This is the first Super Bowl that is recorded in my memory. The only thing I can picture is sitting on my dad's back, as he lies on his stomach on our living room floor. I seem to remember cheering for Chicago.
XXI Jan. 25, 1987 N.Y. Giants 39, Denver 20
There was a Super Bowl between the Giants and the Broncos? Huh.
XXII Jan. 31, 1988 Washington 42, Denver 10
If memory serves (and the box score seems to agree), the opening touchdown drive by Denver was the quickest TD in Super Bowl history. I can remember the announcers mentioning that fact, but not where I was, or how disorienting it was to watch a black quarterback win the Super Bowl MVP.
XXIII Jan. 22, 1989 San Francisco 20, Cincinnati 16
I do remember watching this in my living room, sitting on our couch. My mom might have been making a quilt or stitching something during the game. One of these teams scored late in the game, and I was unhappy about it. ...Looking at the box score, it was a Montana-to-Taylor TD. I guess that means I was for the Bengals? Why? Ickey Woods? These kind of memories shake my foundation.
XXIV Jan. 28, 1990 San Francisco 55, Denver 10
Again, I have no recollection. Thank God.
XXV Jan. 27, 1991 N.Y. Giants 20, Buffalo 19
I bet my friend from school, Justin, $5 that Buffalo would win. I was a big Buffalo fan. (I bought a poster of Thurman Thomas at some point in this era. Thurman was uniformed, running, ball in hand, and there was an explosion behind him, and there were block letters up top: THURMINATOR. Did he have one red LED where one of his eyes should have been? I don't believe so. But he should have.) When Norwood missed the field goal and Buffalo lost, I went to my room and counted out $5 worth of pennies. I gave the pennies to Justin the next day. At the time, I didn't know that paying a bet in pennies was a dick move.
XXVI Jan. 26, 1992 Washington 37, Buffalo 24
My great aunt used to work in DC, so she is a big Redskins fan. She hosted a small Super Bowl party at her Wichita townhouse. She enjoyed the game a lot more than I did. She said something about having lived in the same house that John Riggins lived once. Cousins that I rarely saw were watching with us. It was a weird day.
XXVIII Jan. 30, 1994 Dallas 30, Buffalo 13
XXVII Jan. 31, 1993 Dallas 52, Buffalo 17
These Buffalo losses blend together. Keep in mind, I was a big Buffalo fan through this era, and each of these Super Bowl losses were not cool. One of these years, we watched the game at my dad's house (this was in the midst of my parents' separation), and ate some pizza. There was some beer in the fridge, and Dad said I could have one, but I forgot all about it. The next day on the bus, I expressed dismay at not drinking that beer, so that Matt would think I was cool.
XXIX Jan. 29, 1995 San Francisco 49, San Diego 26
I'm pretty sure this was the Super Bowl we watched at Serpentine's grandma's house, and the game was followed by an episode of "Friends".
XXX Jan. 28, 1996 Dallas 27, Pittsburgh 17
Are you serious? This game happened? I'm trying to think of the Steelers quarterback -- I'm sure he sucked something awful. OK, I just looked it up. Drumroll... Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Neil O'Donnell! I can't believe he couldn't lead them to victory. And the MVP was Dallas cornerback Larry Brown. Wow. Hard to believe I would have no memory of such an excellent Bowl.
XXXI Jan. 26, 1997 Green Bay 35, New England 21
This was the Desmond Howard game. We watched this at Brian's house, upstairs -- we didn't watch a lot of TV up there, but I can remember seeing this game and some of the Bulls / Sonics NBA Finals up there, plus a ton of Simpsons episodes from Nathan's library. There was some unpleasantness; Brian's sister's friends were watching over there, too, and I think we fought over who could eat what food, or who could watch what TV. High school was not awesome.
XXXII Jan. 25, 1998 Denver 31, Green Bay 24
Hmm. I was in college by then, so let's hope I was doing something cool, even if I probably was not.
XXXIII Jan. 31, 1999 Denver 34, Atlanta 19
Hey! Speaking of cool, I had dated THREE girls by this point in college. I can remember seeing a bit of this game at Jenny's apartment. I can also remember the whole "Dirty Bird" thing was popular among African-American students at college -- I think one of the good intramural basketball teams went by the "popular" moniker.
XXXIV Jan. 30, 2000 St. Louis 23, Tennessee 16
If memory serves, I watched the beginning at my apartment, went to Food-4-Less toward the middle of the game, and watched the final play from my couch.
XXXV Jan. 28, 2001 Baltimore 34, N.Y. Giants 7
There was lots of punting in this game, which is probably why I didn't bother to watch it.
XXXVI Feb. 3, 2002 New England 20, St. Louis 17
I am in an apartment in Rosedale, Minnesota. The sentence, "I'm going to leave at the end of the third quarter," starts a fight with my girlfriend, and prevents my viewing of the fourth quarter.
XXXVII Jan. 26, 2003 Tampa Bay 48, Oakland 21
Jeff hosted a party at his basement-level apartment in St. Paul. I half-heartedly cheered for the Raiders. The shitty, shitty Raiders.
XXXVIII Feb. 1, 2004 New England 32, Carolina 29
Back in Kansas. Alone at my house. Bored by halftime. Decided to go outside and build a snowman for the first time since forever. Used a broken coat hanger for arms. Put a hat on him. And sunglasses.
XXXIX Feb. 6, 2005 New England 24, Philadelphia 21
Party at my house. Brian calls us from Vegas to let us know that he put money on the game, and loses his bet on a late Philly score. Kind of boring, underscored by the first ever airing of an "American Dad" episode.
XL Feb. 5, 2006 Pittsburgh 21, Seattle 10
Bobby's apartment. He receives a round of accolades for his decision to purchase and bake a Hawaiian-style pizza from Papa Murphy's.
XLI Feb. 4, 2007 Indianapolis 29, Chicago 17
I woke up at 9:00, and wondered what I was going to do all day. By 9:30, I was out of bed, eating a grapefruit. I went to HyVee, which was packed with the churchgoers and Super Bowl party planners. I retreated home, and prepared the ribs for the slow cooker as I listened to "Car Talk". I watched a David Cross DVD that Netflix sent, and played a game of football on the PS2. I was sick of the game before it started, and spent the evening eating the aforementioned ribs (pretty good for my first attempt) and flipping through channels. My primary viewing was split among the Super Bowl, the Puppy Bowl on Animal Planet, and "My Boys" marathon. In brief detail,
The Super Bowl
Gay
The Puppy Bowl
This year was even better than last year, thanks to the ingenious inclusion of the "Kitty Halftime Show". The more I watched the Puppy Bowl, the more I wondered what I would pay for the DVD, and how often I would watch it if it aired more than once a year. My conclusions: I would pay $9.99 for the DVD, and if Animal Planet chose to shoot a new episode every month (and throw in some new wrinkles each time), I would watch faithfully, and even host viewing parties.
My Boys
This is a vaguely likable TBS sitcom best described as "Sex and the City" for girls who thought Carrie et al were whores. There are some reasons to watch some episodes of this newish show (the most popular being the "There's nothing else on" corrollary), and even more reasons to hate yourself for it. For example, it features Jim Gaffigan, but he's relegated to the fifth wheel. Unfortunately, his Sierra Mist ads are twice as funny as any line he's been given on this show. If you read that last sentence again, I think you'll know why I'll avoid "My Boys" in the future. Unless, you know, nothing else is on.
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