This past weekend was Super Bowl 50. The Super Bowl has always been a very important part of my life, as I am sure it is for most of you. Being that it was the 50th edition, there was a lot of reminiscing of memories from the Super Bowls over the years. I remember being able to watch the Super Bowl with my father as far back as I can remember and these are times that I will cherish for the rest of my life.
The Super Bowl has changed a lot since its beginning. The first Super Bowl was played on January 15, 1967 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, California. The game didn’t receive nearly the amount of attention that we are accustomed to these days. In fact, the stadium was said to only be about half full of fans. This obviously contrasts with the modern day spectacle of the Super Bowl. Not only is the Super Bowl about the game itself, but also great food, celebrities, the halftime show, prop bets, commercials and who is going to sing the national anthem.
As for Super Bowl 50, I believe that it will go down as one for the ages. At this point, everyone knows that the Denver Broncos defeated to the Carolina Panthers by a score of 24-10. I have long been a fan of Peyton Manning. Being able to go out on top is one of the greatest accomplishments in all of sports. Not many people held much hope that Peyton would ever be able to play football at such a high level, much less lead his team to two additional Super Bowls. Now he looks to ride off into the sunset (I hope) as the first quarterback to ever lead two different teams to Super Bowl victories. This wasn’t the same Peyton that we have known over the years, but he had enough in the tank to get the job done on this night.
The most entertaining aspect of the Super Bowl for myself was being able to witness one of the most dominant defenses that we have ever seen in the NFL. Being a graduate of Texas A&M University I will never forgot watching the performance of my fellow Aggie, Von Miller. Miller disrupted Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers to the point that they really were never able to get their offense going. We are talking about an offense that throughout the season was one of the most powerful and prolific in all of the NFL. Miller ended up with six tackles, 2.5 sacks and most importantly, 2 forced fumbles, both of which led to scores by the Broncos. He won the MVP trophy and cemented his place in Super Bowl history.
It was also a thrill to see another Aggie great, Gary Kubiak, become the first ever graduate of Texas A&M to lead an NFL team to a Super Bowl victory. After a less than stellar run as the head coach of the Houston Texans, Kubiak returned to Denver where he was the longtime backup to legendary Bronco quarterback, John Elway.
It’s good to see good franchises and good people win championships and this year exemplified that. I hope everyone enjoyed the day as much as I did, but if you didn’t enjoy the outcome of the game I hope you at least got to eat your share of that good food.
