it is about this game specifically, probably the fact that I dsilike both teams. Probably a big part was I was just SO tired of seeing the Pats win. But damn this game was completely unmemorable. Oh look, Mike Vrabel just sealed it with an INT. Whoopie.

XLII (Untill the last two minutes): I don't care what anyone says, minus the last two minutes of the game this was by far the worst played dud of a Super bowl I have ever seen. I have never been so bored during a Super Bowl. Frasier Reruns are more entertaining. The last two minutes were enough to turn this game from worst ever to pretty damn good, but anyone who calls this the "Best Super bowl ever" is crazy.

BEST

XLI: I wanted the Colts to win, and was pretty happy to see it happen. I've always been a Peyton Manning and Tony Dungy fan so that was nice to see as well. But easily the best moment in the game was the opening kickoff. I have never seen a game start out that exciting. And on top of that the guy who returned it was a rook playing under the biggest spotlight possible made it that much better.

XLII (The last two minutes): Obviously David Tyree's catch was amazingly exciting. Normally it would sit a lot higher but when you put it in perspective it sits just outside of the tops of the top (In my mind anyway). First off Manning did an incredible job of avoiding the pressure, and Tyree did an awesome job of catching the pass. But truth of the matter is, the pass was terrible. Manning was lucky Tyree bailed him out with that one.

XXXII: The whole game was good, but specifically Elway's run for the first down.

XXXVII: Nuff said. I was like a five year old on Christmas opening the toy he's always wanted when Brooks picked Gannon for the 4th time to seal the victory.

BucFan,

I agree, last year's Super Bowl was pretty blah until the final few minutes. It was semi-close in score at least during the game itself, and it seems the commercials have been more and more disappointing every year.

Yes, most of you are "youngins" in comparison to me, and my thanks to the gent who replied about Super Bowls V and VI, really nice that you were able to attend a Super Bowl game, even though it was a 24-3 laugher...

My father in law attended Super Bowl XXVI in Minnesota, Bills vs Redskins, not a really fun or interesting game, but still, not bad.

I look forward to reading more, and thank you so much for such a great response!

Bill

[CZzyzx41]

First Super Bowl I watched was XXI. We had Giants fans in the house and that second half was what got me hooked on the NFL.

Best is easy: Super Bowl XXXVII. I remember every year leading up to it rooting for the Bucs only to be disappointed. Worst off was losing to the Eagles the couple years prior. That NFC Championship game is also by far my favorite since it wiped clean all the doubts about winning in cold temperatures, beating the Eagles in the playoffs, everything. THEN they come to my home town to face the team I grew up hating with a passion. I remember going out to the Gaslamp that week before the game, getting my John Lynch jersey and then getting in a shouting match with a drunken fratboy Raider fan while I was on the platform of the train station and he was in the trolley. It was classic. Even the security guards were egging him on so I could get more shots in.

Then the game...oh sweet jesus the game. Normally I hate to watch blow outs but that felt as good as any game I've ever seen before or since. My only regret was not disobeying the wife and going downtown to celebrate the win with fellow fans.

Worst is probably Super Bowl XXIX. I knew deep down the Chargers never stood a chance but I had hopes anyways going into it. Then Young hit Rice for an early EASY TD and I knew then it was over. Spent the rest of the game on the balcony with my then girlfriend (now wife) and I don't think I saw more than three plays total of the rest of the game.