DVD Transfer 80 (Super Bowl XXXIV NFL Network Rebroadcast)

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(c)2007 National Football League (rebroadcast)

(c)2000 National Football League; ABC Sports-The Walt Disney Company (original broadcast)

This upload contains a 2007 "Super Bowl Classics" NFL Network rebroadcast of Super Bowl XXXIV; pitting the then-St. Louis Rams and their Cinderella season featuring the "Greatest Show on Turf" offense of Kurt Warner (who had risen from obscurity after free-agent acquisition Trent Green suffered a season-ending knee injury in preseason to league MVP), Marshall Faulk, Isaac Bruce and Torry Holt among others (including a defense that gave up a league-low of 242 points to the Rams' 526 scored and was led by defensive end Kevin Carter, who led the NFL in sacks with 17) against the recently-renamed Tennessee Titans (formerly the Houston and then Tennessee Oilers); featuring a lineup that included Steve McNair; Eddie George; Kevin Dyson; Frank Wycheck; Bruce Matthews (the veteran offensive lineman was a teammate in college at USC of head coach Jeff Fisher) and a solid defense sparked by rookie defensive end Jevon "The Freak" Kearse (with a rookie-record 14.5 sacks).

After a rather sloppy first half which saw the Rams advance into Tennessee's red zone on all 5 possessions of the first half with only 3 field goals (along with a missed and a mishandled snap on the first drive) to show for it; St. Louis managed to pick up its first Super Bowl championship in team history (the team had gone to Super Bowl XIV when they were based in Los Angeles and put up a strong fight before losing to the defending champion Pittsburgh Steelers 31-19) and first championship of any sort since the Rams' NFL Championship win in 1951 by a 23-16 margin secured by Ram linebacker Mike Jones making a game-saving tackle of Titans receiver Kevin Dyson one yard short of a tying touchdown as time expired; with Kurt Warner completing his Cinderella season with Super Bowl MVP honors after throwing for a Super Bowl-record 414 yards and 2 touchdowns (including the 73-yard game-winner to Isaac Bruce just before the 2 minute warning)

Calling the action were ABC' s Monday Night Football crew of Al Michaels and Boomer Esiason; with Lesley Visser and Lynn Swann reporting from the sidelines. Coverage was hosted by ESPN's Chris Berman and newly-retired San Francisco 49ers quarterback Steve Young (whose career had come to an abrupt end following a concussion suffered during the 49ers' Week 3 MNF 24-10 win at Arizona when running back Lawrence Phillips missed a blitzing Aeneas Williams, allowing Williams to knock Young down just after the pass; with Young - who had suffered several concussions in his career - briefly knocked unconscious and medically forced to quit) and Mike Tirico handling the Lombardi Trophy presentation (this being the first Super Bowl for ABC after the network was bought out by Disney; with Disney slowly folding ABC Sports into ESPN). After this game, ABC would blow up this crew, with Michaels being the only holdover while replacing Esiason in the booth (Al and Boomer having not gotten along during their two years working together) with sportscaster and former San Diego Chargers Hall-of-Fame quarterback Dan Fouts and comedian Dennis Miller; while Melissa Stark and Eric Dickerson took over the sideline reporting roles. Performing the National anthem would be Faith Hill; while the halftime show was produced by Disney (with sponsorship by E*Trade) and titled "Tapestry of Nations", with performances by Christina Aguilera; Enrique Iglesias; Toni Braxton and Phil Collins.

As a bonus, there's the first few minutes of that night's NFL Total Access covering the lead-up to Super Bowl XLI.

NOTES

1. This would be the second and final Super Bowl held at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta (in an interesting quirk; Bob McElwee served as referee for both of those Super Bowls - with this being his third and final Super Bowl assignment {McElwee's first Super Bowl was game XXII, also Al Michaels' play-by-play debut in the Big Game}). The reason the Georgia Dome never got another Super Bowl was due to a pair of freak ice storms hitting Atlanta within a week, and while crews were able to keep the roads from freezing, many residents would feel this played a negative role in the Super Bowl bypassing Atlanta, including losing its Super Bowl XLIII bid to Tampa (Atlanta would not get another Super Bowl until game LIII: when the game was held at the successor to the Georgia Dome, Mercedes-Benz Stadium)

2. Next to the final play; the thing this game is best known for is the large number of "dot-com" commercials (such as Monster.com; Lifeminders.com {known for its extremely cheap commercial} and Pets.com alongside firms that - while technically not dot-coms were often lumped in such as E*Trade {the chimpanzee clapping to "La Cucharacha" following by a snarky remark about wasting $2 million} and Electronic Data Systems {which before this ad was perhaps best known for being the company founded by 1992 and 1996 Presidential candidate Ross Perot} with their "Cat Herders" spot). The vast majority of these would not make it to the end of the year after the dot-com bubble burst (the following year would even see E*Trade reference one of the fallen dot-coms when the chimpanzee sheds a tear at the sight of a sock that was a stand-in for the Pets.com sockpuppet)

3. Two non "dot-com" commercials would draw a level of controversy. One was a spot for Nuveen Investments in which CGI technology was used to make it appear that technological and scientific advances had made it appear that former Superman star Christopher Reeve (paralyzed nearly 5 years earlier in a horseback riding accident) had regained the ability to walk; leading to allegations of creating false promises. The other was a FedEx spot spoofing the Lollipop Guild scene in The Wizard of Oz where Dorothy and her friends arrive in Munchkin Land, only for the Munchkins' voices to drop until a FedEx driver arrives with helium for the Munchkins to inhale. This ad led to controversy due to a recent spike in huffing (using inhalants, often household cleaners, to produce a high) where several teenagers had become seriously ill or died as a result; with FedEx quickly pulling the spot.

4. This would be the second and final Super Bowl to date where neither team committed a turnover (the other being Super Bowl XXV; also originally broadcast on ABC)

5. Rams head coach Dick Vermeil - who had gotten the Super Bowl championship after being the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles team that lost Super Bowl XV to the Oakland Raiders 19 years earlier - retired shortly after this game, only to return in 2001 with interstate rival Kansas City Chiefs; remaining there until retiring for good after the 2005 season (Vermeil had left coaching citing burnout after 1982; during which he went into broadcasting before returning to the sidelines with the Rams in 1997). Vermeil - at 63 - was also the oldest Super Bowl winning coach up to then.

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Archive

Internet Archive, in The VHS Vault

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Credit

National Football League; NFL Network; ABC Sports-The Walt Disney Company

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