Super reading choices

It’s tough to ignore the Super Bowl, so you might as well know something about it, like where the name comes from, for instance. Football fans or not, we have to face the fact that Super Bowl Sunday has become a de facto national holiday. Last year, 133 million people watched Super Bowl XXXIX. (Why do they have to use Roman numerals? The Roman numerals are used since the NFL season spreads out over two years. Last year’s Patriots were the champions of the 2004 season, but the championship game was played in 2005. As for the Roman numerals, well, it does look more gladiatorial.)

And face it, with all the hype and all the hoopla, it will be hard to ignore. Whether you are a crazed Seahawks or Steelers fan, a casual observer of the American sports scene, an aficionado of bizarre halftime shows, or just someone who wants to watch the neat new commercials, it will draw your attention.

The first Super Bowl was played in January of 1967 as the championship game between the champions of the National Football League, the Green Bay Packers, and the Kansas City Chiefs, the champions of the younger American Football League. When the leagues merged in 1970, the game became the championship game of the NFL’s National Football Conference and the American Football Conference.

Prior to 1960, the NFL (founded in 1920) had managed to squelch rival leagues until the AFL succeeded in 1960 in stealing away some of the NFL’s top personnel. By 1966 the two leagues were talking merger.

Kansas City Chiefs’ owner, Lamar Hunt, jokingly referred to the proposed championship as the Super Bowl. (Hunt’s granddaughter had a toy called a Super Ball ... and college postseason games have been called bowl games since the first one was played in the Rose Bowl. By the way, that granddaughter’s Super Ball is in the Football Hall of Fame.)

Since it was a lot catchier than The AFL-NFL World Championship Game, it became the official name in 1969.

The bowl locations are chosen up to five years ahead of time and are bid on much like the locations of the Olympic Games. For obvious reasons, most sites are either in warm climates or domed, as is the four-year-old Ford Field in downtown Detroit, the site of today’s game.

Halftime entertainment has always been a part of football games, and the original Super Bowls followed the college trend with big marching bands. In fact, bands and drill teams held sway until Super Bowl XXII in 1988 featured Chubby Checker, the Rockettes, and 88 Grand Pianos.

Though the trend in entertainment seemed to be heading to younger and more current rock stars, since the Janet Jackson fiasco at Super Bowl XXXVIII in 2004, the NFL has pursued somewhat older talent. Last year it was Paul McCartney and this year features those bad old boys, the Rolling Stones.

For the football fans who will be sunk into a deep depression after the final whistle blows, consider some good books on the game to tide you over until exhibition season starts.

David Halberstam’s “The Education of a Coach” about Patriots’ Bill Belichick and Jon Gruden’s “Do You Love Football? Winning with Heart, Passion, and Not Much Sleep,” about, well, Gruden should help tide you over.

Humor and history combine in “Sunday’s Heroes: NFL Legends Talk about the Times of Their Lives” and “The Football Game I’ll Never Forget: 100 NFL Stars’ Stories.”

Just go on line or call the library to reserve your copy.

* CHECK IT OUT is written by the staff of the Newport Beach Public Library. This week’s column is by Sara Barnicle. All titles may be reserved from home or office computers by accessing the catalog at www.newportbeachlibrary.org. For more information on the Central Library or any of the branches, please contact the Newport Beach Public Library at (949) 717-3800, option 2. The Central Library will be closed February 20 through March 5 for re-carpeting and reorganization. Mariners Branch Library will have extended hours during this period, and the Corona del Mar and Balboa Branches of the Newport Beach Public Library will be open regular hours.