I’ve never attended a Super Bowl but I’ve probably watched every one since the January, 1979 contest between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Dallas Cowboys.
I was nigh 10 years old when I was irrationally rooting for the Dallas Cowboys, heartbroken by the perfect pass from quarterback Roger Staubach to tight end Jackie Smith in the end zone that would have tied the game late but Smith irrevocably dropped the pass!
As I grew older, I realized and asked why am I rooting for a team all the way in Texas when right in my backyard in New Jersey was another storied football franchise: the mighty New York Giants, who are celebrating a 100-year birthday this year.
Fast forward to January, 1991, I jumped up and cheered at a long-gone Ground Round in East Rutherford, New Jersey when Buffalo Bills’ kicker Scott Norwood missed the uprights to solidify the Giant’s Super Bowl XXV victory.
More glory would follow years later in Super Bowl 42 when again the mighty Giants defeated, maybe improbably, the undefeated New England Patriots. And then handed Tom Brady and company another loss five years later.
Football has certainly changed since January, 1979. A lot of flags are thrown now onto the field when the quarterback is slightly hit. Go to YouTube and watch clips of former Steelers’ quarterback throwing absolute bombs to his wide receivers only to receive a punishing hit immediately after the ball leaving his hand.
In fact, Bradshaw had to leave the game in Super Bowl X against the Cowboys after he threw a perfect spiral to either Lynn Swan or John Stallworth.
But the perfect pass in that game was from near the goal line on the Steelers’ side of play when Bradshaw aired the ball for almost 50 yards to Lynn Swan!
Now we are about to watch Super Bowl 59! Amazing how far we’ve come from Super Bowl XIII, the first Super Bowl I watched from start to finish.
There’s been plenty of sleepers along the way, like the one where New York (really New Jersey) hosted its first Super Bowl in January, 2014 between the Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks.
Russell Wilson was riding high then but now its Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce.
I’m a Giants fan now so hard to root for the Philadelphia Eagles in the upcoming contest as there is no love lost between the two teams and cities.
But I’m not exactly keen on a threepeat, unless it was the Giants, of course!
At the very least I hope its an excellent game, with high-powered offenses scoring for a total of 80 or 90 points!
