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INDIANAPOLIS – The Super Bowl occupies a prominent spot on the sporting landscape worldwide, and this Sunday's contest between San Francisco and Baltimore should mark the fifth straight year the event will draw more than 150 million viewers.
From Super Bowl I to XLVII, the game has grown – from 39.9 million viewers to 162.9. With it have come "Notes, Quotes and Anecdotes" that entertain fans everywhere.
NFL SUPER BOWL NOTES
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Indianapolis was the 14th Super Bowl site when it hosted XLVI.
The Colts are 0-4 in Super Bowl coin tosses.
The oldest individual Super Bowl game record belongs to a Colt. Tom Matte had a 10.5 rushing average in Super Bowl III against the New York Jets.
A total of 22 sets of brothers have appeared in Super Bowls. This includes Peyton and Eli Manning. The other Colts connection on the list is Bubba and Tody Smith.
A total of 14 father and son combinations have made the Super Bowl. This includes Emery (Chicago, Super Bowl XX) and Aaron (Colts, Super Bowl XLI) Moorehead. The Mooreheads won both times.
Kicker Matt Stover (XLIV) is the oldest player ever to appear in a Super Bowl. Stover was 42 years, 11 days.
Peyton Manning has the third-highest completion percentage (minimum 40 attempts) in Super Bowl history. Manning is 56-of-83 for a 67.47 completion percentage.
Quarterback Earl Morrall (1968) is the only Colt to win the Associated Press MVP/Most Outstanding Player Award and the Super Bowl/NFL Championship in the same season. The feat has been accomplished 14 times, most recently by Kurt Warner (St. Louis) in 1999.
SUPER BOWL – Quote/Unquote
"I played 13 years and I would trade 12 to not win it, but to experience playing in a Super Bowl." – Dan Dierdorf, Pro Football Hall of Fame/CBS Sports
"The (Super Bowl) ring is the single most important thing in sports. It's the best of all the world championship rings." – Joe Theismann, Washington Redskins
"Forget about being the MVP, forget about being in the Pro Bowl. Those things are nice consolation prizes if you don't get a Super Bowl ring." – Lynn Swann, Pittsburgh Steelers
SUPER BOWL XLVII – Quote/Unquote
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John Harbaugh (on if building relationships with their players is what got Jim and him this far)
"That's part of it. What brought us here is guys playing really well and playing good football games. Just like they do, we have a rough, tough, hard-playing football team that made plays when they had to. That's really what got us here. Good coaches coaching really well. We learned growing up that if you're going to be a teacher, all great teachers make it about their students, right? Our dad told us that coaches are teachers first, which I know that they are. I know Jim has a great relationship with his players. You would always like to think, as a coach, that you'd strive for that and that's really important. Any time a player knows that a coach is in his corner, has his back, and wants what is best for him and wants him to do well, you're going to be more effective and players are appreciative of that."
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John Harbaugh(on if he's thought about the disappointment that would come with loss on Sunday)
"Yes. You do think about that. Obviously, in any game that's something you think about. Jim (Harbaugh) was pointing this out before, but it's not really about how we're going to feel. Every coach, every player, everybody in the organization, when you win, it's jubilation. And when you lose, it's just bitter disappointment. So much goes into it, and it will be no different in this game, probably even on a greater scale because of the opportunity to win the championship. A lot of hard work has gone into this. A lot of plays have been made. A lot of sacrifices have been made. Great competitions have been won and adversity has been battled through by both teams. For the side that comes up short, it's going to be a bitter disappointment. That's how football works. That's how life is, and we understand that."
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Jim Harbaugh(on if time under Mike Ditka helped mold him into what he is today)
"Those were formidable years for me and signature years to be in Chicago. To be drafted in the NFL, and play for the legendary Mike Ditka, doesn't get any better than that. I spent seven years – a lot of great years and a lot of great games. A lot of high highs and a lot of low lows. Doesn't get any better than this kind of feeling. In some places, big disappointments. There were a couple that were top five in my life, but that's football and that's life. I look back on that, and what do they mean to me with shaping the rest of my life with the Chicago Bear organization and the people I met there and what the organization and Coach Ditka did for me? I don't think there is a percentage to put on it. Those were signature years for me."
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Jim Harbaugh(on his mother)
"There is no one in the family who has more competitive fire than my mother. She competes like a maniac. She has just always believed in us, and I think that is the most important thing to me. She believed in me, John, and Joanie, and took us to games and played catch with us, shot baskets with us, and just believed in us."
