Super Bowl Memories

[infrared41]

Super Bowl IV. Chiefs-Vikings.

To set it up... I was 8 years old and the 1969 NFL Championship game was the first of many times The Browns would disappoint me. Joe Kapp and The Vikings beat The Browns 27-7 to advance to The Super Bowl. (This was the year before The Browns moved to the AFC.)

Needless to say that since The Vikings had beaten The Browns I was rooting hard for The Chiefs in The Super Bowl. The two things I remember most are how cool I thought The Chiefs uniforms and helmets were and their huddle. The Chiefs didn't huddle in the traditional circle style. All the players lined up with their backs to the line of scrimmage and Len Dawson faced them. It was very cool looking. Bernie Kosar and the Browns used that style of huddle in the 80's and it always reminded me of The Chiefs.

On another note. I watched Super Bowl XV at 11:30pm. NBC replayed the game after the local news. I had to work all day so I made a point of making sure I didn't know anything about the outcome of the game. Does anyone know if that was the only time a network replayed the game? I think it may have had something to do with the American hostages being released in Iran.

[Glover]

First Superbowl I remember really watching was XXXIV, Titans and Rams. The one thing that sticks out to me in that game was Dyson reaching for the touchdown, and not getting it.

I also remember the Rams vs Patriots, and for some reason I wanted the Pats to win since everyone at my school was jumping aboard the Rams bandwagon. I also remember the Bucs and Raiders, because everyone at my school suddenly became a Bucs fan and went crazy the next day at school. Probably my favorite Superbowl memory was the Panthers vs Patriots. I live in South Carolina, and there are very few Panthers fans here, but when they were in the playoffs, I decided to root for them since my Browns didn't make the playoffs. Even though they lost, it was still pretty cool to see them go to the big game.

My worse Superbowl memory was the Ravens and Giants. Everyone in my family is a Browns fan, and my uncle sits in the Dawg Pound actually. We were watching the game and praying the Ravens would lose so we could laugh at Art and all that. Of course, the Ravens win, my grandpa just goes off and starts cussing and yelling at the TV, saying Art will get his soon enough and that he stole a Superbowl from Cleveland. Another bad memory was the Steelers and Seahawks game, not only because the Steelers won was it bad, but the refs were terrible. Plus...I have a Steelers fan that lives next door to me, and the next day he said (with his Pittsburgh accent) "Did yinz see that game? The Stillers really showed 'em up! I thought we was playin the Brownies."

[JQK]

First Super Bowl i remember was XXI, and i don't remember much, but i remember the ball bouncing off of Bavaro and McConkey catching the touchdown. My mom loved Phil McConkey.

I was a Joe Morris fan...

[Mac the Knife]

The first one I remember was XII, but honestly I only remember watching about a play or two on TV. I wasn't terribly interested in football until the following year, which was coincidentally the first year I got to go to a Super Bowl, courtesy of a cousin who worked in the original Cleveland Browns front office.

My best memory isn't of a game but of a pregame event. In 1986 I had the privilege of being invited to my first Commissioner's party (I've been to 6-7 since) and considered myself to have been even more privileged to have chatted at length with Pete Rozelle and his wife Carrie. I also stuck around so long that I was able to pick up a box of 8 table centerpieces for the evening - half-size replicas of the Lombardi Trophy that I've since learned are worth a few grand apiece. Best $100 I ever tipped a guy to get him to box 'em up and give them to me.

My worst memory by far was Super Bowl XXVI, not for the game so much as the seats (they stunk, as my cousin for once didn't score seats between the 30's) at the Metrodome plus the fact that the Redskins scored their 37 points on four touchdowns and three field goals. That they scored 37 points didn't bother me at all - that every time they scored those in attendance were nearly deafened to an over-enthusiastically played "Hail to the Redskins," however, did.

[slapshot]

First Super Bowl i remember was XXI, and i don't remember much, but i remember the ball bouncing off of Bavaro and McConkey catching the touchdown. My mom loved Phil McConkey.

I was a Joe Morris fan...

You and a lot of Massachusetts. Joe Morris and Mark Bavaro were the closest things we had to Super Bowl champions at the time.

The first Super Bowl I remember watching from start to finish was XV, Raiders-Eagles. I still remember Kenny King's 80-yard reception from Jim Plunkett.

I vaguely remember a little bit of XIV (Steelers-Rams), only because I had a few friends whose youth football team was the Steelers.

[BlueSky]

The two things I remember most are how cool I thought The Chiefs uniforms and helmets were and their huddle. The Chiefs didn't huddle in the traditional circle style. All the players lined up with their backs to the line of scrimmage and Len Dawson faced them. It was very cool looking. Bernie Kosar and the Browns used that style of huddle in the 80's and it always reminded me of The Chiefs.

I also think that huddle is cool, at least as cool as a huddle can be.

I've seen but can't find a pic of Archie Manning with the Saints in a huddle like that too, obviously around 1976 when Hank Stram coached in New Orleans.

What a great uni era that was. Love the helmets, masks, socks, even the way the helmets are beaten to crap. Good times.

Back on topic, I found pics of my SB VI pennants and ticket stub.

[RyanMcD29]

First Super Bowl I remember watching was Super Bowl XXX, with Neil O'Donnell's horrible performance in the 4th quarter and all

Worst Super Bowl memory was either the Patriots winning their 3rd Super Bowl in 4 years or Super Bowl XXXIII with the Broncos beating the Falcons, considering the Jets were literally 30 minutes away from going to that Super Bowl until they couldn't seal the deal in the 2nd half.

Best memory was Super Bowl XLII without a doubt. The Giants are my 2nd favorite team and to see them deny the Patriots that perfect season was amazing to watch, especially that last drive

[wdm1219inpenna]

All of these posts are awesome!!! I especially love hearing about the older days, Super Bowl IV so far is the oldest that anybody had memories of.

I'd so love to hear about Super Bowl I, II or III memories (Especially I and III).

I often watch my NFL Films Super Bowl DVD highlights (I got I - XXX), but love the first 14 years or so the very best.

Keep em comin! And thanks!!!

[B-Rich]

Keep em comin! And thanks!!!

Alright, let me waste too much time on this because after reading the post before lunch, it wouldn't get out of my head during lunch.

(And as an aside, sometimes in reading responses it KILLS me how young some of you really are....)

Early memories:

1972-- First Super Bowl that I remember, Cowboys vs. Dolphins. I don't even think it was on TV at my house; just remember seeing it on the news and was mad that the Dolphins lost...

1973-- My mom and new step-dad were going to throw a Super Bowl party. Knowing my penchant for art and sports logos, they asked me to draw some posters as decorations (most were in the vein of 'Go Dolphins, Beat Washington'). For some reason, however, no one showed up for the party-- I think that all the neighbors they had invited had been invited to a different Super Bowl party or something before...

1974-- Same parents throwing a Super Bowl party deal, but this time we were in a new neighborhood and there were lots of attendees. I was once again asked to draw posters, and being partial to both Miami and Minnesota, drew a bunch of posters calling for a tie, not knowing that it was impossible (I was 9). I re-drew them upon being informed, about 50-50 for each team.

1978-- Super Bowl in New Orleans-- Broncos crazy 'orange crush' season versus Dallas. The best I can remember was a neat caricature drawing on the front page of the paper with an old cowpoke staring down a horse, with thought balloons over each:

Cowboy: There was never a bronc that couldn't be rode...

Bronco: Nor a cowpoke that couldn't be throwed....

College / graduate school years:

1984 -- Watched this one at my mom's house with some friends while at college. Other than the complete domination by the Raiders, what I most remember was me and my buds seeing the one-time 1984 Apple Macintosh commercial and all of us just kind of going, "whoah..."

1986 --Super Bowl held in New Orleans. By this time I was a senior in college, and we went out to the French Quarter and mingled with visiting fans. One of our favorite hang-outs was temporarily re-dubbed "Patriot's Pub" so we met a lot of New England fans...

1987 -- My mom was going to a Super Bowl party, and baked a cake from a mold, in the shape of a shirt, that she was going to bring to the party. She asked me to decorate it for her-- I did the left half as the Giants, the right half as the Broncos (using number 87, which was the year). She later told me it was a hit at the party.

1989 -- My graduate school friend Rob Swan threw a pretty good Super Bowl party that featured this pretty good game.

Adult years:

1994 -- I was living in Atlanta when the Super Bowl was in town. On a whim, on the preceding Friday night when my wife was on medical resident duty, I went downtown to check out this new "NFL Experience" thing. I had a blast, even if I was 29 years old-- running sprints, kicking field goals, and checking out the memorabilia. My favorite part was doing a play-by-play video tape to the Immaculate Reception, in which I signed off by saying, "stay tuned for the Wonderful World of Disney, followed by McMillan and Wife". That one got a chuckle from the old-timers....

Also, by this time I was married and pretty much settled down. My wife and I threw a small get-together/party for the Super Bowl. A few years back, before the 1989 Super Bowl, I had read a newspaper food section article about cooking foods from the respective Super Bowl cities-- Cincinnati chili for the Bengals, and Cioppino (a kind of boullabaisse) for San Francisco. I always thought that was a pretty neat idea, so with that get-together, I started to do so on a semi-regular basis, whether we threw a party or not. That year, we had Texas-style Cowboy chili and Buffalo wings...

1996-- small party, Steeler sausages and Cowboy chili.

1997-- Packers and Patriots were in town (New Orleans) for the Super Bowl. My mom, as a regional supervisor for Texaco gas stations, got me some free Coca-Cola sponsored "early admission" passes to the NFL Experience, so I went with a few other of my goofball friends. It was a little cooler than the 1997 edition-- as this was an invitation-only event, the lines were shorter; and there were a lot of players and coaches around siging autographs. Archie Manning, Anthony Munoz, Jack Ham, Jack Youngblood, Marty Schottenheimer, Sam Wyche, Bert Jones, and Jerome Bettis and Kordell Stewart (who was really good with kids, by the way) were people I remember seeing/getting to autograph my t-shirt.

By the luck of the calendar, the game was scheduled a couple of weeks before Mardi Gras day, and the Saturday night before, a small parade (the Krewe du Vieux) was scheduled to parade through the French Quarter and downtown. My wife and I and another couple always went to that parade, so we went out to eat on the far edge of the Quarter then went to see the parade. Lots of cheeseheads, and they all got a small sample of Carnival that night.

1998 -- Great game; watched it at a friend's house. I can remember my friend Mark predicting the weird strategy of allowing a team to score.

1999 -- No party, but cooked "Dirty Bird" barbecued chicken.... also I later got my dad, who resembled Dan Reeves in appearance and who (like Reeves) had had bypass surgery during the season, a black Falcons sweater vest; the kind Reeves always seemed to be wearing..

2000 -- Great party at our house, lots of decorations; we had St. Louis-style toasted ravioli and Tennessee bar-be-cue. Everyone ate and mingled during the boring first half; but as the 2nd half became exciting we were all glued to the set, with different people cheering for each team. I was cheering for the Titans, and when they just missed the touchdown as time expired, I was a little upset, until my friend Mark pointed out, "Hey, man, I don't know why you were cheering for the score-- you had Rams 3 and Titans 6 in your football pool-- you just won $50!"....

2001-- No party, but made Baltimore crab cakes and New York cheesecake

2002 -- Went to the NFL Experience with my 4 year old daughter. She had more fun than I did-- it was too crowded, and our car got towed... No party, but made New England Clam Chowder and St. Louis Toasted Ravioli. Until the Saints returned post-Katrina, I thought U-2's post 9-11 special halftime show was about the best, most moving spectacle you could get in association with a football game...

2003 -- No party, made Tampa Bay grilled shrimp and Raider taters (cheese, bacon, and jalapeno-stuffed potato skins)

2004 -- No party, made Carolina-style Barbecue and New England clam chowder. Spent most of the game cursing Jim Haslett for not playing Jake Delhomme the end of the previous season, and letting him get away to Carolina, in order to not have a "quarterback controversy"...

2005 -- This was an interesting Super Bowl... It was scheduled during the heart of Carnival season, the Sunday night before Mardi Gras proper... my friend Mark who lived on the parade route, had a joint Super Bowl Parade party, with people going inside to watch some game and outside to catch some parade... The parade theme that night in honor of the Super Bowl featured each float being representations of the cities/teams of the NFL.... oh, and for the party I made Philly cheese steaks and New England clam chowder.

2006 -- No party; made Steeler sausages and Seattle grilled salmon.

2007 -- No party, no meal-- too p.o.'ed about the Saints losing the NFC championship to the Bears. But I took immense delight in watching New Orleans native Peyton Manning carve up their vaunted defense...

2008 -- Once again, the Super Bowl was on the Sunday before Mardi Gras. But with the weather nasty and no one we know living on the parade route anymore, we blew off the parades and came home to watch the other Manning boy and his crew upset the Patriots. Oh, and the family enjoyed a meal of New York strip steaks and New England clam chowder, along with New York cheesecake for dessert.

[infrared41]

All of these posts are awesome!!! I especially love hearing about the older days, Super Bowl IV so far is the oldest that anybody had memories of.

I'd so love to hear about Super Bowl I, II or III memories (Especially I and III).

I often watch my NFL Films Super Bowl DVD highlights (I got I - XXX), but love the first 14 years or so the very best.

Keep em comin! And thanks!!!

Thanks for reminding me of how old I am.

[dfwabel]

Like some of the other "elder" members, my earliest memory was SB XII, even though I have older sports memories such as teh 1976 Montreal Olympics. Actually, I remember watching the playoff game between Oakland and Baltimore (Ghost to the Post) that year more than the Super Bowl itself; probably because we were at the mall for the first half,specifically Sears. I liked the Broncos at the time and my brother loved the Cowboys. Today, we've reversed who we would prefer in that game.

[illwauk]

The first Super Bowl I ever watched was probably XXI or XXII, but the first one I have any conscious memory of was XXIII and that's because I was the only person at my school that wanted the Bengals to win. And I just realized how much I'm dating myself by using "Bengals" and "Super Bowl" in the same sentence

My favorite Super Bowl memories all have to do with XXXI. Brett's first TD pass to Rison, then breaking the Super Bowl record later in the game with the TD to Antonio Freeman. LeRoy Butler literally going right through Dave Meggett to sack Drew Bledsoe. Brett scoring himself by just getting the ball inside the pylon. Desmond Howard's kickoff return (and doing the robot in the endzone). Reggie White slamming Bledsoe to the turf on two straight plays to clinch the game. Then watching Reggie in his Super Bowl Champions shirt running around like a little kid with the Lombardi Trophy.

My least favorite was the following year. That's when I learned how to pronounce #7's name the same way they do in Cleveland "John Elway."

Nowadays the Super Bowl seems so bland and corporate to me. I'm sure it was the same way in the 90s, but I was too young to notice and the general feeling around Wisconsin was that the Packers were due for another run, so any Super Bowl the Packers didn't play in just felt like anticipation. Without that, it's just a sh___y overhyped game.

[winghaz]

I'm one of the few in here who watched Super Bowl I. The biggest things I remember about it was how the Packers kicked the Chiefs and how my dad kept having me switch back and forth between NBC and CBS (it was on both networks) in the era before remotes.

As for the worst Super Bowl memories I have ... well, I'm a Vikings fan. Nuff said.

[Sport]

Though I already posted I've been thinking about this for awhile and these are my favorite super bowl watching experiences.

Super Bowl XLII a bunch of fraternity brothers and I watched it on an HDTV. Every time they show the David Tyree play I think back to how everyone in the room lost their minds when it first happened. I'm not sure if that was due to it being a great play, everyone hating the patriots, the amount of alcohol in everyone's bloodstream, or a combination of all three.

Super Bowl XLI I was supposed to go to a party at a friend's house, but instead I opted to stay in my dorm room with my girlfriend (a colts fan). I figured that a Colts win would be favorable for me added to the fact that both of my roommates were for once gone from the room at the same time. Let me just say, I don't really remember much about the game.

Super Bowl XL I actually didn't watch the game at all or the playoffs for that matter. I felt like the Steelers thanks to the cheapshot on Carson Palmer were the wrong team to be in the super bowl and didn't deserve my attention so I boycotted the game. I forget what I did instead. I recall thinking that there was nothing else on TV during the super bowl.

Super Bowl XXXVIII I watched it at my friend Sam's house. Sam was one of the few people I knew who had a tivo or DVR so we were able to properly analyze the halftime show. I can't remember feeling more bummed about a team I'm not a fan of losing the Super Bowl than I did when the Panthers lost.

Super Bowl XXXVII I had a high school hockey game that was supposed to be at the same time as the game, but a blizzard prevented the other team's bus from getting there. Our whole team went to a BW3's. Thanks to the blizzard we basically had the place to ourselves.

Super Bowl XXXV Ray Lewis' intro dance made me laugh, also, does anyone remember the Giants player yelling the f word as he ran out of the tunnel? The whole game as well as the overload of dotcom ads make it the worst super bowl ever, IMO of course.

Super Bowl XXXII I was visiting my grandparents. I was forced to watch the game on my Grandfather's ancient TV with my sister. My grandfather fell asleep at half time (he also fell asleep during the OSU-Miami Fiesta Bowl) so I watched one of the most epic super bowls by myself.

Super Bowl XXXI I was 9 or 10 and My family went to a neighbor's house for a super bowl party. It was a more adult party so all the kids were told to play in the basement. The basement didn't have a TV so I snuck up and watched the game with all the drunk adults. All the fathers commented to my dad about having a son who actually liked sports.

[Viper]

First watched: XVI (Joe Montana's, and the 49ers', first championship)

Attended parties for: XXXII, XXXIII, XXXV

First watched in HD: XLII

Favorite: XXXI, for obvious reasons

Greatest game: XXXIV, with XLII a close second and XXXVI third.

Memorable WTF moments: The NFL seeing fit to stage a Super Bowl in the Metrodome (XXVI), Leon Lett (XXVII), an interception return for a TD followed by two straight kickoff returns for TDs (XXXV), Donovan McNabb's terrible clock management "dry heaves" (XXXIX)

Moments I missed: I was in the next room putting away dishes during the halftime show of XXXVIII so I missed the "wardrobe malfunction".

[infrared41]

I'm one of the few in here who watched Super Bowl I. The biggest things I remember about it was how the Packers kicked the Chiefs and how my dad kept having me switch back and forth between NBC and CBS (it was on both networks) in the era before remotes.

As for the worst Super Bowl memories I have ... well, I'm a Vikings fan. Nuff said.

Hey, you gotta get to four of them to lose four of them. As a Browns fan I'd take that deal. Oh and thanks for out "olding" me.

[usahockeyrube]

The first one I remember watching was Super Bowl XI when the Raiders dismantled my Vikings.

My favorite Super Bowl memory is Super Bowl XXXII, when the Broncos beat the Packers.

The best Super Bowl to me will always be the Giants and Bills.

Least favorite was Super Bowl XXXIII, because the Vikings were supposed to be there against the Broncos. They probably would have lost, but still should have been there.