The former commissioner of the NFL conceived of the Roman numeral tags to promote the epicness of the battle between the two teams. It's a Roman Coliseum face-off.
Since Pete is now deceased, it is impossible to know if he realized that with enough continuity of the spectacle, the Roman numerals are going to get quite lengthy, and if they're hard to decipher now, they're going to be downright impossible to decipher in a few decades.
A basic knowledge of the numbers will let the beginner determine that LVI is the designation for 56. The L represents 50, and the VI is 5+1=6; thus 56. Quick, can you envision what Super Bowl 89 will look like on a T-shirt? Not many people can. It's going to have to be worn by the plus-size people. That, or the font is going to have to be really small.
In the Roman numeral scheme of things, you're adding or subtracting values associated with the symbols. Think of the numbers as being built by Lego pieces. Eighty-nine is 50, L, plus three tens, Xs, and nine, designated by subtracting 1 from 10, which equals 9, and is designated by IX. Thus, 89 checks in at LXXXIX, certainly a lot to squeeze onto the front of a sweatshirt or T-shirt.
Since I'm now LXXIII, it is probably safe to say when they get to the 89th Super Bowl I'll be amongst the departed.
But no need to dwell on the inevitable, live in the present. And the present is allowing me to be amongst what I suspect is an ever decreasing number of people who can say they've seen all the Super Bowls. Not just be alive for all of them, but to have seen all of them. And I'm not really a football fan.
Favorite Super Bowl? Certainly not just one. The first, Joe Namath's ride to glory in the third with the New York Jets and his ability to stay alive and hawk Medicare Advantage insurance in 2022. No one has ever gotten more out of an athletic achievement than Joe helping the Jets win a Super Bowl in 1969, upsetting the Baltimore Colts, and putting the AFL on a parity with the NFL.
That 1969 Super Bowl is the only one the Jets have ever been in. Their championship drought is within one of the New York Rangers and their 1940/1994 Stanley Cups. And at least the Rangers made it to the Cup finals after 1940. The poor Jets haven't even appeared in a Super Bowl since 1969. Their tickets should be nearly free.
The run of the Pittsburgh Steelers was always exciting, as well as the New York Giant wins. Perhaps the most unbelievable game was Tom Brady steering the New England Patriots to their come-from-behind, overtime win over the Atlanta Falcons. Atlanta fans might still be in therapy.
Commercials? There are those who say they can be the best part. To me, they're either bad or good, with the game being bad or good. Different combinations always emerge. I have to say last night's batch left me confused as to what they were selling. The one takeaway I have is that they were bad. Someone I know called them "stupid." To me, they were only memorably obtuse.
Halftime? don't get me started. I admit to using the mute button. Even when as far back as when Janet Jackson lost the covering to her left breast it happened in my house with the sound off. When my wife returned to the living room I reported that, "I think I just saw Janet Jackson's left breast." Until it was confirmed that I did, see Janet Jackson's left breast, my wife thought I was just being a fantasizing male.
I watched last night's halftime show with the mute button on as well as being out of the room. I caught a glimpse of what looked like prefabricated white housing on the field. I know golf courses build homes near the courses, but this seemed like it was housing really close to the field. It was on the field. How are they going to play the second half? Fear not. A massive army of workers whisked the buildings away between the commercials, and the second half got underway.
They used to say you went to the fights and a hockey game broke out. Last night, right on schedule, a football game resumed between the commercials and the entertainment, and thankfully the same teams that started the game resumed the game. No one took planes home until the clock wound down to near zero. This was good, because if different uniforms were on display for the second half, the game would have been as confusing as the commercials to me.
The game? The Rams won, at home, 23-20, thanks to some generous penalties. I thought there was only "home cooking" in basketball. Maybe the refs were making up for blowing the face-mask call on the Bengal who pulled the defender down and waltzed in for a touchdown. These things happen, and not even replay can change things.
I made a mental bet to take the "under." at 46 points prior to the game. I "won." The fact that I still don't have an online betting account for sports betting shows something, but I'm not sure what it is. When Off-Track horse wagering emerged in 1971 I was there with a telephone account on Day One. I never got into placing wagers on other sports, so all the online gambling commercials aimed at me go for naught.
There has to be a better way to watch the game. Maybe I'll record Super Bowl LVII, stay in a news blackout, and fast forward my way through all the segments that have nothing to do with the game itself. I'll be in bed in no time.
After LVI Super Bowls, I think it's time.
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