The Super Bowl is broadcast in Korea —  I believe it starts at 9 a.m. I’ll probably have it on TV in the other room, but most likely I’ll keep tabs on it on the computer.  If it’s still interesting in the 4th quarter I’ll watch some of it.

I could almost care less about the NFL at this point, but if you’re from North America and a sports fan — you probably have more concrete memories of what you were doing on Super Bowl Sunday than most other times in your life, including Christmas your birthdays etc. This probably explains why the game itself is nearly always a letdown for everyone. But that’s a subject for another day.

During the game and throughout the day I’m going to record some of my Super Bowl memories as I recall them. I encourage you to add yours in the comments section.

1. San Francisco vs. Miami, 1985  

I started this day watching that Nostradamus movie where “a man wearing a turban” causes some kind of nuclear holocaust around 2005. I can remember walking down the street with a friend, my voice shaking, saying “why couldn’t he just have picked all the Super Bowl winners?”

This day ended with me crying in the bathroom, turning my Miami Dolphins shirt inside out and sitting down on the couch next to my parents who tried not to laugh. To this day I still occasionally hear about that.

2. Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Seattle Seahawks, 2005

This was the day after I got married. My family stayed at the Mariott Hotel in Busan. Even though I’d been out till 5 a.m. the night before I met my Dad in the hotel lobby where they had set up a big screen TV with a giant sound system. The hotel laid out a table of coffee and donuts that I’m pretty sure were wheat bread with icing. We were the only two people in attendance.

At halftime this guy started pulling up the tape that  was  put  over the cords as a safety precaution. We watched him for about 15 minutes wondering what he was doing. As the second half started he shut the TV off. He’d thought the game had finished and was breaking down the TV and speakers.

3. St. Louis Rams vs. Tennessee Titans, 2000

You might remember me mentioning a former girlfriend from whom I hid my love for fantasy sports. Well for this Super Bowl I was visiting her in Chicago. It may not surprise you that I also hid my interest in the Super Bowl from her.

I watched very little of this game, but as it came down to the end (I think it’s probably the most exciting SB finish ever) I watched this game in her bedroom with the sound off while she was working in her home/office. I remember fiddling with the antenna, trying to get better reception.

4. LA Raiders vs. Washington Redskins, 1984

For several  summers my friend Danny and I would go to the Raiders training camp at the Tropicana Hotel in Santa Rosa, CA. Even though the team had moved to LA they still trained up North,  and 1984 was the last year we went. The nicest guy around? Al Davis, who even as a little old guy in a white suit  somehow loomed larger  than  players like Marcus Allen and Lyle Alzado. Davis always came over and chatted with the kids. You could tell he just loved the whole thing.

I watched this Super Bowl at Danny’s house. I’d been outwardly rooting for the  Raiders, but also secretly hoping they would lose because I was jealous the Dolphins hadn’t made it. I remember  the Raiders  intercepting Joe Theismann deep in Redskins territory for a TD to take a big halftime lead. I wanted to go home.

5. San Francisco vs. Denver, 1995

I hated Steve Young with a passion. Not because of who he was, but because I was so frustrated, after  hating the 49ers for so many years (see #1),  even after Bill Walsh and Joe Montana were gone, they were still unbeatable.

The idea of them winning their 5th championship, and thereby clearly becoming the game’s most successful franchise ever just made me so sick I became numb to it.

6. New England vs. St. Louis, 2002

I have great memories of this game, watching in a cozy pub in Brooklyn just a block from my apartment.  The place  had a Mexican buffet and gave out free jell-o shots if you bought a buffet ticket.  I watched this game with my friend Tom,  who grew up in New Hampshire and was a big Boston sports fan,  and a guy I used to DJ with at KDVS.  There was a Turkish girl  there and both my friends liked her. They both tried to contact her the following week, but to no avail.

I remember at the end of the game  Tom bought drinks for everyone in the bar. I can picture him staring at the TV in wonderment saying “This is the first time any of my teams have  won anything.”

Fuck you  Tom.

Denver Broncos vs. Atlanta Falcons, 1999

An old roommate from college had a Super Bowl party at his place in San Francisco. I didn’t know anyone and realized I didn’t know my old roommate all that well either. After the game we went to some guy’s house, who’d converted his garage into one of those football bar dream rooms — Miller lite advertisements, a bar, football memorabilia, the works. I kept wondering why we didn’t watch the game there.

I hated John Elway as well. His success only demeaned Dan Marino’s and belittled me. This game cemented the fact that Elway  was better than Marino. Again, I was numb to it by that point.