A non-brief personal history of the Super Bowl.

18 - First Super Bowl I can remember. Watched it in my parents basement. Even as an 8 year old, I was impressed with Marcus Allen's impromptu reverse for 74 yards and a touchdown. This would mark the last time an AFC team would win until I was in college. (And the team that finally broke the NFC streak made me exceedingly happy.)


19 - Remember very little of Marino-Montana. Again watched it in my parents basement.


20 - Remember knowing that the Patriots were going to get pounded by the Bears and being so confident that I bet Tres Coors (He was the third kid in his family, so despite the fact that his real name was "Henry" he always went by "Tres") 5 bucks that the Bears would win. He "paid up" by giving me 5 bucks in Monopoly money. To this day, I think Tres Coors is a rotten bum. Watched the Pats get smoked and remember celebrating when Refridgerator Perry scored, because I thought it was cool a big fat guy would get the ball. I was too young to know that Ditka screwed over Walter Payton by not letting him get into the end zone despite the 46-10 bloodletting they were putting on New England. Watched the Super Bowl in our new house, as we had just moved that year.


21 - My first time having MY team in the Super Bowl! I was so excited, and certain that the Broncos would win. Not yet having lived through seeing what it was liked to get your soul crushed in the big game. I hate Mark Bavaro and Phil Simms to this day. Watched this one in my Dad's office in our house, and remember being up by 1 at halftime and getting so excited that we were going to win the Super Bowl! Still one of the best Super Bowl logos with the cool Rose to signify it was being played in Pasadena.


22 - I learned nothing from the previous year. I was once again supremely confident that the Broncos were going to beat the Redskins. We went to my grandparents house for the game, and it started out so well. Touchdown on their first offensive play to Ricky Nattiel. We were on our way. Up 10-0 at the end of 1. Then the roof caved in during the second quarter. 35 points in one quarter. Ugh. Such a disaster. I was depressed for weeks afterwards. I kept telling myself that if only there were no second quarter, the Broncos won the game 10-7. Perhaps the most depressing Super Bowl ever for me.


23 - 49ers-Bengals was a respite for me. The only Super Bowl during a four year stretch that wouldn't crush my soul. I remember watching at my buddy Mike Uchida's house, and we were more excited that we had 3D glasses to watch the halftime show than we were about the game itself. Still, it was a rare exciting Super Bowl during this era, as the Bengals looked poised to win until Joe Montana saw John Candy. I was cheering for the Benagls, but was fine with the Niners winning.


24 - I've never dreaded a Super Bowl more in my life. Watched the whole game by myself in my parents basement so that I wouldn't hurt any one. I had zero hope we could win this game, as the 49ers that year were a machine. Turned out I was right, and then result was 55-10. That was hard to get over, but it didn't hurt as much because I never once for a moment believed that the Broncos could win that game.


25 - This was an odd Super Bowl, as I didn't much care who won. I suppose I was rooting for the Bills just because I wanted to see the AFC break the NFC's winning streak which was only starting to gain steam. This is perhaps the oddest place I've ever watched a Super Bowl, as my brother and I were addicted to going to "The Video Game Store" a place called Power Play Games which harkens back to a time when a video game store could be a mom and pop organization. We spent an ungodly amount of time there, and we ended up watching almost the entire game at the store, until we walked home and got back in time to see the final drive and Scott Norwood miss the final Field Goal which would have won the Bills the championship.


26 - Watched this Super Bowl at my Aunt's house in Fort Collins. I was cheering for the Redskins, and was pleased with a Super Bowl result for the first time since the 85 Bears won.


27 - Watched at my parents house. Hated the early 90's Cowboys. Hated Leon Lett for celebrating too early and preventing someone from scoring more than 55 points in a Super Bowl thereby wiping out the 49ers record for points scored (against the Broncos in 24.)


28 - Again, watched at my parents house. Remember being annoyed at a Super Bowl re-run, and despite it being a bit closer, still having the Bills fall short. Also felt bad for the Bills, as losing 4 straight Super Bowls has to be one of the hardest things any fan of any team has ever lived through. How 'bout dem Cowboys? No thanks, I just wanted Jimmy Johnson to go away.


29 - Freshman in college and watched at the Campus Center of my college. I remember hoping in vain that the Chargers could win, but not really expecting it. Also remember Steve Young pretending to throw a monkey off of his back. Kind of a crappy Super Bowl.


30 - Sophomore in college, and still watching at the Campus Center. I was cheering like mad for the Steelers because, yes, I hated the early 90's Cowboys. Also felt like Barry Switzer had roughly the same competence as a chimpanzee, and didn't think he deserved to win. A Super exciting Super Bowl which I still feel would have been won by Pittsburgh if Neil O'Donnell didn't suck.


31 - Watched the first half of Patriots-Packers at the Campus Center, went back to my apartment to watch the second half and it was so boring I ended up making out with my girlfriend (now my wife) more than paying attention to the game.


32 - I've never been so nervous for a Super Bowl. I was excited my Broncos were going to be involved for the first time in 8 years, but I wasn't sure if my soul could take another crushing loss, and we were huge underdogs to Brett Favre and the Packers. Best. Super Bowl. Ever. Watched the first half at my buddy's house with a bunch of friends, and then had to leave because I was the only Broncos fan there, and I might have killed someone if I stayed I was so nervous. Went back to my apartment and watched the game with my girlfriend (now wife). There was no making out this year. Jumped up and down like a crazy person once John Mobley knocked down Favre's 4th down pass and it was finally clinched. Stayed up all night surfing the internet on a ridiculously slow dial-up connection reading stories about the first Broncos championship. Deliriously happy!


33 - Went to a Super Bowl party in the tiny town of Anthony, Kansas. Stayed there for the first half. I have never been so confident in a Super Bowl. There was no way the Falcons were beating my Broncos. NO CHANCE. I ended up leaving at halftime again, feeling much less nervous than the year before, but I left anyway to go back to my own house in Anthony, KS, as that strategy worked the year before, and although I'm not highly superstitious. I wasn't going to mess with success. Remember feeling very happy winning the second Super Bowl championship, but not as ecstatic as I was the prior year


34 - Hosted a Super Bowl party in my tiny house that only cost $175 to rent a month in Anthony, Kansas. Had televisions set up everywhere, and felt no pressure, as I didn't care who won and was just hoping for a close game. We got it in one of the best finishes in Super Bowl history.


35 - I had moved back to Denver, and went to my buddy Doug's house to watch the Ravens beat the Giants in one of the most boring Super Bowls ever.


36 - Hosted a Super Bowl party with my wife in our apartment in Englewood, Colorado. I remember having far too many people at the game who didn't give a crap about football, and I was annoyed so many people were not paying attention to the game. This year began the genesis for my buddy Doug's and my idea for the Super Bowl Unparty; a tradition which would begin a few years later.


37 - The Buccaneers only championship was the happiest I have been since the Broncos last won a championship because it robbed the Raiders of a chance to win a championship, and they were pounded! This was the final Super Bowl party I ever hosted, and the only time I ever hosted a Super Bowl at the house where I now live.


38 - Drove down to Colorado Springs to spend Super Sunday at a Super Bowl party at my brother's house. I remember this being a fairly low key party with only a few friends, and a really good time, good game. I was paying no attention to the halftime, and was shocked at how big a deal Janet Jackson's nipple slip became, since I never saw it happen. The only bummer was that I had to drive an hour north back to Denver after the game, and I was very tired as I stayed there far too long after the game.


39 - This was the final Super Bowl party I ever attended. Never again. It was at my buddy Doug's house, and there were roughly ten billion people at the party. It was loud, it was annoying, and my newborn daughter who had been born only a few weeks later was in the throes of a rough bout with colic. I finally found a quiet room where I watched Donovan McNabb run out of gas in the 4th quarter and the Eagles run a 2 minute drill like they were winning instead of desperately in need of points. I wanted the Eagles to win, but they were having none of it. I swore we would no longer do Super Bowl parties, and my buddy Doug agreed.


40 - The Unparty is born! Steelers and Seahawks was kind of a dud Super Bowl, as we were all cheering for Seattle, but a Super Bowl party of just my buddy and I and our families was a remarkable success. We could focus on the game, we had tons of good food, and zero bums and hangers on bringing us down. We have been at my Buddy's house every year since.


41 - Unparty 2 was just as good as the first one. We were cheering for the Colts over the Bears, so we actually were happy at the end of this one. Kind of a dud game again, but the Unparty was gaining steam.


42 - Unparty 3 was epic. Same great environment as the previous two, only this time we had a spectacular game as well. Seeing the Giants take down the undefeated and totally hateable Patriots on top of the Unparty goodness was swell.


43 - Unparty 4 was almost as good as 3, except we were all rooting for the Cardinals and they didn't get it done. Still, that was an excellent game, and the unparty tradition had taken hold.


44 - Unparty 5 kept alive a 3 year streak of unparty goodness plus a good game. Peyton Manning falling apart with a Pick 6 when you were expecting him to drive to tie the game. Yes, we were rooting for the Saints.


45 - Unparty 6 another good game, and the team we wanted to win getting the W. If Rashard Mendenhall doesn't fumble on the first play of the 4th quarter, the Steelers get the W. But he did, and they didn't.

The Long Offseason...

Seeing Baylen and Drew celebrating their big win put a smile on my face and delayed the offseason blues for a few days.

It’s Wednesday, and it’s finally hit me. Football season is over. It took a little while to sink in, because I had to wipe the smile off of my face that was derived from watching the underdog Saints rise up to claim their very first Super Bowl Championship. I was rooting for New Orleans for many reasons. First of all, after all the crap the state of Louisiana has been through in the past five years, it’s nice for them to have something to smile about. No, winning a football game is not going to increase your area’s industry and job rates, it isn’t going to put food on the table, build houses or encourage infrastructure development, but if you’ve never had one of your teams win a championship, you know that it does make the rest of the crap you have to deal with a little bit less annoying, so I was glad for them.

Secondly, Drew Brees is just so darn likable. Not only did he play a tremendous football game and totally deserve the Super Bowl MVP, but if you didn’t at the very least get a smile on your face when you saw Drew walking around a confetti littered field holding his little boy with a look of glee on his face, you have a heart of stone. That Baylen Brees is adorable.

Thirdly, I have to cheer for a Super Bowl team (as long as they aren’t playing against the Broncos) that decides to go for it on Fourth and Goal from the 1 AND decides to open the second half with a surprise onside kick. I am required to root for them. It’s a rule. If a team gets all gutsy in big situations, they have won my admiration. Even in situations (such as the 4th and Goal from the 1) when it doesn’t work out as planned, I still dig testicular fortitude. Fortune favors the bold, and New Orleans was BOLD. So I offer congratulations to the feel-good Saints, a fun and unpredictable team that surprised the sporting world by actually beating against Peyton Manning. (A guy who pregame pundits were declaring practically invincible.) I also thought that the Colts would prevail, but I guess I should have listened to my 2 year old son who predicted that the Saints would win big. He’s very good, that Luke Dodge.

As the smile of watching Drew Brees celebrates subsides, however, I have come to the stark realization that we are now eight months away from meaningful football. Now, it’s not as if there are not other sporting options out there, but the end of the football season is a tough time for me. I enjoy hockey, baseball and puck, and the Olympics and World Cup are both right around the corner, so there is hope for the wayward sports fan, but when the football stops, it’s always a melancholy moment.

So as I wallow in the post-Super Bowl blues for a few weeks, I must remember the positives of this time of year. Sunday afternoons with the kiddos at the zoo or the park now require zero sacrifice of football, Monday Nights I can just leave the television off, and I won’t have to hear JB talk about himself and “his guys” for months, which is a big plus. Still, I’m slightly glum, and while this too shall pass, remember sports fans…you’re not alone. Guys and gals all across the land are slightly blue because there will be no football for awhile. I’m here to say that there is no shame in feeling a little verklempt now that football has ended. We’ll get through this together. I’m not sure if there are football support groups, but there should be. “Football Anonymous” meetings sprouting up across the fruited plain with guys like me standing up and painfully acknowledging, “Hi, my name is Craig and I’m a Footballaholic.” Followed by the group proudly and happily greeting me with a, “Hi, Craig!”

Ah well, the sun shall rise again, the calendar will turn to September, and NFL football will ring out again. For now, let’s try to get through this together. There are only 211 days until September 9th (The Day that Football comes back!)

Good Super Bowl, Better Cake.

Yeah, so the Saints winning 31-17 against the Colts was fun and surprising, but the real story on Sunday was the food.

For those unfamiliar with my Super Sunday routine over the past five years, my buddy Doug and I have develped quite the concept. We have an unparty. We decided what we liked about Super Bowl parties was the football, food and commercials, and what we disliked was the party. The overabundance of humans makes it hard to follow the football, and almost as importantly...hard to hear the commercials. Our solution? The unparty. We load up on food, we gather around Doug's beautiful High Def television, and we pretty much lock out the world.

Okay, so the whole concept of "unparty" has been stretched pretty thin lately since the past two years has not only included Doug and me, but also our buddy Bill...all three of our wives, and all five of our kids. Yeah, our "unparty" had eleven people at it, but we maintain that it is still an unparty because NO ONE else is welcome now. We've reached the cap. An unparty can have no more than 11 people. Sorry, no need to fill out an application to join, membership is now closed. The unparty is THE way to go, I strongly recommend starting your own next year.

Anyway, when it came to food, We had the requisite chicken wings, buffalo chicken cheese dip, chips, popcorn, Chicken McNuggets, and Lil Smokies to beat the band, of course. However, the real Pièce de résistance was this beautiful and delicious cake, courtesy of Katy Newton. She made a Cardinals cake last year, which was very cool, and this year, she outdid herself with a pretty solid version of both the Saints and Colts logos. She's a very talented frosting artist, as you can see.

Anyway, congrats to Drew Brees and company, and here's hoping that next year the cake features a Broncos logo!

NFL Weekend Preview: Super Bowl Weekend

The Saints will have their hands full trying to stop this scene from unfolding in Miami.

Super Bowl XLIV
New Orleans vs. Indianapolis:

So, it all comes down to this, and all things considered, this is pretty good. We’ve got two teams, both who didn’t lose a game at all in the regular season until we were most of the way through December. Two number one seeds, two fantastic quarterbacks who can put up points, some bend but don’t break defenses, and Archie Manning hovering above it all with his legacy on one side and his son on the other. Pretty good stuff, really.

This particular Super Bowl doesn’t come with any large television markets attached, as Indianapolis and New Orleans are both relatively small NFL cities, but the Super Bowl is one event where it doesn’t even matter who is playing, people watch. It’s like a national holiday, and it really should be. This game should get a huge audience, and hopefully the game lives up to the usual Super Bowl hype.

The lead up to this game has been rather quiet thus far. The biggest story is whether or not Colts defensive stud lineman Dwight Freeney is going go play. Freeney has an ankle injury, and even if he does play, it probably won't be at maximum efficiency. However, that story is boring, as is most of the lead up. The weather was bad, so media day was indoors, and nothing major of note happened. As far as the usual Super Bowl hype, to me it feels quite muted. Perhaps that's due to it actually being quiet, or perhaps I just haven't watched enough Sportscenter this week.

Really the biggest pregame noise is being made by Tony Dungy, the coach of the Colts for many years who is now an analyst and who has said that he expects the Colts to win big. That would be humongous news if Dungy still was affiliated with the Colts, but since he no longer has any actual say in the organization, it's a little muted. Plus, he's probably right, I tend to agree with his assessment of the game. Really, I just hope that the Broncos hire Tony Dungy and then immediately get rid of him, because when Tony Dungy leaves a team, that team goes to the Super Bowl. It happened in Tampa where he coached for years, but then the first year he was gone the Bucs won it all; and now the season after leaving the Colts, some random guy named Jim Caldwell has the Colts in the big game. I'm telling you, Tony Dungy leaving your team is a good luck omen.

I think the reason that the pregame buzz has been so quiet is because this game looks on paper to be a pretty good game. You have two number one seeds who clearly were the best teams in their respective conferences through the regular season facing off, and the prospects for a good game are strong. You have two terrific signal callers in Manning and Brees, and it shapes up to be a pretty good game.

For what theoretically should be a pretty close game, pretty much everyone is riding the Colts. Oftentimes when everyone thinks that one team is going to win, they go out and lose just to make things interesting...of course, the other team also has something to do with it as well, but I'm leary of picking the Colts because EVERYONE is picking the Colts. The Saints have an explosive offense, they have a defense that isn't great, but can be very good when they have a lead to play with, and they have the collective good will of the majority of non-committed sports fans backing them.

I have to admit, if I'm choosing this game with my heart, it's the Saints in a runaway. How do you root against Hurricane Katrina victims? There isn't a huge differential between these two squads. They both could win, and on paper, there is just as good a chance that the Saints win as the Colts. Unfortunately, they don't play these games on paper, they play them inside television sets. As much as I want to make the case for the Saints winning it all, when I look at the Colts there is one major thing that makes me take them. They are quarterbacked by a man who dominates football games, I have seen too many games in recent years where all things being equal, Peyton Manning wins the game. I think we're due for that to happen yet again.

As much as I am hoping for a great and memorable game in which New Orleans prevails in an exciting finish, I just keep thinking that this Super Bowl is going to be a dud of a game. It feels like the kind of game where the Saints are overpowered by Manning and company, and there is nothing exciting or close about it. We've had two fantastic Super Bowl games in a row, and this isn't traditionally a game with a huge history of having close and fantastic games. Seems like Super Bowl XLIV will be a regression to the mean, as the Colts put the stamp on Peyton Manning's greatness with his second championship. As much as I hate to say it, and as hard as I will be rooting against my pick, make mine: Colts 31 Saints 20


My Picks Scorecard:
Last Week: 2-0
Regular Season: 161-95
Playoffs: 6-4
Playoffs Against the Spread: 5-5
Year to Date: 167-99

Breaking down the Super Bowl into bite sized morsels of chewy goodness.

Okay, so were are only a few days away from the Forty-Third edition of the Super Bowl, and I have a few thoughts. First of all, can we do away with the Roman numerals already?? Seriously, how many Romans are even all that interested in football anyway? Why are we catering to this very small demographic? Arabic numerals are so much simpler and more elegant. Who would complain if we just went with Super Bowl 43? It's so much simpler than all these X's, L's and I's. I feel the world is ready for a Roman numeral-less Super Bowl.


If we are going to stay with the Roman numerals, could we at least spruce up the Super Bowl logo a bit this year? This years logo reminds me of an updated logo for some mundane product like Tide detergent. As far as logos go, this one puts me to sleep. Although, in a positive development, I am happy to say that next year's logo has been unveiled and it is beautiful...

Honestly, how good is that orange and blue logo going to look on the Denver Broncos uniforms in next year's Super Bowl?? I can't wait for how great that is going to look when Josh McDaniels leads the boys onto the field in Miami!

But I am getting ahead of myself, we haven't yet played this year's game. Amazingly, the Broncos are not part of the festivities. (Well, perhaps not THAT amazingly if you saw them play this season.) This year's game features the Pittsburgh Steelers and their legion of die hard fans and 5 previous Super Bowl championship trophies vs. the Arizona Cardinals and a handful of guys who got onto the Cardinals bandwagon because they thought that they would get a coupon good for two for one grand slams at Denny's.


The greatest discrepancy I see between the Cardinals and the Steelers is with their respective fan bases. Steelers fans are some of the most loyal and fantastic fans in all of sports, they routinely fill opposing stadiums with tons of fans clad in Black and Yellow waving their Myron Cope officially licensed Terrible Towels. They are everywhere, as the Steelers are one of the most popular teams in all the land, despite the fact that they can't seem to afford to put a logo on both sides of their helmets. There are rumors that Cardinals fans do in fact exist, but I have never met one, and I even lived in Arizona for a summer. There are a lot of people hopping on the bandwagon now, but if there is such a thing as a die hard Cards fan, I have yet to experience this phenomenon.

As for the teams on the field, all logic points to a Pittsburgh victory and by a sizable margin. I am officially on board the Cardinals bandwagon, though, and I keep hoping against hope that somehow all the logic that is staring me in the face about this game being a blowout is wrong. Since I comically underestimated the Cardinals this postseason by picking them to lose every single game that they played, there is a tiny mite of hope that I will continue to be wrong. My hope is that this is a close competitive game in which Arizona at least has a chance to win. My fear is that it will be over by halftime.

The Steelers defense is really good. The Cardinals defense has been opportunistic this postseason, but they are pretty pedestrian on the whole. The Steelers offense has been okay this season, although they have a hard time picking up short yardage plays when they need to, and their running game in general isn't that great. The Cardinals offense is the epitome of Jekyll and Hyde. At times, Kurt Warner and his cadre of stud wide receivers look positively unstoppable. With weapons like Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald they can be scary at times, and then at other times Warner looks like an old QB looking for a soft place to fall. Edgerrin James barely played in the regular season per the coach's decision, and in the playoffs he looks like a guy who is trying to prove that his coach was an idiot for not playing him in the regular season. Suddenly, the Cards have had a running game which makes their passing game even more dangerous. If the Cards are to have any chance, they need the good offense to show up.


Finally, and perhaps most impressively, we must break down the coaching match up. This year's big game features two coaches who also double as celebrity impersonators. The Steelers Mike Tomlin, who looks exactly like Omar Epps from the TV show House...

...and Ken Whisenhunt, who looks a bit like Woody Harrelson.

These guys not only both look like television stars, they also happen to be pretty darn good football coaches. Whisenhunt has the added advantage of having formerly been a offensive coordinator for the Steelers, so perhaps he has some inside knowledge of how to bring down Big Ben?

Perhaps...but I don't see it. I want so badly to predict an upset by the Cardinals, but I just can't see it happening. My heart wants to pick the Cardinals, but my head is over ruling my heart and telling it to stop picking football games and get back into my chest cavity and get back to pumping blood like it's supposed to be doing.

My pick? Make mine: Pittsburgh Steelers 31 Arizona Cardinals 20

That may be my prediction, but I'm still hoping against hope for a Cards victory. GO ARIZONA!