The Super Bowl has become a global event, that brings millions together on a Sunday each February as we gather to watch a game, a ton of commercials, and eat anything our hosts will put in front of us.
That makes the Super Bowl ripe for making memories.
For many of us at SB Nation, our love of the sport came years before we became lucky enough to cover the NFL on a daily basis. That means memories that came well before we were able to share our love of the sport with the world. But for others, the ability to be in the building as memories are made is something that will stay with us forever.
Here are Super Bowl moments that will stay with us forever. And we would love to hear yours! Sound off with your favorite Super Bowl memories in the comments, as we’d love to hear your stories.
“Hey everyone. The Patriots won.”
It was the start of 2002, and I was in my third year of law school. The world looked a lot different than it did when that academic year began, with a lot more uncertainty about the future.
But as myself and my friends forged through that final year of law school, we bonded over life, over the world, over the uncertainty of finally entering the professional world after years of schooling, and yes, we bonded over football.
We were not all New England Patriots fans, not by a long shot, but as the Patriots put together a dream run through the playoffs, we bonded over a team of underdogs that made us believe that better days were ahead, and that bigger things were possible.
It was not easy. As a fan who tends to pace I spent a lot of time on a patio, nervously pacing in the cold as I caught glimpses of the game through the sliding glass door. The Divisional Round game against the Raiders, for example, saw me watch most of that game outside in the cold as I could not bear the tension.
But when Adam Vinatieri split the uprights in overtime, I burst back into the room.
“Hey everyone. The Patriots won.”
It would be like that a few weeks later, when the Patriots pulled off a dramatic upset of the St. Louis Rams in the Super Bowl. Time spent on the patio, friends — and the woman who is now my wife — hoping along with me, and a kick through the uprights that allowed me to remind everyon in the room that same thing.
“Hey everyone. The Patriots won.”
Things have changed since then for us all. Some of us went on to be very good lawyers. One of us went on to become a sportswriter, and he’ll get to write about the Patriots in the Super Bowl again over the next few days.
But I’ll never forget that night.
Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports
I’m a Falcons fan who’s spent the past six years trying to get out from under the crushing humiliation of 28-3. Heading into Super Bowl LII, featuring the Eagles facing the juggernaut Patriots with backup quarterback Nick Foles under center, I was fully expecting yet another Patriots Super Bowl win. New England took a 33-32 lead with over nine minutes to play in the fourth quarter with a 4-yard touchdown pass from Tom Brady to Rob Gronkowski, and based on previous experience, I thought it was a wrap for Philly. But Foles and the Eagles disagreed, and put another touchdown and a field goal on the board to take home the Lombardi with an improbable 41-33 win. It didn’t exactly erase the pain of 28-3, but I am petty enough for it to be my favorite Super Bowl memory of all time.
For the most part my Super Bowl memories aren’t happy. I could write a lengthy soliloquy about the exquisite pain of seeing the ever-reliable Jon Kasay kick the ball out of bounds and cost my Panthers a win in Super Bowl XXXVI, or watch Cam Newton crumble on football’s brightest stage in Super Bowl 50 — but instead I want to share what it’s like working during the Super Bowl as a writer.
February 3, 2013 was the night I realized I had to write about sports as a career. We had an incredible crew of people at SB Nation.com, many of whom have moved on to other outlets or careers — but the spirit and energy of us huddling together in a Campfire room (this was pre-Slack), hastily eating a sandwich at my desk during legitimately one of the best games I’ve ever seen between the Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers at New Orleans’ Mercedes-Benz Superdome.
When a moment like that happens, it is anarchy. Nobody knew what was happening. When it became clear this wasn’t something terrible, and instead an unexpected power outage we all jumped in trying to find out anything and everything we could. There were coworkers in the stadium feeding us info. We were back in our offices and home offices writing stories. For 34 minutes we pondered if the game was actually going to be able to finish.
It was anarchy, and it was so much fun. I knew from that moment on that I had to make a career out of writing about sports — and the incredible ending to the game with the 49ers mounting a comeback, then the Ravens answering and winning, it was all incredible.
Even though they ended up losing to the Giants, which is not the outcome any Patriots fan would have hoped for, Super Bowl XLVI might still be my favorite one among them.
Watching the game with a group of friends in a small town in Austria, we had everything you would need for a regular Super Bowl party in the United States. Well, except one thing: a general understanding of how the sport works. In fact, there were only two of us who really knew the rules, leaving the other dozen in need of constant explanations.
Why are they throwing the ball? Why are they getting more points for some kicks than others? What in the world is a safety?
We ended up explaining all that was happening as well as we could as the game went along. Of course, we were doing it with a slight Patriots bias, which eventually led to almost entire group — You know who you are! — to root for Tom Brady and company
And so, a couple of hours on this early Monday morning in February 2012 saw people who previously had had no real clue about the game of football turn into hard-core Patriots fans. Naturally, the end result was disappointing, but other than that it was as perfect a night as one could hope for — a true testament to sports and friendship.
For those who do not know Roman numerals, don’t worry, I looked it up for both of us. Super Bowl C hasn’t happened yet, but I have strong memories since my childhood of dreaming that the Cleveland Browns would make the Super Bowl. At this point, Super Bowl 100 seems about the soonest that might happen, and I have a Browns champagne bottle to pop when it does.
To be honest, Cleveland football has been so bad for so long, I might pop that bottle if they just make the AFC Championship game and will make sure to be the kind of fan that appreciates a good, playoff caliber team, even if they do not make the Super Bowl until we get to the letter C…. for CLEVELAND!
This was the first Super Bowl I attended, which also coincided with it being the first one I got to cover with the media. I happened to also launch SB Nation’s 49ers site, Niners Nation, and so I was far from the objective journalist that is expected to cover these events. Colin Kaepernick not being able to connect on an end zone fade to Michael Crabtree was one of the most difficult moments to endure as a fan, but everything up to that was incredible.
The game was fantastic to an objective fan. The Ravens led 21-6 after the first half and Beyoncé came out with Destiny’s Child to entertain the millions of people watching the game. Then the power went out heading into the third quarter and as James noted above, there was chaos. I remember people texting me asking what was going on and trying to offer up what little I could from the press box.
Things got going again 34 minutes later, and we saw Jacoby Jones run back the opening kickoff 108 yards to give the Ravens a 28-6 lead. It seemed like the blowout was on, but then the 49ers stormed back with a 23-3 run to cut the lead to 31-29. The 49ers got one last real opportunity to win, trailing 34-29 and driving down to the Ravens 7-yard line to set up 1st and goal. However, four plays later, Kaepernick failed to connect with Crabtree and that was effectively it. It hurt as a 49ers fan, but was an objectively wild event to witness.
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