We're a few days away from Super Bowl week, the last game of the year, and the one that may well end up defining the 2010 NFL season. The build up to the Super Bowl will be huge, as it is every year. We'll hear about story lines that we never thought existed, hear interviews a hundred times, hear more coach speak than we want to, and it's all a build up to 60 minutes of football to close out the season.
But you can keep the glitz and glamour, the 45 hours of interviews, the players getting asked ridiculous questions just so some wannabe media person can get their 15 seconds of fame and fade into obscurity. You can keep the 6 minute version of the National Anthem, the commercial break from the commercial break, the extended halftime show that is inevitably overproduced and underperformed. And lastly, you can hold on to $2,000 tickets, the Super Bowl attendee club, and the fact that people are paying $200 to watch the game outside the stadium on the jumbotron. That's not what draws me to football.
As a former athlete (though not a big time college athlete), I want to remember what happens in between the lines, inside the field of play. The Super Bowl or any game isn't about the production value, the number of commercials that can be fit in, the $8 beers or $6 hotdogs. It's about the game itself. As corny as this sounds, it was an indescribable feeling to be able to play the game just to play it. If someone had offered me millions of dollars to play, I'd gladly sign on the dotted line, but it's not about that. You watch the guys who love to play, who come up woofing after a big hit, can't stop smiling after a long run, or that seem to belong on the field and you'll see what it's about.
Now that I got that out, lets turn to a more user-oriented discussion. What was your favorite Super Bowl and why? I'm making the Bucs Super Bowl win taboo, because that's an easy answer. Outside of that game, which Super Bowl Sunday sits atop your list? The TItans losing to the Rams was a fantastic game, as was 'Zona coming up just short against the Steelers. Biggest shock value might be (in my lifetime) the Giants beating the Patriots.
So let me hear it Bucs Nation, what's your best Super Bowl game memory?