The Super Bowl and Roman numerals: a match made in Kansas City
 

NEW ORLEANS – It is the most American of occasions, the showpiece of the most American of all sports, so why does the Super Bowl use Roman numerals to denote its grand event every year?

No other major American sport uses the Roman counting system, one formerly familiar to school kids around the country but now essentially obsolete to the iPad generation. Yet the Super Bowl persists with the tradition, has no desire or plan to change it, and the ancient characters will continue to appear just as they have since 1971.

That was the year when what was supposed to be Super Bowl 5 became Super Bowl V, at the insistence of pioneering sports entrepreneur Lamar Hunt, the owner of the Kansas City Chiefs and one of the most significant figures in the growth in the game’s popularity.

The Baltimore Colts emerged victorious that year, outlasting the Dallas Cowboys 16-13 thanks to a winning field goal in the dying seconds.

Lamar Hunt (Getty Images)Hunt was a man with plenty of ideas, most of them good. It was he who also coined the term Super Bowl ‐ coming from the children's toy, a "Super Ball" – and his numbering concept was considered successful enough to retain. The system has even been retroactively incorporated for Super Bowls I through IV.

"It was his brainchild," said Bob Moore, historian for the Chiefs. "I think people felt from the start that it had something to it, even if they couldn’t quite put their finger on exactly what it was. Before long it was just part of it. Now it wouldn’t be the same without it."

Hunt, who died aged 74 in 2006, was a stakeholder in seven different sports franchises and has been inducted into eight different ‘Halls of Fame’, but amid his multitude of achievements he was, according to his son, Clark, to be particularly proud of suggesting Roman numerals for the Super Bowl.

"It has been in place ever since," NFL official historian Joe Horrigan told Yahoo! Sports. "It is part of the Super Bowl culture, it is an established part of the magic of the Super Bowl.”

No discussions have been held to consider changing to a more common numbering system even with Super Bowl 50, sorry, Super Bowl L, just three years away.

"If you asked me to count up using Roman numbers I wouldn't even know how to do it," said San Francisco 49ers safety Donte Whitner. "But it's a good thing. It's the Super Bowl, man."

The fans love it too, according to a small sampling of opinion gathered on the streets of New Orleans on Wednesday afternoon.

"I don’t think you need anything to make the Super Bowl even more dramatic," said mother of three and Saints fan Ree Nygren. "But it does add something to it, it is kind of cool and timeless and important-sounding. There is no point in changing it, although it won’t be quite the same once it become Ls rather than Xs."

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nfl--th...164002135.html

I had no idea that was Lamar's idea. Cool Story.

No more crediting Hunt with "super bowl". College football already had their year end conf championship matchups titled "bowl". Orange bowl, sugar bowl, rose bowl, even the cotton bowl kn his home town had been going on for decades.



So he didn't invent crap. I'd argue he stole the idea actually, since e copied the Bowl part of the name anyway.

After watching his children play with a Super Ball, Lamar Hunt, founder of the American Football League, coined the term Super Bowl. In a July 25, 1966, letter to NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle, Hunt wrote, "I have kiddingly called it the 'Super Bowl,' which obviously can be improved upon." Although the leagues' owners decided on the name "AFL-NFL Championship Game," the media immediately picked up on Hunt's "Super Bowl" name, which would become official beginning with the third annual game.<sup id="cite_ref-toys-amaz_8-3" class="reference">[8]</sup><sup id="cite_ref-17" class="reference">[17]</sup><sup id="cite_ref-huppke-lotb_18-0" class="reference">[18]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Ball
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Since you didn't read my post, try reading it now.

You talking to me? Because I read your post. You're wrong.

Are you telling me I'm wrong about college "bowl" games being around several decades before Lamar's supposed bright idea?

somehow I don't think Donte Whitner can count to 50 using any numeric system.

I'm telling you that you're wrong that following a naming convention invalidates the creation of a new intellectual property.

Might as well change them to regular numbers...Roman Numerals represented the Romans during the Gladiator times, like we used to have..Gladiators on the field.

The NFL has become Pussified, so we might as well with the numbers II.

I prefer Super Bowl 47

I like to just tell non-NFL fans that Lamar Hunt invented football.

Good, I'm glad you recognize he stole the idea from a long-established practice within the same exact industry. It seems we disagree only whether that makes him a creative genius, or a dorky copycat.

errr....SUPER Bowl. SUPER BOWL. That's the name. The name he came up with. Not Cotton Bowl or Orange Bowl or FedEx AT&T Apple Hardee's Sugar Bowl, SUPER BOWL.

That's new. That's original, get it?

SUPER BOWL

Go ahead and link the wildly popular professional football game that was referred to as the "Super Bowl" before he came up with the idea.