XLVII things you might not know about the Super Bowl

The Super Bowl is the most watched and most analyzed American sports event. Even casual fans can rattle off a litany of facts about the Big Game. But no matter how closely you follow professional football, there are probably some tidbits from the storied history of the Super Bowl that you aren’t aware of. So, in honor of Super Bowl XLVII, here are 47 trivial Super Bowl facts that you may or may not be aware of. The Origins of the Game I. The first two Super Bowls weren’t actually called the “Super Bowl.” They went by the less catchy, less concise moniker “AFL-NFL World Championship Game.” The National Football League and its younger rival, the American Football League, reached a merger agreement in 1966. The two leagues wouldn’t formally become one until the 1969 season, so in the meantime the winners of each league met in the AFL-NFL World Championship Game. II. The name “Super Bowl” was inspired by the “Super Ball,” a popular children’s toy from Wham-O (the company responsible for