It is Super Bowl Sunday …
…the 50th such in NFL history … though not, as some commentators have been saying, “the 50th Anniversary of the Super Bowl” … as it is actually the 49th “anniversary” of the Super Bowl, which was played for the first time in 1967 … though not, at that time, even called the Super Bowl … the first and second of these games were called the NFL-AFL Championship … it wasn’t until the 3rd edition in 1969 that the name “Super Bowl” was applied.
That first Super Bowl, by the way, was played in the Los Angeles Coliseum … among those who filled the Coliseum to about one-half of its capacity (unimaginable today) were my Dad and brother Jerry.
This is also a good day to reflect on the many great players who have entertained football fans in the Super Bowl … and the many great plays we have enjoyed seeing them make … which raises the question … what is the greatest play in Super Bowl History?
There have, of course, been many great Super Bowl plays …
… game-winning touchdown passes … like Joe Montana’s to John Taylor …
… in the 24-20 San Francisco 49’ers win over the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl XXIII …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_lCmBvYMRs
… great touchdown runs … like Marcus Allen’s 74 yarder …
… in the 38-9 win by the Los Angeles Raiders over the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl XVII …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FngI6dnrBjY
… great defensive plays … like the 100 yard interception return by Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison …
… in his team’s 27-23 win over the Arizona Cardinals in Super Bowl XLIII …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGYS6IfLZC4
… incredible catches … like Lynn Swann’s …
… for the Steelers in Super Bowl X …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4FAJ4Bw9-M
… and David Tyree’s “helmet catch” …
…for the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLII …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGSyzXKy6_I
…strange plays … like John Elway’s “helicopter play” …
… for the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXXII …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JffIbLeOa0M
… and the touchdown run by William “The Refrigerator” Perry …
… for the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XX …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITeozxHXzVE
… or even the performance of the Star Spangled Banner by Whitney Houston …
… before Super Bowl XXV in 1991 …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITeozxHXzVE
… the flat out best rendition ever … by anyone … of our national anthem.
Great plays all … but none of them, in my opinion, was the greatest play in Super Bowl history … on the contrary, the greatest play in Super Bowl history was made late in the game … by a player on the losing side of one of the most lop-sided Super Bowl games ever.
It was a play that made no meaningful difference in the final result … but which demonstrated what it means to never give up … to give your all on every play … and to be an example to all of how this game … and any game … and life itself … should be played.
The game … Super Bowl XXVII … won by the Dallas Cowboys 52-17 over the Buffalo Bills …
… the setting … 4th down for the Bills late in the game … QB Frank Reich is sacked and fumbles the ball …
… the play … Cowboys DT Leon Lett scoops up the ball at his own 35 and begins rumbling toward the Buffalo end zone …
… Bills WR Don Beebe, who had been running a pattern downfield, gives seemingly hopeless chase …
… then, Lett starts to showboat as he nears the goal line … and Beebe reaches out …
…and knocks the ball out of Lett’s hand at the one yard line … preventing yet another Dallas touchdown.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6gmDtVYdLA
And that play by Don Beebe …
… is the Greatest Play in Super Bowl History.
—–ooooo—–
Three Dot … 120
Three Dot ... 