the perfect 10
South Florida Welcomes the Super Bowl for the Record-Breaking 10th Time.
Lynn Swann’s catch.
Jackie Smith’s miss.
Joe Montana’s drive.
Devin Hester’s kickoff return.
High on the list of memorable Super Bowl moments, these plays share a common bond: they all occurred here. There are many, many more as well, and for good reason. When Super Bowl XLIV kicks off at 6:28 p.m. on Sunday, February 7 in Dolphin Stadium, it will be the tenth time that the biggest event in pro football, or even all of sports, will have been played in our backyard. That’s a record breaking tenth time, with the city of New Orleans scheduled to catch up in 2013.
“The NFL is at home here,” states Super Bowl Host Committee Chairman Rodney Barreto . And it sure does. Each of the games played here in South Florida has a special distinction.
Let’s start with Super Bowl II, except it wasn’t officially called the “Super Bowl” back then. The first two meetings between the champions of the American and National Football Leagues bore the label “AFL-NFL Football Championship.”
Rolls right off the tongue, doesn’t it? Imagine inviting friends over for your NFL-AFL Championship party. For “Super Bowl,” we must thank Lamar Hunt, then owner of the Kansas City Chiefs, who saw his daughter playing with a toy called a Super Ball. He changed “ball” to “bowl” and there you have it.
The game played on January 15, 1968, was a rather routine affair won for the second consecutive year by the Green Bay Packers, this time over the Oakland Raiders by a score of 33-14 (Or XXXIII to XIV). What sets it apart occurred afterward, when Vince Lombardi was carried off the field for the last time as the Packers coach. He had announced his retirement before the game, though he would return to coach the Washington Redskins after a year away from the football field.
The most significant Super Bowl was played the very next year in Miami. Three days before the game, played January 19, 1969, New York Jets quarterback Joe Namath responded to a taunt from the crowd as he picked up the Player of the Year Award from the Miami Touchdown Club by guaranteeing his Jets would beat the NFL’s Baltimore Colts.
“I never would have said it if that loudmouth hadn’t popped off,” Namath is quoted by the Pro Football Hall of Fame. After talking the talk, Namath walked the walk by leading the Jets to the 16-7 victory, a game that propelled the upstart AFL to equal footing with the older, established NFL.
Super Bowl V, the next one played in Miami, was notable for the frustrations that both the Baltimore Colts and Dallas Cowboys, displayed. Played on January 18, 1971, the two teams combined for 14 penalties and 11 turnovers until it was decided by Jim O’Brien’s field goal with five seconds left. The 16-13 Colts victory would remain the closest Super Bowl played for two decades, until the New York Giants edged the Buffalo Bills by one point in Super Bowl XXV.
Super Bowl X, played in the Orange Bowl on January 18, 1976, ended a string of humdrum games. The Pittsburgh Steelers won 21-17 after a remarkable performance by receiver Lynn Swann. Swann’s diving catch near midfield in the second quarter stood as the Super Bowl’s signature catch for years, until David Tyree pinned a throw from Eli Manning against his helmet in the New York Giants’ winning drive against the New England Patriots two years ago.
The Steelers and Cowboys were back at it again in Super Bowl XIII, played on January 21, 1979. This time it wasn’t a catch that was to be remembered but a drop. Tight end Jackie Smith, who is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, became open in the end zone for Dallas in the third quarter with Pittsburgh leading by only seven points. But Smith began to slide as Roger Staubach let loose, and his bottom was on the ground when the ball bounced off his chest. The Cowboys settled for a field goal instead of a touchdown and eventually lost by the four-point difference, 35-31.
After a 10-year hiatus, the game returned to South Florida on January 22, 1989, as Super Bowl XXIII was played for the first time in Joe Robbie Stadium. With his team trailing by three points and the three-minute mark approaching, Joe Montana guided the San Francisco 49ers on an 11-play, 92-yard drive for the winning score in a 20-16 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals. At one point during the drive, Montana looked up from the huddle, pointed to the back of the end zone, and said, “Isn’t that John Candy over there?” The game also was the last for another legendary coach, Bill Walsh of the 49ers.
In the three Super Bowls that have been played in South Florida since, we have witnessed 49ers quarterback Steve Young passing for a Super Bowl record six touchdowns in a 49-26 win over the San Diego Chargers in Super Bowl XXIX; Denver Broncos quarterback John Elway passing for 336 yards and running for a touchdown in his last game, a 34-19 win over the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl XXXIII; and the Chicago Bears’ Devin Hester, a rookie out of the University of Miami, becoming the first player ever to run the opening kickoff back for a Super Bowl touchdown in Super Bowl XLI. The matchup between the Bears and Indianapolis Colts was the first to feature two African-American head coaches, Tony Dungy of the Colts and Lovie Smith of the Bears. The Colts got the win 29-17.
What memories await us in Super Bowl XLIII? Can’t say now. You can bet they will be special as well as Super.
