Super Bowl

62: Pass plays over 20 yards by Rams in 1999. 54: Running plays over 10 yards by Rams in 1999. 7: 100-yard rushing games each by Titans' Eddie George and Rams' Marshall Faulk. 10: Forced fumbles by Titans' Jevon Kearse. 2: Teams that have won Super Bowl as wild card (Oakland, XV; Denver, XXXII). 300: Playoff passing yardage by Titans' Steve McNair in three games. 649: Playoff passing yardage by Rams' Kurt Warner in two games. 2: Super Bowls featuring two teams with .500 or lower winning percentage the previous season.

Jermaine Lewis, who in recent years has been convicted on traffic-related charges, now lives in a two-story Reisterstown home with his wife and children, relying on savings. He hopes to get back into the workforce, he said, and be a part of a team again surrounded by co-workers. He thinks back to what could have been. “I wish I would've been building businesses instead of always focusing on football,” he said. “I wish I could have had something that I could fall back on that was already in place.

THE Chicago Diphthongs beat the Minnesota Vowels, and you saw it, folks, in the Spelling Super Bowl, a cliff-hanger that's gonna be one for the record books. Mel, describe the action.""The Diphthongs broke a 21-21 tie by spelling 'Houyhnhnm' correctly in the final minutes of play. Boy, do those guys know their consonants. They'll be shouting 'i before e except after c' in the streets of the Windy City tonight. And you were there live. This is Mel Allen. Until next year."Imagine an America in which really knowing something gets you more than $1,800 and two round-trip tickets to Hawaii from an evening game show.

After every playoff loss during his 17-year career, I always watched Ravens Pro Bowl linebacker Ray Lewis run straight from the field to the locker room. You always felt bad for him because during that time you wondered how many rings Lewis would have won if the Ravens ever had a good quarterback and a legitimate, balanced offense. Lewis didn't have a great season this year, but it was cool watching him celebrate in New Orleans after the offense put up big numbers Sunday night. It didn't even out all those other years, but it made his farewell that much better because Lewis didn't have to carry the load. 

As the hosts of one of the most coveted annual Super Bowl parties in Maryland, Steve and Zivah Ring have obligations to uphold. So what if they had planned on spending much of the winter in sunny Florida? After the Ravens secured the AFC championship two weeks ago, the Rings hopped a plane back to frigid Baltimore. "We came into town just to throw this party," said Zivah Ring of Stevenson. "And we're leaving again right afterwards. " Over the past 47 years, Super Bowl Sunday has morphed from just another blah winter weekend day into an unofficial national holiday.

NEW ORLEANS -- When the Super Bowl shows up here, stuff happens. It might have something to do with the vibe. How many cities do you know where at noontime on a weekday, someone is paid to stand outside a bar in the middle of the street and hold up a large advertising sign that says: "HUGE ... BEERS"? How many cities do you know where another person is holding up another sign outside another establishment: "WASH THE GIRL OF YOUR CHOICE"? I can only think of one. It's the city where I saw both of those things Monday.

WASHINGTON - Washington is spending $2.5 million to create buzz for the census by advertising during the Super Bowl. The Census Bureau is hoping to exploit the strong ratings from the annual attraction, aiming to get more participation from people who now seem disinclined to mail back a government questionnaire or answer the door. Census officials call it a good investment, saying the front-end costs of purchasing the ads can be quickly recouped if they succeed in encouraging people to mail back their census forms.

Bobby Ross, ChargersThe former Maryland coach was named Chargers coach in 1992. He leads San Diego to the Super Bowl for the first time after defeating Pittsburgh for the AFC title.... ... ... ... ... ... W ... L ... T ... Pct.Regular season .. .. .. 30 .. 18 .. 0 ... .625Postseason ... .. .. .. 3 ... 1 ... 0 ... .750Career ... ... .. .. .. 33 .. 19 .. 0 ... .635

Friends, Ravens fans, Steelers bashers, lend me your ears; I come to tell you that the quality of this year's Super Bowl matchup doesn't matter, not to praise it. I know it's hard to get excited about a showdown between the bitter rival that deposed the Ravens and a 9-7 version of one of the worst franchises in recent American sports (one that jilted Baltimore in the 1980s, in case you forgot). I'm not going to try to fool you with words about Larry Fitzgerald's magnificent scoring grabs or Troy Polamalu's reckless but inspired disregard for his body.

Criticized as an unworthy Super Bowl site a year ago, Jacksonville, Fla., betrayed a certain sense of civic insecurity upon the arrival of the national media, and why not? The city was too small to properly host an event of the international magnitude of the Super Bowl, and everyone knew it. Detroit has been thrust into a similar predicament, not because of its size - which is adequate - but because of its reputation as one of the most dangerous and downtrodden cities in America. The response, however, has been different.