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Rec and Sports
Recreation and Sports Information
Superbowl Xli
Dolphin Stadium in Florida brought on the wettest Super Bowl in history as the downpour continued throughout the entire game. Super Bowl XLI would not only be remembered for the torrential downpours as much as it would for the history the game made in featuring the first Black coach to ever win a super bowl. The Indianapolis Colts Tony Dungy had the honor of becoming NFL’s first black coach to win a super bowl.
Super Bowl XLI was played almost forty years after the first Super Bowl in 1967. The two teams facing off in Super Bowl XLI (Indianapolis Colts versus Chicago Bears) each had one win under their belt and both wanted desperately for their second. This would be a great match since both teams had a near equal regular season and both were trying for their second trophy. Nevertheless, the excitement was short-lived when the rain and several mistakes mad e by both teams proved to be a disappointment to many fans. A report from ESPN defined Super Bowl XLI, between the Indianapolis Colts and the Chicago Bears, as the worst Super Bowl ever.
Many sports commentators and fans felt the MVP designation given to Peyton Manning wes undeserved in light of his poor performance during Super Bowl XLI. Even though his game was off, many felt he well-deserved it after his exceptional 10 year career. In total, Manning completed 65.8 percent of his passes, but his quarterback rating of 81.8 was the worst of any Super Bowl MVP. He had one touchdown pass and one interception.
Fans were also disappointed after the NFL announced a ban on tailgating at Super Bowl XLI. This was the first super bowl where the NFL stepped in to ban a time-honored tradition of partying outside the stadium during a super bowl. Dolphin Stadium management was permitting tailgating and announced it was allowed, Shortly thereafter, the NFL owners released a statement banning tailgating and prohibiting fans without a ticket within a 2-block radius of Dolphin Stadium.
Probably the event that garnered the most outrage was the NFL’s attempt to prohibit churches from hosting super bowl parties during Super Bowl XLI. The NFL’s legal counsel sent a letter to the Fall Creek Baptist church in Indianapolis advising the church to cancel their planned super bowl party and to remove the super bowl logo from their website as it violates trademark law, and they could not use their projection screen to play the game. The NFL only permits one TV and it has to be less than 55″. This sparked an immediate backlash of bad publicity as churches all across the USA protested and newspapers began running the story. The NFL subsequently backed off and revised their policy
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