Super Bowl Trivia
• The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather than the year it was held. The NFL season spreads over two calendar years, so identifying the games by the year of the Super Bowl could cause some confusion. For example, the Pittsburgh Steelers, winners of Super Bowl XL are the champions of the 2005 NFL season, even though the championship game was played in February 2006.
• In 1994, the 49ers became the first team to wear a throwback jersey during the Super Bowl. Since it was the league's 75th season, every team wore a throwback jersey during the season and San Francisco decided to continue to wear their jerseys all the way through the playoffs and into Super Bowl XXIX. The jerseys they wore paid tribute to the 1957 team.
• In 2000, the St. Louis Rams were the first NFL team who plays their home games in a fully enclosed stadium, the TWA Dome (now called the Edward Jones Dome), to win the Super Bowl.
• In the months leading up to Super Bowl XXX (or Super Bowl Thirty), some Internet proxy servers were blocking the web site for the upcoming event. Many proxy servers' filters were configured to block the text string "XXX" whenever occurring to prevent access to pornography. As a result, additional settings were necessary to grant exceptions for other uses of "XXX".
• Super Bowl XXXVI was originally scheduled to be played on January 27, 2002. But the game was moved back one week to February 3, 2002 because of the September 11, 2001 attacks. This was the first Super Bowl to be played in February. With the exception of Super Bowl XXXVII on January 26, 2003, all of the succeeding Super Bowls have been scheduled for February. Also, because of the attacks, the Super Bowl is now a National Special Security Event (NSSE).
• Super Bowl XXXVI was also the first Super Bowl to be decided by a score on the last play of the game. The winning play was a 48-yard field goal kicked by Adam Vinatieri of the New England Patriots to lift them to a 20-17 victory over the St. Louis Rams.
• Super Bowl XXXIX was the first such game to be tied after three quarters of play.
• The Pittsburgh Steelers were the first AFC team to ever win a Super Bowl (XL) that was broadcast on ABC (The NFC is currently 6-1). Previously, the closest an AFC team had come to winning the Super Bowl on that network was when the Buffalo Bills lost to the New York Giants 20-19 in Super Bowl XXV.
• The NFC won 13 Super Bowls in a row from 1985 to 1997, starting with Super Bowl XIX. The AFC broke the streak in 1998 in Super Bowl XXXII when Denver beat the defending champion Packers.
• The last Super Bowl to start at 3:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time was Super Bowl XI which was played in Pasadena. This is also the last Super Bowl which was played outside to not end in dusk. Since the early 1980s Super Bowls have been starting at around 6 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. The kickoff has been since moved back to 6:30 p.m. Eastern starting with Super Bowl XXXVII.
• Overall, nine teams have advanced to the Super Bowl after entering the playoffs as wild card teams (teams that entered the playoffs without winning its division). They include the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl IV, the Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowl X, the Oakland Raiders in Super Bowl XV, the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XX, the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XXVII, the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXXII, the Tennessee Titans in Super Bowl XXXIV, the Baltimore Ravens in Super Bowl XXXV, and the Pittsburgh Steelers, the only sixth-seeded team to make it, in Super Bowl XL. Wild card teams are 5-4 in the Super Bowl, with the Chiefs, Raiders, Broncos, Ravens, and Steelers winning their respective games.
• Super Bowl Indicator, an indicator based on the belief that a Super Bowl win for a team from the old AFL (AFC division) foretells a decline in the stock market for the coming year, and that a win for a team from the old NFL (NFC division) means the stock market will be up for the year. This indicator has been surprisingly accurate (around 85% correct) over the past years.
• The infamous "I'm Going to Disney World!" Advertising campaign did not take place at Super Bowl XXXIX for the first time since it started at Super Bowl XXI, although Disney did run an ad several times during the game showing several players from both teams practicing the catch-phrase.
• No Super Bowl game has ever gone into overtime play. The two closest instances to overtime play were in Super Bowl V, when the Baltimore Colts kicked a field goal at the end of regulation play to win 16-13 over the Dallas Cowboys, and in Super Bowl XXXIV when St. Louis Rams linebacker Mike Jones tackled Tennessee Titans wide receiver Kevin Dyson at the 1-yard line at the end of regulation, preventing a game-tying touchdown.
Queens is a crescent-shaped borough traversing the width of Long Island and including two of the major New York City area airports, LaGuardia (LGA) and John F. Kennedy International (JFK). It also carries the largest ethnic diversity in its area of any region in the world, divided into small enclaves. Jackson Heights, for example, includes a huge Indian area, followed by a Colombian area, and then a Mexican area. Each offers a wide array of authentic shops, native-style cuisine, and festivals modified only slightly by the generally colder New York City experience.
The geographical center of New York City is actually in Queens. Near this location, investors held the 1939 and 1964 World's Fairs. The area still includes an interesting museum and some architectural and artistic relics of the events (including the Unisphere, a 300 ton spherical grid of steel sculpted to look like the globe - as seen in Men In Black). The area is now called Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. The northern end includes Shea Stadium and the U.S. Tennis Open stadium; further north still one can walk along the edge of a marina in Long Island Sound. The park also includes a science museum, a zoo, pedal-boats, and frequent special events.
For information on how to walk or bicycle to and from Queens, check http://www.transalt.org/. Except for the Whitestone and Throgs Neck bridges, all the bridges can be crossed by pedestrians and bicycles. Be prepared, however, for long walks - and don't forget that Queens is very, very big and not well-designed for a walking tour. Do not attempt this without a map!
Sadly, most Queens visitors spend their visit on a bus to or from LaGuardia Airport or JFK. A proper tour of Queens is worthwhile. It can be conducted by a chauffeur-driven limousine service, as the roads can be tough to navigate. Much of Queens (but unlike Manhattan, not all of it), including many of the most interesting parts, can be seen by subway. A trip on the 7 train, made nationally famous by the contempt of former Atlanta Braves pitcher John Rocker, is a cultural experience in and of itself. The 7 runs elevated through most of Queens, so you'll be able to get a good sense of much of the borough through its windows. A good tour of Queens should include at least three meals in three different ethnic enclaves.
Other subways for getting around (and in and out of) Queens include the A, E, F, G, M, N, R, V & W. The Long Island Rail Road makes several stops in Queens: the main line runs through central Queens and the Port Washington line runs along the north shore (including a stop in Flushing).
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Why use a limousine service in New York?
A limousine service can easily be substituted for a car service. The comfort and safety of having a chauffeur-driven limousine service is more valuable when traveling in and around New York. There are practically hundreds of limousine services in New York.
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