The two weeks leading up to the Super Bowl have devolved into a festival of hype as reporters cast about for any story they can find. Some of the most notable:
1972: Analysts spend several days speculating about what would happen if the Cowboys’ Tom Landry coached the entire Super Bowl without his hat
1977: Free chips and salsa
1984: The entire week before Super Bowl XVIII is dedicated to the roman numeral “V,” which celebrates its last appearance in the big game for six years
1995: John Madden is shot out of a cannon each day until the Super Bowl arrives
1999: Chris Berman sets a record by mentioning the Super Bowl 12 times in one sentence
2003: Festivities are cut short when Buccaneers coach Jon Gruden’s face suddenly contorts into a spastic scowl, but alert emergency workers manage to rush to his side and cut away his blood-restricting visor
2006: After telling his story for the millionth time, Jerome Bettis finally breaks down and admits both that he’s not from Detroit, and that he actually won a couple of Super Bowls back in the ’90s that he just never told anyone about
2009: The media desperately tries to bill Super Bowl XLIII as Ken Whisenhunt going up against the team that killed his wife and children
