Not quite the ultimate game, but at least some Super Bowl memories

"If this is the ultimate game, how come they're playing it again next year?"
-- DUANE THOMAS, Dallas Cowboys

Of course the Super Bowl, is the ultimate game, both in 1971 and today. And of course America is the ultimate country, and whatever movie is dominating the box office is the ultimate movie.

Tomorrow evening, God willing and the creek don't rise, Denver and Seattle will meet on the landfills of New Jersey in the 48th running of America's Greatest Hype -- the Super Bowl.

I was trying to think of the last Super Bowl I watched all the way through when I realized it was No. 27, or XXVII for you traditionalists. The reason I watched that one all the way through was that I was sitting in the press box at the Rose Bowl. It was the only Super Bowl I covered, and it was a horrible game, a 52-17 rout by Dallas over Buffalo.

Jacko

It was an interesting halftime show, the only opportunity I ever had to see Jacko perform live. Garth Brooks did the National Anthem and famous murderer O.J. Simpson handled the coin toss.

But the greatest moment was in postgame interviews, when I got the best yet most unusable quote I ever heard. Jim Jeffcoat, a defensive lineman for the Cowboys, was asked how it felt to win a Super Bowl so late in his career.

"Like (bleeping) a 16-year-old."

I was a little sad I didn't get to ask my follow-up question.

"A 16-year-old what?"

I've really only watched all or most of 11 other Super Bowls, and with one exception, they all involved either my hometown Washington Redskins or my adopted favorite Denver Broncos. That one other game was 1982, when San Francisco beat Cincinnati and I had the television on while I unpacked my stuff in a new apartment.

The halftime show in that one was really special -- Up With People. I thought I had died and gone to WASP Hell.

Super Bowl XXII

One of my toughest games was Super Bowl XXII in 1988. I had been living in Colorado for more than a year, and the Denver Broncos were in the game against Washington.

I had been a Redskin fan for more than 20 years, but I would have been equally happy with a Broncos victory.

I was invited to several parties to watch the game, but I decided to stay home and watch it alone. I was hoping only for a good game, which it wasn't. Washington won, 42-10.

The last time I watched was 1999, when I saw John Elway's last hurrah and Denver's second consecutive victory. Since then it hasn't just been the lack of a rooting interest, it's that the games just kept getting more and more hyped, which meant they got longer and longer. I grew up watching NFL games that finished in less than three hours, but these days three hours just gets you into the third quarter.

I think another thing that caused me to lose interest was that the only two teams I followed both went into bad periods. After Jack Kent Cooke died and Daniel Snyder bought the Redskins, the winning tradition completely vanished. The Skins haven't been close to a Super Bowl in 20 years.

And after 1999, when Elway went out on top, the Broncos came upon hard times too. Tomorrow will be their first Super Bowl in 15 years.

Will I watch? Not likely. Sure it's Denver, but it isn't Elway. He's in the front office, yes, but not on the field.

In fact, I've got his jersey on my wall.