Remembering a Twin Cities Super Bowl - Ingles
It has been a quiet week leading up to the Super Bowl. The only big news coming out of Indianapolis has been that 1) Patriots quarterback Tom Brady has a very expensive commode known as the Toto Washlet Performance Toilet, and 2) NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell knee-capped Zygi Wilf.
Goodell stuck it to Vikings ownership by announcing that the NFL wants an expansion team in Los Angeles while pretty much ruling out the relocation of an existing team. Oops, somebody didn't read the memo.
Minnesotans over 25 probably don't remember that we had a Super Bowl right here on our humble tundra in 1992. That was a landmark game for several reasons, which we'll get into in a little bit. I can't recall how many people froze to death while the event was here, but I'm sure they were all Washington Redskins fans. Buffalo Bills fans were walking around without their shirts.
It hasn't always been so peaceful before the game. Over the years, there have been some amazing occurrences just before kickoff. The night before Super Bowl XXXIII in Miami, for example, Atlanta Falcons safety Eugene "the Prophet" Robinson was arrested in the downtown area for offering an undercover policewoman $40 for sexual favors. Just hours earlier Robinson, an outwardly religious type, had received the Bart Starr award for high moral character.
That was quite a mess, although I still insist it was all a misunderstanding, and Robinson was innocent. My theory is that he was lost and offered someone
$40 for directions to the hotel Coral Essex. The undercover cop simply misunderstood. Anyway, during the ensuing game he was burned for an 80-yard touchdown pass as the Falcons lost to the Broncos.
In 1991 in Tampa, and I swear this is true, two fans bought tickets from a scalper and were obviously thrilled about the prospects of going to the game. They had come all the way from Canada hoping to score tickets. They were jumping around on the sidewalk, celebrating their good fortune, when a car pulled up alongside of them. A fellow leaned out the window and asked: "Are you sure those tickets are real and not counterfeit?"
The fans stopped jumping.
"Let me see them," the fellow in the car said.
He took the tickets, looked them over and announced: "Yup, these are real." Then sped off, tickets still in hand.
Super Bowl XXVI took place at the Metrodome on Jan. 26, 1992. It was the grand finale of an amazing run of sporting events in the Twin Cities the likes of which we'll never see again. We had the World Series, Final Four, Stanley Cup Finals, U.S. Open and Super Bowl all right here and all within about a year of each other. It was unbelievable to see as this area became the sports hub of America.
The game featured the Redskins and the Bills. And both sides were impressed with how very polite we are out here. And they made it a point not to squawk about the weather, no doubt under direct orders from the league. That Washington team, under coach Joe Gibbs, was one of the most underrated of all time and maybe one of the top five ever. The Redskins won easily, 37-24, behind Canadian quarterback Mark Rypien, the cousin of former North Star Shane Churla.
How many people remember that the Bills played their first series without star running back Thurman Thomas, who couldn't find his helmet on the sideline?
Young Harry Connick Jr. sang the national anthem. At halftime, Brian Boitano and Dorothy Hamill entertained the crowd by skating on sheets of Teflon. Everybody here got a kick out of it, but it was the last of the "small-time" halftime shows. The halftime ratings drooped and so starting the next year the networks started bringing in big name performers such as Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen and Michael Jackson.
For the Bills, who came into the game sporting their vaunted and revolutionary no-huddle offense, it was the second of what turned out to be four consecutive Super Bowl losses. Four in a row! Only the Vikings and Broncos have lost as many, and not in a row like that.
Which reminds me: Somebody always asks around this time of year if I think the Vikings ever will get back to the Super Bowl. I always tell them "sure." The league makes tickets available to all the teams each year.
(source St. Paul Pioneer Press)
Posted by Necesitamos Mas Football
on 8:27 a. m..
Filed under