More on the Super Bowl
History:
Probably the premier single sporting event in the world, the
Super Bowl draws millions of television viewers, many of whom
wouldn't think of watching any other football game. The Super
Bowl appears on the list of the fifty top-rated TV broadcasts
twenty times. The first Super Bowl was played between the NFL's
Green Bay Packers and the AFL's Kansas City Chiefs. The Packers
won that game 35-10 before a non-sellout crowd that shelled
out only $12 a ticket. It was not until Super Bowl III when
Joe Namath guaranteed the AFL's first victory in the game for
the underdog New York Jets and delivered 16-7 over the Baltimore
Colts that interest in the game began to rise. The Super Bowl's
history has been marked by long stretches of domination by one
league over the other. After the AFL and NFL merger in 1971,
the AFC won nine of the next eleven Super Bowls.
Since Super Bowl XVI in 1982, the NFC won
fifteen of sixteen games, thirteen in a row, before the Denver
Broncos beat the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl XXXII. The
Super Bowl has traditionally been referred to by Roman numerals
rather than the year in which it is played to minimize confusion
from the fact that the NFL season stretches from one year
to the next. The Super Bowl Champion for the 2004 NFL season
will actually play the game in Febuary 2005. Since Super Bowl
V in 1971, the trophy presented to the winning team has been
know as the Vince Lombardi Trophy to commemorate the man who
coached the Green Bay Packers to the first two championships.
Lombardi died of cancer in 1970.
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Traditionally,
the Lombardi trophy is presented by the commissioner
to the owner of the winning team at a field ceremony in
their honor. For such a huge national event, climaxing
a season of NFL football with a meeting between league
champions, the Super Bowl has often been anti-climactic.
The average margin of victory has been about 14 points,
well above the average for a regular-season NFL game.
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There have been
a lot of blowouts. Conference championship games have
often been more compelling. However, recent years have
seen this trend reverse as 2002's 20-17 win by the New
England Patriots over the St. Louis Rams is widely regarded
as one of the most exciting Super Bowls ever. Super
Bowl XXXIX will be played in Jacksonville, Florida
on Febuary 6, 2005 at Alltell Stadium, home of the
Jacksonville Jaguars. This Super Bowl will be played before
a sellout crowd and will be viewed by millions in the
United States and abroad. It will bring hundreds of
millions of revenue to the Jacksonville area as the NFL
showcases its premier event to the world. |
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