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Super Bowl: 50 memorable moments

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KING OF POP
In hindsight, perhaps only the King of Pop could permanently redefine the halftime show in only 12 minutes. After 26 years of marching bands and other small-potatoes acts, the NFL shot for the moon in 1993. Michael Jackson emerged at the center of the Rose Bowl and delivered. The halftime ratings drop-off of prior years disappeared, and the NFL would never again concede intermission to other channels.


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TITANS COME UP JUST SHORT
Down seven points with 10 seconds left and no timeouts in Super Bowl XXXIV, the Titans had one shot to score from the Rams’ 10-yard line. On the final play, Titans receiver Kevin Dyson made the catch in-stride, but a quick tackle by Rams linebacker Mike Jones left Dyson’s outstretched hand — and the ball — one yard short.

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U2’s STIRRING TRIBUTE
As the NFL prepared for Super Bowl XXXVI after 9/11, halftime posed no easy answers. Hardly any acts were even touring, and striking the right tone was a huge concern. But U2 agreed to reprise a Sept. 11 tribute from its Madison Square Garden tour stop, and it struck just the right note during the game. “Sleep, sleep tonight, and may your dreams, be realized.”

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NORWOOD MISSES WIDE RIGHT
Trailing the Giants by one point with 8 seconds left, Bills kicker Scott Norwood lined up to attempt a 47-yard field goal to win Super Bowl XXV. His kick had the distance, but as Al Michaels — calling the game for ABC — described, it was “no good, wide right.” It would prove to be the first of four consecutive Super Bowls the Bills would drop.

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PATRIOTS STEAL A VICTORY
The Seahawks found themselves at the one-yard line trailing the Patriots by four with 26 seconds left in Super Bowl XLIX. With Marshawn Lynch having already run for 102 yards, the play call seemed obvious to everyone — except Seattle. In a move still debated today, Seattle attempted a pass. The Pats’ Malcolm Butler intercepted, ending Seattle’s chances of being repeat champions.


‘MEAN JOE’ HAS A COKE
This extension of the “Have a Coke and a Smile” ad campaign created by McCann-Erickson aired earlier in the 1979 season but became widely popular after airing during Super Bowl XIV, spawning a number of international versions and plenty of pop culture references.


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WHITNEY BRINGS DOWN THE HOUSE
When Super Bowl XXV arrived 10 days after the Gulf War started, most NFL minds were focused on what could go wrong. Today, we remember what went very, very right. Whitney Houston and the Florida Orchestra transformed “The Star-Spangled Banner” from routine fanfare into a tear-inducing, patriotism-stirring platinum record. Sales of the performance cleared $531,000 at the time for charity, and it was released again 10 years later to raise money for victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

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FOURTH-QUARTER FIREWORKS
Despite being a low-scoring affair for three quarters, Super Bowl XXXVIII between the Patriots and Panthers ended in a flurry — a Super Bowl record 37 points in the fourth quarter. The back-and-forth scoring kept fans on the edge of their seats until Patriots kicker Adam Vinatieri nailed a 41-yard field goal with 4 seconds left to seal the deal.

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WARDROBE MALFUNCTION
Justin Timberlake altered a lot more than Janet Jackson’s wardrobe. When he exposed one of Jackson’s breasts during Super Bowl XXXVIII, the collective freak-out reverberated far and wide. The Federal Communications Commission launched a crackdown on indecency; CBS, MTV and the performers all scrambled to avoid blame; MTV was blacklisted from the Super Bowl; and CBS spent eight years fighting a $550,000 indecency fine.

BULLETPROOF
The concept was simple: a sharpshooter shoots a Master Lock padlock, and it still doesn’t open, proving that it’s “Tough Under Fire.” After debuting during Super Bowl VIII, a version of the ad ran during the next 21 Super Bowls, making Master Lock a household name.

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MASS TRANSIT MESS

The New York/New Jersey Super Bowl Host Committee advertised Super Bowl XLVIII as the first “mass transit” big game, and they were absolutely right in the worst sense of the word. Planners expected 14,000 fans to use New Jersey Transit trains, with most of the others taking buses. But more than 30,000 fans rode the rails, leading to multihour backups that won’t be soon forgotten.


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‘BROADWAY JOE’ GUARANTEES IT
A brash young Joe Namath brushed aside oddsmakers who predicted that the Colts would rout his Jets, instead guaranteeing a win in Super Bowl III. The Jets backed it up with a 16-7 win, and as Namath ran to the locker room, he provided one final iconic moment, holding up a finger to signal No. 1.

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SHARING THE AIRWAVES

With CBS being the NFL’s exclusive network, and NBC the AFL’s, coverage of the first Super Bowl could have come down to a coin toss. Instead, the networks simulcast the game, the only time that arrangement has been used. Since then, the event has been rotated among networks, with this weekend’s game being CBS’s 19th Super Bowl broadcast.


DOT-COM AD EXPLOSION
Nineteen percent of the ad revenue generated during the 2000 Super Bowl broadcast came from dot-coms, a total not seen before, or since. Who can forget Pets.com and its sock puppet? However, just as fast as the dot-com boom turned bust, most of those advertising in 2000 were one-game-and-done.


CHRYSLER STOKES CONTROVERSY

Starring Clint Eastwood and introducing Chrysler’s “Imported From Detroit” slogan, the two-minute-long “Halftime in America” commercial boldly spoke to the U.S. economy and the rebirth of the automotive industry, without once referencing a Chrysler vehicle. But in 2012, only a few years removed from the industry’s bailout during an election year, the commercial quickly became a political talking point.

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ICE, ICE BABY
Super Bowl XXXIV was scheduled for a domed stadium in the heart of the South. Who cares about weather? Well, a severe ice storm crippled Atlanta’s transportation infrastructure just two days before the big game, and threw vendors, fans, police and sponsors for a loop. The game went off without a hitch, but the surrounding hullabaloo was subdued. The memory has not entirely faded as Atlanta bids again to host the 2019 or 2020 game.

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INDY GETS ZIPPY
Indianapolis won rave reviews when it closed city streets near Lucas Oil Stadium to create Super Bowl Boulevard. Aping the Olympic Village concept, the NFL and local organizers centralized performance stages, TV broadcast booths and sponsor activations. And who can forget the zip line? The boulevard concept was so popular, the NFL would go on to require all future host cities to plan a similar effort of their own.

JOE NAMATH GETS CREAMED
Super Bowl MVP just four years prior, Joe Namath was billed as the star of this overly suggestive advertisement for shaving cream, but perhaps the 1973 spot is most famous for introducing Super Bowl viewers to another burgeoning sex symbol — Farrah Fawcett — well before “Charlie’s Angels” or her iconic poster.

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NOWHERE TO SIT
Everything’s bigger in Texas, but Jerry Jones’ outsized ambitions backfired during the Super Bowl’s first trip to North Texas. Seeking to set attendance records at Super Bowl XLV, Cowboys Stadium added auxiliary seating, but the additions were deemed unsafe. Moments before kickoff, more than 1,000 fans discovered they couldn’t use their tickets. Years of damaging bad press later, a federal jury ordered the NFL to pay $76,000 in damages.

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A SUPER IDEA
The name for that new game between the two champions of the AFL and NFL? For starters, simply the “AFL-NFL Championship Game.” But as the legend goes, Lamar Hunt, owner of the AFL’s Kansas City Chiefs, started using the term Super Bowl during the merger meetings, inspired by his children playing with a Super Ball toy. With further use and mentions in the media, the name caught on, and it became official beginning with the third annual game.

APPLE CHANNELS BIG BROTHER
Apple called on Ridley Scott to direct a 60-second spot to introduce its Macintosh personal computer. The ad ran nationally only once, during the third quarter of Super Bowl XVII, but the spot’s presentation of a dystopian future still garners praise as one of the best Super Bowl commercials of all time. And Apple let the world know that the rules to computing no longer applied.

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LEFT IN THE DARK
In 2013, a power outage at the beginning of the second half put Super Bowl XLVII at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in the dark. Crews scrambled, and play stopped, for 34 painstaking minutes until the juice was flowing again.

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A BOOM IN BLOWOUTS
The world’s best sports marketing minds can’t do much about boring games, and the Super Bowls of the late 1980s and early 1990s were, by and large, horrific duds. It started with the Raiders’ 38-9 shellacking of the Redskins in Super Bowl XVIII, and eight of the 10 games of the ’80s were blowouts. In fact, from 1984 to 1995, only three out of 12 Super Bowls were decided by one possession.

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STAR TREATMENT
The Super Bowl had already established itself as the fulcrum of the sports calendar by 1982, but it hadn’t yet become the biggest thing in entertainment. Motown legend Diana Ross pushed it in that direction when she became the first blue-chip pop star to sing the national anthem. Bad weather nationwide drove TV ratings through the roof, and viewers saw — and would never forget — what happens when the NFL and pop culture work together.

BUD BOWL KICKS OFF
Debuting during Super Bowl XXIII in 1989, Bud Bowl was a silly, yet novel idea: a series of commercials about beer bottles playing a football game that unfolded during the Super Bowl itself. While oft satirized, the stop-motion saga was perhaps the first example of an advertiser creating something bigger at the Super Bowl than just another 30-second commercial.

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VINCE LOMBARDI TROPHY
The name for that new game between the two champions of the AFL and NFL? For starters, simply the “AFL-NFL Championship Game.” But as the legend goes, Lamar Hunt, owner of the AFL’s Kansas City Chiefs, started using the term Super Bowl during the merger meetings, inspired by his children playing with a Super Ball toy. With further use and mentions in the media, the name caught on, and it became official beginning with the third annual game.

Since 1996 the trophy has been presented to the winning Super Bowl team on the field, instead of in the locker room.

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‘I’M GOING TO DISNEY WORLD!’
It seemed like simply a candid remark when Giants quarterback Phil Simms announced “I’m going to Disney World!” after winning Super Bowl XXI in 1987. Instead it was the launch of a Disney campaign to promote the company’s Florida and California theme parks. Since then, the phrase has become a marketing tradition, with Disney paying top athletes to participate and to visit one of its theme parks. “You’ve just won the Super Bowl, what are you going to do next?”

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TRAGEDY BRINGS CHANGES
After the 9/11 terrorist attacks delayed the entire season a week, there was no obvious answer for how to handle Super Bowl XXXVI. For three years, New Orleans’ entire tourism schedule had been built around a Jan. 27 game. After considering numerous options, the NFL declared Feb. 3 as the new Super Sunday, cajoling the National Automobile Dealers Association’s convention into switching dates at the Superdome. That cleared the way for one of the most emotional Super Bowls to date.

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DOUG WILLIAMS’ MILESTONE
Doug Williams entered the season as a backup quarterback, but after the Redskins made him the starter, he guided the team to the playoffs and Super Bowl XXII against the Broncos. In doing so, Williams became the first black starting quarterback in the Super Bowl, and delivered an MVP-winning performance that included four touchdown passes in the second quarter.


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TAKING A STAND
The NFL had scheduled Super Bowl XXVII to be played at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Ariz., but issues with the state’s lack of recognition of Martin Luther King Jr. Day caused the league to reconsider, take a new vote and move the event to Pasadena. Arizona voters approved the holiday in the 1992 election, and the Super Bowl returned to Arizona in 1996 for Super Bowl XXX.

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DOLPHINS REACH PERFECTION
Super Bowl VII was a forgettable game with an unforgettable champion. The Dolphins took an early lead, and the Redskins never really mounted a challenge (save for a late freebie on Garo Yepremian’s infamous gaffe). But in the workmanlike victory, Don Shula’s team nailed down a perfect 17-0 record and a place in NFL history.

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ARE YOU EXPERIENCED?
NFL Experience helped move the Super Bowl from a game to an event. First held in 1992 at the Minneapolis Convention Center prior to Super Bowl XXVI, this is where fans can meet former players, enjoy interactive attractions, shop for merchandise and take in other displays. NFL Experience has become a Super Bowl mainstay and, along the way, encouraged other leagues to build out similar attractions around their major events.

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CALLING THE ACTION
John Madden is the only broadcaster to work Super Bowls on all four networks. He and Pat Summerall each called 11 overall, more than any other on-air talent to date, and worked side-by-side on eight of them.

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TIE A YELLOW RIBBON
In 1981, America was celebrating the release of 52 U.S. hostages who had been held in Iran. As a fitting welcome home at Super Bowl XV, the NFL distributed yellow ribbons to fans attending the game and attached a giant yellow bow to the front of the Superdome.

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HONORING THE BEST
The Super Bowl received the red carpet treatment beginning in 2012 with the launch of “NFL Honors,” a TV awards ceremony held the night before the game. Packed with celebs from football and the entertainment industry, the ceremony provides a star-studded affair for presenting awards such as Coach of the Year and the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year.

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AD RATES HIT OVERDRIVE
Super Bowl XIX in 1985 was the first time that a minute of advertising during the game topped $1 million. From there, the sky has been the limit. A 30-second spot crossed the $1 million mark at Super Bowl XXIX in 1995. This year, CBS sought a record $5 million per 30-second spot.

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DA BEARS
If you’re going to record a rap song called the “Super Bowl Shuffle” before you even make the playoffs, there’s really only one acceptable follow-up: to win Super Bowl XX by 36 points. The 1985 Chicago Bears had no weaknesses, outscoring their regular-season opponents by 16 points a game and recording two postseason shutouts. In hindsight, the image of William “Refrigerator” Perry rumbling over an outmatched Patriots defense to make it 44-3 says it all: There was no stopping Da Bears.

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MEDIA DAY GOES PUBLIC
For the first 45 years of the Super Bowl, Media Day was a closed affair — just for players, coaches and credentialed media. As the event evolved into a day of both silly and serious questions, the NFL opened it up to fans, letting them watch from the stands as Media Day unfolded. The league offered up 7,300 tickets to fans for $25 each, and quickly sold out.

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PARTY WITH THE COMMISH
In the days leading up to Super Bowl I, NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle decided to have the first Commissioner’s Party. While today literally dozens of sanctioned parties are in play at each Super Bowl, the Commissioner’s Party continues, attracting the most influential and high-profile people in the game.

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TAKING IT INDOORS
Super Bowl XII in 1978 marked the first time the NFL took the event indoors, holding the game in the Superdome. Previous games in New Orleans, held outdoors at Tulane Stadium, had been dogged by poor weather. But as luck would have it, while Super Bowl XII got underway inside, temps outside were in the balmy 70s.

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KATY PERRY GIVES US ‘LEFT SHARK’
Katy Perry’s halftime performance last year was the most watched in Super Bowl history, drawing 118.5 million viewers and beating a record that had stood since 1991. And her performance with a pair of dancing sharks lit up social media and kept the buzz going for weeks afterward, thanks to one shark that got out of step with the choreography. “Left Shark,” as he would be dubbed, wound up on everything from T-shirts to an ESPN commercial.

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NOT-SO-COOL RECEPTION
ing Super Bowl XLVIII to the country’s largest market. The Northeast had already endured a rough winter in 2014, but the trend abruptly reversed course when the teams and fans arrived. By kickoff at MetLife Stadium, the thermometer read 49 degrees, only the third-coldest Super Bowl on record. Mere hours after the game ended, though, a snowstorm dumped nine inches on the New York City region.

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RAISING THE BAR ON VIEWERSHIP
Each new Super Bowl seems to set a new standard in television viewership. Last year’s game between the Patriots and Seahawks, for example, averaged 114.4 million viewers to make it the most viewed telecast in U.S. television history. That was the fifth time in six years that the broadcast had set a new mark. Yet there’s still one number to beat: Super Bowl XVI in 1982 between the 49ers and Bengals earned a 49.1 rating, the highest rating yet.

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STEEL CURTAIN
When the Super Bowl was born, the concept must have seemed irrelevant to the sad-sack Pittsburgh franchise. But a new head coach and a remarkable run of draft picks quickly turned the Steelers into Super Bowl royalty. The Steel Curtain and Terry Bradshaw had a dominating run, winning four out of six Lombardi trophies from 1975 to 1980.

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ULTIMATE MOVIE SETTING

In 1976, the NFL allowed Paramount Pictures to shoot extensive footage of Super Bowl X at Miami’s Orange Bowl for the film “Black Sunday.” Goodyear allowed the use of all three of its U.S.-based blimps, but didn’t allow its “Wingfoot” logo to be used in ads or the poster for the film. Thus, the words “Super Bowl” are featured in place of the logo on the blimp in movie posters.

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PACKING THEM IN
The largest crowd was 103,985 at Super Bowl XIV, which was played in 1980 at the Rose Bowl. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones made it clear that he wanted to top that record when AT&T Stadium played host to the game in 2011, but a blunder with temporary seating caused the venue to fall short of the mark. To date, more than 3.8 million people have attended Super Bowls.

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CRUISING ALONG
Super Bowl XXXIX saw the big game coming to its smallest city yet — one that fell well short of the NFL’s stipulated 17,500 luxury hotel rooms for guests. To make up the gap, the host committee arranged for five cruise ships to dock. With a few drops of the anchor, Jacksonville added 3,667 rooms.

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I’M A SURVIVOR

The power of the Super Bowl is reflected in the boost it provides for programming that immediately follows the game. In 2001, CBS launched the second season of “Survivor” after Super Bowl XXXV, pulling in 45 million viewers and making it the most watched postgame program since a “Friends” episode in 1996. “Survivor” remains part of the CBS lineup.

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49ERS GO FOR 5
Bill Walsh and Eddie DeBartolo Jr. built a 49ers dynasty to last, cashing in with an armful of Lombardi trophies in the ’80s and ’90s. San Francisco wins kept coming even as the lineups evolved, not even stopping for a change at the top. Walsh’s hand-picked successor, George Seifert, kept up the tradition after Walsh retired, beating Denver 55-10 in his first year.

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THE FIRST BIG MOMENT
The NFL had fended off a number of other football leagues in its four decades of operation, but the American Football League’s arrival in 1960 created a true rival for both fans and players. In 1966, the two reached a merger agreement that would take effect in the 1970 season. But before then? The champions of the two leagues would meet to determine the world’s best team, in what would become the Super Bowl.

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