The Super Bowl isn't just the most anticipated sporting event of the year; it's a cultural
touchstone, with some people even wanting to make the following Monday a national holiday,
just so we can recover.
So, how did we get here?
Here's a look at the untold truth of the Super Bowl.
Origins
In the late 1950's, Texas oilman Lamar Hunt wanted to bring an NFL team back to Texas,
but the league gave him a hard no.
So, like any rich guy, Hunt decided to make his own league, and in 1960, the eight team
American Football League launched.
While NFL purists mocked the new league, fans quickly jumped aboard thanks in part to a
more modern game featuring lots of passing.
With the NFL fearing a bidding war for players, they proposed a merger instead, and in 1966
the leagues agreed that the winners of each league would meet in one game to determine
the ultimate champion.
And they even had a catchy name for it: The AFL-NFL World Championship Game.
Wait, what?
Okay, so that was the official name to start with, but unofficially, it was being referred
to as the Super Bowl right from day one.
Though Hunt is usually gets credit for coming up with the name, it's a matter of debate
who exactly invented the name.
Either way, by Super Bowl 4, the name of the game had been officially changed to the one
we know and love now.
Hungover hero
Nowadays, professional sports are serious business.
But back in the day, football wasn't even a full time job for most players, who often
got a second gig during the summer to pay the bills.
So it's no wonder that Green Bay receiver Max McGee didn't take the first Super Bowl
too seriously, especially since he was a backup who rarely played.
Instead of preparing for the big game, he spent the night out partying with two flight
attendants, and warned starter Boyd Dowler not to get hurt because he still was nursing
a hangover at game time.
Of course, Dowler did get hurt, and the rest is history: McGee ended up with seven receptions
for 138 yards and two touchdowns, leading the Packers to the first ever Super Bowl win.
We're guessing he celebrated as hard as he played.
Rise and fall of an unknown star
Perhaps the most unlikely Super Bowl star of all time was Timmy Smith.
An unheralded fifth round draft pick from Texas Tech, the Washington rookie saw only
a handful of carries over the 1987 season.
In the playoffs, though, started George Rogers struggled, so the morning of the Super Bowl,
coach Joe Gibbs surprised Smith by naming him the starter.
He responded with a game for the ages, rushing for a Super Bowl record 204 yards to go along
with two touchdowns as the Redskins cruised to a 42-10 win.
Unfortunately, this was not the start of a great career.
Smith faded quickly after his unbelievable performance in the Super Bowl.
He was out of football by 1990, and started running with the wrong crowd.
In 2005, he was arrested for cocaine trafficking and served 18 months in prison.
The Super Bowl Shuffle
The 1986 Chicago Bears are recalled as one of the greatest teams ever.
They finished the regular season 15-1, and in Super Bowl 20 crushed the New England Patriots
46-10.
Beside the Vince Lombardi Trophy, though, the team almost collected another major award,
as they actually earned a Grammy nomination on the way to the NFL title.
Yes, crazy as it sounds, their novelty rap "Super Bowl Shuffle" hit #41 on the Billboard
charts while landing a Grammy nod for "Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal."
Unfortunately for the Bears, an obscure artist named Prince won instead.
But hey, at least the award didn't go to the Patriots for their terrible rebuttal song,
"New England, the Patriots, and We."
Look, we're going to level with you - this song is so bad we're not going to play a clip
from it.
Really, it's that bad.
Look it up yourself if you don't believe us.
The Fridge
You already know the Super Bowl is a heavily gambled event.
Besides the traditional bets, there's a host of other crazy prop bets one could take.
There's "will the coin flip heads or tails," "which team will get the ball first," "how
many times will a player dab" and the immortal "will Peyton Manning cry" from Super Bowl
50.
That tradition began in the days leading up to Super Bowl 20, when Vegas bookie Jimmy
Vaccaro laid 40 to 1 odds against defensive lineman William "Refrigerator" Perry scoring
a rushing touchdown on offense.
It captured the imagination of the public, and so many bets poured in the line eventually
dropped to just 2-1.
Naturally, Bears coach Mike Ditka decided to snub Hall of Fame running back Walter Payton
in his only Super Bowl appearance and instead handed the ball off to The Fridge, who did
indeed score a touchdown - making a lot of bettors very happy, and launching a goofy
Super Bowl tradition.
I'm going to Disney World!
Back when Michael Eisner was the head of Disney, he and his wife dined with Dick Rutan and
Jeana Yeager, a duo who just became the first to fly non-stop around the world.
Asked what they planned next, Rutan deadpanned, ""I'm going to Disneyland."
After a good chuckle, Eisner's wife Jane said, "You know, that's a good slogan."
Eisner agreed, and quickly signed five figure deals with the starting quarterbacks for Super
Bowl 21, Phil Simms and John Elway, to make sure that no matter who won, they'd deliver
the line "I'm going to Disney World!"
After the Giants won, Simms nearly forgot, but someone reminded him as he jogged off
the field, and he delivered the now immortal line.
"Phil Simms!
You just won the Super Bowl.
What are you doing next?"
"I'm going to go to Disney World!"
These days, Disney signs every player on both teams to deals, allowing them to choose just
who says it - and who doesn't say it, like at Super Bowl 37, when they passed over the
game's MVP, controversial Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis, in favor of quarterback Trent Dilfer.
1984
It's the greatest Super Bowl commercial of all time — just ask every listicle ever
written.
For Super Bowl 18, which aired in January of 1984, Apple procured Ridley Scott to direct
a commercial to introduce the new Macintosh computer.
The ad, which used imagery from George Orwell's classic novel "1984" to pillory the homogenization
of the personal computer market, was an immediate success.
Then, the commercial passed into legend, as it allegedly never aired again.
However, contrary to popular belief, it did actually air more than once - including a
30-second version that aired weeks before the Super Bowl in select markets including
West Palm Beach, Florida.
Why West Palm Beach?
Because IBM's computer headquarters was in that market.
Score one for Steve Jobs!
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