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Jan. 24, 2005 Now that we know that the New England Patriots will face the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl XXXIX down in Jacksonville on February 6, it’s time to share some useless knowledge about one of the biggest spectacles in all of sport. Hey, you’re gonna here about the Super Bowl for the next two weeks anyway, so why not have a little fun with it, at least? 1. The very first Super Bowl wasn’t even called the Super Bowl. It was known as the AFL-NFL World Championship Game, as it was the first meeting between the champion of the established National Football League and the upstart American Football League. Lamar Hunt, longtime owner of the Kansas City Chiefs, is credited with giving the game its better-known name, after observing his daughter playing with a toy called a Super Ball. 2. The first Super Bowl was played at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. A crowd of just over 67,000 attended the game, marking the only time in Super Bowl history the game was not sold out. 3. Both CBS, which carried NFL games, and NBC, which carried AFL games, televised the first Super Bowl. After that, the networks alternated coverage until Super Bowl XIX in 1985, when ABC showed it for the first time. 4. The Green Bay Packers won the first two Super Bowls, beating the Kansas City Chiefs and the Oakland Raiders. In honor of that achievement, the trophy given to the winning team bears the name of the Packers’ legendary coach, Vince Lombardi. 5. The Baltimore Colts, at that time coached by Don Shula, suffered the dubious distinction of being the first NFL team to lose the Super Bowl. They fell to Joe Namath and the New York Jets in Super Bowl III in 1969. The Colts would redeem themselves, though, in 1971, by being the first team to win the Super Bowl after the AFL-NFL merger. 6. The Colts may have won Super Bowl V, but it is still considered one of the ugliest Super Bowls ever played. Not only did the Colts and the Dallas Cowboys combine for ten turnovers in the game (still a Super Bowl record), the Colts are the only winning team to not produce the Super Bowl MVP. The honor that game went to Cowboys linebacker Chuck Howley. 7. The Miami Dolphins were the first team to make three consecutive Super Bowl appearances (Super Bowls VI, VII and VIII). They were also the first team in Super Bowl history not to score a touchdown in the game. The Cowboys limited them to a field goal in Super Bowl VI. 8. The 1971 Dolphins aren’t the only team to not score an offensive touchdown in a Super Bowl. The 1972 Washington Redskins and the 2000 New York Giants both got touchdowns from their special teams in Super Bowl play. 9. Super Bowl X in 1976 provided the backdrop for the motion-picture adaptation of the novel “Black Sunday”, about a terrorist plot to blow up the Super Bowl. The author of the novel, Thomas Harris, is better known for an even meatier thriller, “The Silence of the Lambs”. 10. John Madden, the man whose name graces EA Sports’s NFL video game, was head coach of the Oakland Raiders when they won Super Bowl XI in 1977. 11. Super Bowl XII, between the Cowboys and the Denver Broncos, was the first to be played indoors—specifically, at the cavernous Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans. It also marked the first time co-MVPs were honored in Super Bowl play. That year, Cowboys defenders Harvey Martin and Randy White shared the award. 12. No NFL team has ever played the Super Bowl in their home stadium, but two teams have come very close. The Los Angeles Rams played Super Bowl XIV in Pasadena (at the time, they were based in Anaheim) and the San Francisco 49ers played Super Bowl XIX in Palo Alto, California, at Stanford University’s stadium. 13. Super Bowl XVI, between the San Francisco 49ers and the Cincinnati Bengals, was played at the Pontiac Silverdome in suburban Detroit, the first time the Super Bowl was played in a northern city. It is also the highest-rated single sporting event in US television history and the fourth highest-rated program all-time (behind Part 8 of “Roots”, the Who-Shot-J.R. episode of “Dallas”, and the series finale of “M*A*S*H”). 14. Fulton Walker of the Miami Dolphins was the first player in Super Bowl history to return a kickoff for a touchdown, scampering 99 yards in Super Bowl XVII against Washington. 15. Desmond Howard of the Green Bay Packers was the first player in Super Bowl history to return a kickoff for a touchdown for the winning team. He’s also the first special-teams player to ever win the Super Bowl MVP award. 16. The 1983 Washington Redskins were the first defending Super Bowl champion to lose the game the next season. They got shelled by the Los Angeles Raiders 38-9 in Super Bowl XVIII. The 1997 Green Bay Packers pulled the same feat when they went down to the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXXII. 17. Super Bowl XXIX was the highest-scoring Super Bowl, with the San Francisco 49ers and the San Diego Chargers combining for 75 points. The 49ers also hold the record for the most points scored in a Super Bowl, racking up 55 against the Broncos in Super Bowl XXIV. The Cowboys hold the largest margin of victory—35 points—when they beat the Buffalo Bills 52-17 in Super Bowl XXVII. 18. The lowest-scoring Super Bowl was Super Bowl VII. The Dolphins and Redskins combined for a miserly 21 points. The closest margin of victory was one point, when the New York Giants beat Buffalo 20-19 in Super Bowl XXV. No team has ever been shut out in the Super Bowl. 19. Dallas and San Francisco have each won five Super Bowl championships. The Pittsburgh Steelers have four, while the Raiders, Redskins and Packers have three each. Buffalo and Minnesota have each visited the Super Bowl four times, but have yet to win. 20. Super Bowl XXXIX will mark only the second appearance by the Philadelphia Eagles in the big game. For the New England Patriots, it will mark their fifth appearance. The Eagles lost their only previous Super Bowl (Super Bowl XV), while New England is 2-2. 21. Jacksonville, the host city of Super Bowl XXXIX, is the largest city in terms of land area in the continental United States, covering almost 760 square miles. Their team, the Jaguars has played just ten seasons. In contrast, the Eagles have been around since 1933, while the Patriots were a charter member of the AFL when it began play in 1960. ------------ About the author: Claxton Graham has written a number of articles for Useless Knowledge. He works as a business systems analyst. Email: scifiwriter8502@email.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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