Over its history Texas has been part of 6 different nations and therefore flew 6 National flags. Spain, France, Mexico, Republic of Texas, Unites States of America and the Confederate States of America.

The community of Ysleta, Texas is considered the oldest settlement in Texas. In 1680 the Ysleta Mission began with the settlement built around it. Ysleta has been annexed and is currently part of El Paso, Texas.

Confederate Heroes Day, January 19th, is a holiday in Texas. January 19th is the birthday of Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s and in 1931 Texas approved the Robert E. Lee Birthday Holiday. In 1973 Jefferson Davis’ Birthday holiday (June 3rd) was eliminated and the two were combined and renamed Confederate Heroes Day.

The Kansas City Chiefs began as the Dallas Texans as one of the first six teams in the American Football League (AFL), forming in 1959. They moved to Kansas City in 1962. The Indianapolis Colts franchise also started in Dallas and also called the Texans. This Dallas Texans team played for two years before moving to Baltimore in 1953 taking the name Colts.

Until 2010, Baseball’s Texas Rangers were the oldest team in the Major League Baseball to have never played in a World Series. The franchise began as the Washington Senators in 1961 after the original Washington Senators moved to Minnesota and renamed the Twins in 1960. They advanced to the World Series again in 2011, but lost in seven games to St. Louis.

The Seattle Mariners and the Washington Nationals, originally the Montreal Expos, now are the only major league teams not to appear in a World Series. The Mariners debuted in 1977 while the Expos debuted in 1969 moving to Washington in 2005.

San Diego, a warm weather team, had advanced to the AFC Championship game by defeating the Miami Dolphins, in the heat and humidity of Miami in overtime in a game that had set playoff records for the most points scored by both teams (79), most total yards by both teams (1,036), and most passing yards by both teams (836). Two weeks. Two extremes. Both times away from home.

Cincinnati reached the AFC Championship game by winning against the Buffalo Bills 28-21. This was their first ever playoff win and it came in part as a result of forcing Buffalo to turn the ball over on downs during their final drive.

Cincinnati head coach Forrest Gregg was a player on the Green Bay Packers in 1967 when the Packers played the Dallas Cowboys on the coldest ever game in the Championship Game on December 31. This game played at Green Bay’s Lambeau Field with a game time temperature of −13°F.

In the Freezer Bowl the Cincinnati Bengals won the game 27-7 and advanced to their first Super Bowl, Super Bowl XVI.

Two week later the Bengals played the NFC Champs San Francisco 49ers. Even though they scored more touchdowns and had more yards gained, they lost by the score of 26-21. This came as a result of San Francisco forcing 5 turnovers in the game and leading 20-0 at the half.

After the 1981 season the team was moved from Oakland to Los Angeles. The move wasn’t done without obstacles. While Al Davis, President and majority owner, wanted to move the team, the league was not approved by the league. However, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, who would be the home of the Raiders after the move, filed an Anti-trust lawsuit against the NFL. The lawsuit was joined by Davis and the courts ruled in favor of the Coliseum and Davis allowing them to move. They returned to Oakland after the 1994 season.

The team won the AFL championship once and lost Super Bowl II to the Green Bay Packers. They’ve won the Super Bowl three times, XI, XV and XVIII. Their last appearance was in 2002 in which they lost when expected to win. Since that game the Raiders have been a team first on the decline and now on a slow recovery.

The Raiders have not retired any uniform numbers although the number 00 worn by Raider’s Jim Otto is not an authorized number in the NFL. Players enter the Hall of Fame as Raiders are: 32 Marcus Allen, HB (1982-1992) inducted 2003; 25 Fred Biletnikoff, WR (1965-1978) inducted 1988; George Blanda, QB,K (1967-1975) inducted 1981; 24 Willie Brown, CB (1967–1978) inducted 1984; 87 Dave Casper, TE (1974–1980, 1984) inducted 2002; Al Davis , Team, League administrator (1963–1965, 1966–present) in 1992; 22 Mike Haynes, CB (1983–1989) inducted 1997; 83 Ted Hendricks, LB (1975–1983) inducted 1990; 75 Howie Long, DE (1981–1993) inducted 2000; John Madden, Head coach (1969–1978) inducted 2006; 00 Jim Otto, C (1960–1974) inducted 1980; 78 Art Shell, OT (1968–1982) inducted 1989 and 63 Gene Upshaw, G (1967–1981) inducted 1987.

The Raiders played in the Super Bowl after the 2002 season. But that was the last year that the team had a winning record. The went 4-12 following their Super Bowl season and have lost at least 11 games in six straight seasons, the first team to even do it.

The team plays in the NFC West Division. They have fans throughout the United States. Those fans call themselves part of the Raider Nation.

The team has 1898 as their first year as an organization and are the oldest professional football club in the United States. In 1898 they were formed as the Morgan Athletic Club in Chicago and played as the Racine Normals. They played their games at Normal Field on Racine Ave. in Chicago.

They received the name Cardinals in 1901 and it was as a result of the color of their uniforms. They played in used uniforms that originally featured the maroon color of the University of Chicago. The color had faded and looked ‘cardinal red’.

It’s not really known when the club turned professional, however they were a professional club when they reformed in 1913. In 1906 with a lack of local competition they had disbanded play.

In 1920 the Chicago Cardinals became one of the charter members of the American Professional Football Association. This association became the National Football league in 1922. They along with the Decatur Staleys, now the Chicago Bears, are the only teams to have played in 1920 to be still in existence. The Green Bay Packers began a year later in 1921. The Packers are the oldest team to have played in the same city.

The Cardinals have been owned by the Bidwell family since Charles Bidwell purchased the team in 1932. Bidwell was a vice president of the Chicago Bears. When Charles Bidwell died in 1947 the team passed to his wife Violet. His son Bill Bidwell is currently the team owner. The Cardinals would move to St. Louis in 1960, playing there until they moved to Phoenix in 1988. They were the Phoenix Cardinals until 1994 when they broadened their market base.

The game has always been played on a neutral field and on odd numbered Super Bowls the NFC champions are considered the home team. So far no team that play their regular season games in the Super Bowl city has gone to the Super Bowl in that year. The Arizona Cardinals will be considered the home team.

The Cardinals are appearing in their first Super Bowl, in fact this will be the first year since 1948 when the team franchise played in Chicago as the Chicago Cardinals that they will be playing for a championship, a year that they lost. Their last championship year came in 1947. They won this year’s NFC Championship by defeating the Philadelphia Eagles (32-25). It was also the Eagles that they played in both the 1947 and 1948 championship games.

The AFC Champions, the Pittsburgh Steelers, reached the Super Bowl by winning, a closer than the score shows (23-14), game against the Baltimore Ravens. It was the third time that they played and defeated the Ravens this season. All three were close and hard fought games with the Steelers clinching the game late in the final quarter or in overtime in each.

The Steelers will be playing in their seventh Super Bowl and attempting to win their sixth. If they win they will become the first team to win six Super Bowls, the most won by a single team. Along with the Steelers only the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers have 5 wins.

The game will be shown on NBC Television with Al Michaels and John Madden calling the game. John Madden was the winning coach of the Oakland Raiders in Super Bowl XI. Half time will feature a performance by Bruce Springsteen with Jennifer Hudson singing the National Anthem.

Note:
This post will be updated after the game to reflect the final score.

Many people that have entertained, educated or annoyed us passed away this past year. The ones that we will miss the most are those who were in their prime or their prime was in front of them. We missed the chance to see how Tim Russert would have commented and reported on the historic November election and all of the work that Heath Ledger would have done to entertained us.

The most heartbreaking lost of 2008 was that of the 2 year old Caylee Anthony. She would have turned 3 on August 9th. The picture of the first missing and now confirmed dead girl is one to melt the heart of even the vilest of people. Although it seems as if the vilest person is her mother Casey Anthony. Casey Anthony had been indicted for the murder of her daughter even before the girl’s remains were discovered on December 11th.

At the beginning of the year it appeared as if the New England Patriots were going to do something that had never been accomplished in the NFL. That would be to finish the season with a perfect record of 19-0. This would have matched the undefeated season of the Miami Dolphins. The Dolphins had a record of 17-0 playing only 14 regular season games compared to New England’s 16 game schedule. The New York Giants, who entered the playoffs as a wild card team and fifth seed in the NFC, won the Super Bowl, 17-14. To win, the Giants won 17 road games and became the first NFC wild card team to win the Super Bowl. The year ended with the Detroit Lions becoming the first NFL team to lose all 16 regular season games.

On July 15, 2007 the Philadelphia Phillies became the first baseball team (in fact the first professional franchise) to lose ten thousand games. Even with that they advanced to the 2007 baseball playoffs when the New Mets had their famous collapse. 2008 had a lot of the same with the Phillies winning the NL East over the Mets who struggled once again in September. They then went on to defeat the Milwaukee Brewers (3-1) and Los Angeles Dodgers (4-1) for the NL Championship. Playing the upstart Tampa Bay Rays (they went from having the worst record in the American League in 2007 to winning the AL East and AL Championship in 2008) the Phillies won the World Series (4-1). This was the first sports championship for a team from Philadelphia since the NBA’s 76ers won in 1983.

Perhaps the most unusual story to come out of 2008 was the July 3rd marriage of Benjamin Franklin and Betsy Ross in Philadelphia Pennsylvania. No they did not come back from the grave to be married. Ralph Archbold (66), who is an impersonator of Benjamin Franklin and Betsy Ross impersonator Linda Wilde (50) exchanged the vows of marriage in front of Independence Hall. Although there was a 45 year age difference between Franklin and Ross, it would have been possible for them to have married.