Tomorrow is Super Bowl Sunday. I forget what Roman Numeral Super Bowl it is. I am old enough to remember the first Super Bowl - seems like I was maybe 17 or 18 back when Bart Star and Coach Lombardi's Green Bay Packers WERE the Super Bowl. I wish they just used regular numbers to identify the Super Bowls now. It was kind of cute in the early years, but I confess that I have forgotten most of what I learned about Roman Numerals in the fifth grade!
As usual, I will not be able to watch most (or at least the first half) of the game. I kind of hate that this year since it should be a good game, start to finish. In my head, I hope the New England Patriots can "run the table" and win the Vince Lombardi Trophy to cap off a perfect season. In my heart, however, I have a soft spot for the underdog New York Giants. It's hard to root for any team from New York - much less consider them the underdog - but this edition of the Giants fit the bill. They have made it to this lofty pinnacle as a wild card team, over achieving throughout the playoffs to face Tom Brady led "Goliath" of the NFL. Peyton's little brother Eli is in the spotlight this year, while Peyton and Archie and Mom watch from the stands. Who would have thought that after last season's results?
Anyhow, we're pretty proud around these parts on this Super Bowl Sunday. Our local favorite Marshall University, boasts five (count 'em - Five!) former Thundering Herd players on the Super Bowl rosters this year. Only the University of Miami boasts more former players (7) in the Super Bowl than our Herd. Former Marshall stars Troy Brown, Randy Moss, Chris Hanson, and Jason Rader are all on the Patriots' roster. The Giants' backfield features former Marshall running back Amhad Bradshaw, who has had a great rookie season after forgoing his senior year at Marshall and being chosen in the final round of last year's NFL draft. We certainly wish the best of luck to all of the Sons of Marshall as they perform in the brightest football spotlight of all.
There will be another local boy on the field in Glendale, Arizona tomorrow, but he won't be on television. He's my baby brother, Carl. That's him in the photo above with me and Dad at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. Carl is the Executive Director of the Georgia Dome which is the football home of the Atlanta Falcons. Although that is his full time job, Carl has contracted out to the NFL to do security work for the league at the Super Bowl for a number of years now. He's been on the field for a number of the big events in Super Bowl's past (including Janet Jackson's infamous "wardrobe malfunction" - although he says he didn't see it). He'll dismiss the question with a simple, "I was working at the time".
Carl's been in Phoenix all week, doing whatever it is he does for the NFL during all the events leading up to the big game. He'll get back into Atlanta late on Monday night for what's left of his wife, Sarah's, birthday. They just celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary last month. Hardly seems possible that it's been 20 years since they were married, but time does fly. What really seems strange is that he was only 10 years old when Linda and I tied the knot way back in the day!
It would be nice to be with Carl tomorrow. With all the activity and hype going on this week, I hope he had the chance to meet some of the guys from Marshall. The Super Bowl is probably "old hat" to him after all these years, but I would sure love to have the opportunity to be on the field for this one.
Heck, I would just like the opportunity to see the whole game on TV!
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