As Super Bowl Sunday fast approaches, I have seen so many articles from Super Bowls gone by. Each time I see one, I think about where I was and in what atmosphere did I watch that Super Bowl. Now this Super Bowl will be more than 40 I have been on this Earth to witness and some I remember and some I don’t. The funny thing about it, I’m not really sure how many, if any, Super Bowls I have missed, but the only one’s I distinctly remember are just a fraction of the 40 or so I have seen. As I recall my past Super Bowls, I challenge you to do the same even post a couple of memories in the response.
The very first one I can remember is Super Bowl X. You see, being born in the early Seventies is was required that every kid not born in a football city to be a Dallas Cowboys fan and I was no different. So when the Dallas Cowboys made it to the Super Bowl, I was there directly in front of my TV. Just a few weeks prior I had received a Cowboys uniform, including helmet, from “Santa Claus” just a few week prior and I was ready to go. I watched that game from kickoff until the last second rolled off the clock. What I remember most was the feeling after the Cowboys lost, I guess that was my first taste of defeat. I can also vaguely remember (but not as well) two years later when the Cowboys one the Super Bowl not near as well the X when they lost. I guess that tells me that the agony of defeat is memorable to me than the thrill of victory.
The next one I distinctly remember is Super Bowl XX between the Chicago Bears and the New England Patriots. Growing up I loved Walter Payton and he was very well thought of in my circle of friends and family. There was also I lot of hype leading up to this game. The personalities involved (Jim McMahon and William Perry just to name a few), the Super Bowl Shuffle, and they way they dominated the regular season made it easy for me to remember this Super Bowl. Seeing Walter Payton win makes this easily one of most memorable ones. Again I watched this Super Bowl, with my parents in our living room.
The next one I distinctly remember watching is Super Bowl XXII between the Redskins and the Broncos. I have always pulled for underdogs when I can and Doug Williams made it easy to be a Redskins fan. Growing up in the South I was familiar with Historically black colleges and the SWAC so I was familiar with Williams. By this time I was a teenager and was out from under my parent’s thumb. My best friend had moved about 100 miles away and his dad had bought a house that had a “mother-n-law” suite in it so I went to his house for the weekend to watch the game with him. We invited a few girls over and we had my first Super Bowl Party. I really wanted Williams to have his day, but became extremely nervous when Elway and Denver jumped out to a 10-0 lead. Then came the second quarter, which is probably the most one-sided quarter in Super Bowl history.Doug had his day and in now a large part of Super Bowl history.
I can also remember Super Bowl XXIII. How can you not remember Jerry Rice and Joe Montana, if you’ve read my previous blog you know what I think of Jerry Rice. I remember I watched this Super Bowl with the Youth Director at my local church. Our youth group had a party and I enjoyed it. As a teenager, my youth group was filled of good-looking, popular, young girls. That alone made memorable, but the fine young girls definitely added to it.
The next one I remember is Super Bowl XXV, I was in the Army and it was just before Desert Storm. I remember the Kick, The Giants, and the Bills losing. I watched the game with a girlfriend I had at the time and a girl I was seeing on the side was also there. Juggling that is what I remember the most. The only other one I really remember watching from my time in the Army is the next years Super Bowl. I watch the game in Europe with a unit I had just been transferred to. The thing I really remember the most is watching the game at a very odd time, not knowing anyone in the room, and the commander giving everyone the next day off.
The next one I remember is Super Bowl XXIX between the 49ers and the Chargers. I remember the game because Steve Young “got the monkey off his back”, and Jerry Rice won another Supper Bowl, but I remember this one mainly because my girlfriend and I had a party at out house and invited a bunch of people. My little brother and one of my childhood best friends (coincidentally the one I watched XXII with) were there. Soon after the game they got into a wrestling match and my little brother slammed my friend on the floor. In doing so they left a mark on the wall and my girl friend complained about it for a month.
Super Bowl XXXI started a new era for me, because of personal connections as well as connection made in the military, I found my new team, the Patriots, in the Super Bowl. I watched the game with the same girlfriend from the previous Super Bowl, but we watched it at my house. I remember this game because mt team, adopted while in the Army, lost in the Super Bowl, but also because me and my girl friend broke up soon afterwards. I miss her.
Well that misery wouldn’t last too much longer because the Patriots made their way to the big game again for Super Bowl XXXVI. The Patriots were vast underdogs and Brady wasn’t the star he is now, so I didn’t feel my team had a chance. Regardless, I put on my Bledsoe Jersey (the same one I wore in the previous Super Bowl) and my Patriots hat and watch the game with my family at my house. Winning that game was one of the greatest thrill I’ve had from watching a game, of any sport, on television. I still have that jersey, although it is retired, and I still wear that Patriots hat on some game days. The other two Super Bowl wins were awesome but none gave me the thrill I experienced that day. Since that Super Bowl the others have kind flown by in a blur, I remember the other two Patriot wins, but I also remember the losses equally. The loss that stands out though is the first loss by the Giants that ended the Patriots almost perfect season. If the win in Super Bowl XXXVI was the biggest thrill then the loss in SBXLII would be the reciprocal.
Those are my Super Bowls from times gone by. They are the ones that stand out in my memory. Some of the reason have to do with the game and some have to do with circumstances surrounding where and how I watched the game. Please take the time and give me a Super Bowl that stands out in your memory and explain why. I would love to hear it.
Modern Day Machiavelli 