Super Bowl, Super Old, Super Ad

This Super Bowl, XLV, is making me feel old. For some strange reason, I really remember Super Bowl XIII when I was a senior in high school, probably because the youth group at church had a big party. Actually, I think the whole church did, which probably means the Dallas Cowboys played. (Yep, just confirmed it online. In fact, it's considered to be one of the best Super Bowls ever; played between the Dallas Cowboys and the Pittsburgh Steelers, it was dramatic and the outcome wasn't decided until the final minute when the Steelers won 35-31.) .  But how can we already be at XLV when XIII was just a couple of years ago?!

It's weird enough to know that I am older than the Super Bowl itself. I mean, how can I be older than a long-established, American tradition?! (BTW, in 1967, when the first Super Bowl was played, gas was 33 cents/gallon, the Dow Jones Average was 902, minimum wage increased to $1.49/hour, and the average annual income was $7,300.00!)

But I've decided there's one flaw in the Super Bowl: they didn't look very far ahead and consider the consequences when they decided to use Roman numerals to identify each game. This year's game is nice and tidy. XLV. Short and to the point. Easy to interpret. Fits nicely on all the commemorative merchandise.

But I'm just wondering: what are they going to do in another 40 years when they get to number 88? Super Bowl LXXXVIII is just a bit hard to interpret at a glance, much less fit on the umpteen different kinds of merchandise. Forget the hats and shirts - I'm thinking that if they are still using Roman Numerals then, the officials will have to toss a plate instead of a coin before the game!

And now, to welcome y'all to Texas for this little football scrimmage this afternoon, here's a quick look at some of the things that make us so proud to live in the Lone Star State. This is the complete version of the ad that will be shown during the Super Bowl tonight by HEB, a big regional grocery store down here which is based in San Antonio.