Super Bowl Stuff 2: Any Given Sunday, Anybody?

First, a comment about Bush's State Of The Union Address: Nice speech, let's see the action. I've seen it these past five years, it's been wanting.

Now, onto the topic of Super Bowl Appearances by teams: Out of forty games, these three teams have shown up the most:

• Dallas Cowboys: 8 appearances
  
• Denver Broncos: 6 appearances
  
• Pittsburgh Steelers: 6 appearances (including SB XL)

Which gives twenty Super Bowl appearances, or 25% of the slots filled by three teams, or 9.6% of the teams.

Add in the following teams, each with 5 appearances:

• San Francisco 49ers
  
• New England Patriots
  
• Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders
  
• Washington Redskins
  
• Miami Dolphins

We're now up to forty-five appearances and eight teams. One quarter of the teams have made over 56% of the appearances in Super Bowls. They also have 27 of the 39 victories so far -- over 69% of the victories have gone to teams that have shown up five times or more (and that statistic would be more askew if it weren't for the Denver Broncos -- remove them from the equation and you have nearly 76% of the wins by teams with five or more appearances).

Add in Green Bay, Buffalo and Minnesota, and you have fifty-seven appearances by eleven teams. That's seventy-one percent of the appearances taken up by just over one-third of the teams. And even with the bad luck of Minnesota and Buffalo (both the best of an inferior conference during their time in ascendence), there's a 30-26 record for teams with four or more bowl appearances.

As for teams with 3 or less appearances, only the New York Giants have a winning record AND more than one showing in the Super Bowl. The rest are either .500 or below, or have had one Super Bowl showing.

So while the saying is that "Any Given Sunday" anyone can beat anyone, experience tends to shine in the Super Bowl. And right now, it's best to say Don't Believe The Hype"

Next: Is The Super Bowl Worth The Hype?