If the ceremonial coin toss before Sunday’s Super Bowl turns up heads, everyone enrolled in the Papa John’s customer loyalty program will win a free large one-topping pizza and a two-liter bottle of Pepsi Max. Thousands of other fans will collect on a 50-50 prop bet. The Super Bowl coin toss hasn’t always been such a big deal. Here’s a brief look at the history of the pre-game spectacle. Red Grange Breaks the Ice For the first 11 Super Bowls, a game official conducted the coin toss. In 1978, at... READ ON
© Anthony J. Causi/Icon SMI/Corbis Sunday will mark the 17th time that NBC has broadcast the Super Bowl, tying it with CBS for the most in NFL history. Here’s a brief history of the Super Bowl on TV. The AFL-NFL World Championship Game Simulcast In 1967, NBC and CBS simulcast the first Super Bowl between the Kansas City Chiefs and Green Bay Packers, which was then called the AFL-NFL World Championship Game. NBC and CBS used the same video feed, but different announcers. NBC was still in... READ ON
Seventy years ago, the Rose Bowl game between Oregon State and Duke was transferred from California to North Carolina in the wake of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Here’s a brief look back at one of the greatest upsets in Rose Bowl... READ ON
When the NFL expansion committee headed by current league commissioner Roger Goodell awarded franchises to Charlotte and Jacksonville in 1993, three other prospective teams with nicknames, logos, and color schemes already unveiled and season ticket deposits sold, were left disappointed. Here are the stories of those three (almost) teams and eight other failed expansion bids in various sports. 1. Memphis Hound Dogs (NFL,... READ ON
Saturday may be for small businesses, but Black Friday is all about the big box stores. Here’s a look at the origins of 11 big stores that are probably promising big savings (and long lines) this weekend. 1. Best... READ ON
Retiring a player’s jersey number is most often reserved for all-time greats. Other times, it’s a tribute to a player whose career is cut short by illness or death. And sometimes, as in the case of Lou Gehrig — the first professional player to have his number retired — it’s both. Here are 11 numbers that have been retired for a variety of different reasons. 1. #455 – Cleveland... READ ON
Eight NFL head coaches were fired by – or mutually agreed to part ways with – their employers last season. If you were wondering what they’re up to now, you don’t have to look... READ ON
Last month, the Northwestern athletic department garnered national attention when it shipped two 7-pound purple dumbbells to about 80 college football writers across the country. A subtle hint that the recipients should spend a little more time in the gym? No, just part of the school’s preseason Heisman Trophy campaign for quarterback Dan Persa, who wears No. 7 and was named the Wildcats’ strongest player. Here’s a short history of the Heisman campaigning tradition and some of the more interesting... READ ON
In 1984, Donruss released what some collectors consider one of the greatest baseball card sets of all time. In addition to 26 Diamond Kings—a subset of cards depicting a star player from every team—the 660-card set included 20 Rated Rookies, a new subset that highlighted a crop of promising young players selected by New York Daily News writer Bill Madden. The Rated Rookie would become a staple of the Donruss brand for years to come. A few of the original Rated Rookies lived up to the hype, while... READ ON
Sparked by a popular online video series by the same name, Yacht Rock, the genre of music produced by artists such as Christopher Cross and Kenny Loggins during the late 1970s and early 1980s, has enjoyed a renaissance of sorts over the past several years. The term yacht rock comes from the nautical references that many soft rock artists of that era included in their songs, and, more generally, the laidback feeling the music inspires. Today, a handful of cover bands don nautical attire—and, in some... READ ON
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Michael J. Fox’s middle name is Andrew.
