So just how did the Super Bowl get its name? NFL’s then Commissioner Pete Rozelle initially wanted to call it the Big One. For some reason however, that name never caught on (click here.) Maybe it wasn’t selected because too many off color jokes could have ensued (see my poor attempts below.)
But here is the rest of the story of how the Super Bowl got its name:
The most cited comment that I have heard in Buzzy’s Country Store leading up to the Big One being foisted on us all (sorry I couldn’t resist “slipping” that reference in there) is the story of some mattress dude betting $4 million on the Bengals to win the game (click here if you haven’t heard about this.)
A Texan furniture mogul known as Mattress Mack has a promotion in his store where any purchase cost of a mattress or a recliner chair will be refunded to the customer if Mack wins the bet. That means a lot, as in ALL, of Mack’s customers will be pulling for the Bengals to win.
Mack’s winnings will more than cover the cost of these would be refunds. An interesting irony here is that because Texas has yet to legalize sports gambling, Mack had to drive to Louisiana to place his bet. The assumption is that Texas legislators are too busy outlawing other things like masks, voting and abortion rights before they attempt to do anything constructive such as approving sports gambling.
However, I’d bet the odds are good that Texas won’t be long legalizing sports gambling soon simply because there is too much money, such as Mattress Mack’s $4.5 million, leaving the State to be bet somewhere else. (Also, since Mack will be writing off the sale of all those mattresses and chairs as a promotional expense, that will lessen his tax burden meaning less money for Texas and the Feds. Clever dude that Mack.)
Lot of talk of late going around about World War 3 led me to our local guy Root Boy Slim and this tune of his:
P.S. Note that I opted to say World War 3 versus using Root’s title World War III. I purposely did so because I say enough with the Roman Numerals people. Why make us do all that math and translation when you can just say the number?! And this goes double for the Super Bowl folks.
Officially the NFL calls today’s game Super Bowl LVI. Come on NFL, who you trying to impress? Two thirds, maybe even 3/4’s, of your viewers can’t even translate that crap, so make it easy on us why don’t you? Roman Numerals my ass. Time for them to take the Big One and go go.
