Overview
Super Bowl XLVIII is an upcoming National Football League (NFL) championship game between the Seattle Seahawks and the Denver Broncos to be held at the MetLifeStadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey on February 2nd, 2014.
Background
Both the Denver Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks finished the 2013 season with scores of 13 to 3, with the Broncos scoring the highest total points in a season in NFL history at 606.
Notable Developments
Richard Sherman’s Postgame Rant
On January 19th, 2014, Seattle Seahawks won against the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship Game after cornerback Richard Sherman managed to tip a pass thrown to 49ers receiver Michael Crabtree, assisting Seahawks linebacker Malcolm Smith’s interception during the closing minute of the game. As a result of the victory, Seattle Seahawks advanced to to Super Bowl XLVIII. Immediately after the game, Sherman taunted Crabtree in an impassioned rant in an interview with Fox Sports sportscaster Erin Andrews (shown below).
Marijuana Bowl
On December 31st, 2013, the marijuana enthusiast blog High Times[2] published an article noting that the Seahawks and Broncos come from two of the largest cities in the United States that had recently legalized the use of recreational marijuana. On January 17th, MSN[3] reported that lobbyists were urging the NFL to refrain from punishing players who tested positive for marijuana and referred to the upcoming Super Bowl game as the “Marijuana Bowl.” According to the Twitter analytics site Topsy,[1] tweets containing the keywords “marijuana bowl” peaked on January 19th, with over 39,900 mentions.
On January 20th, Redditor Jonathan_71 submitted a two-pane image macro featuring a Broncos player and a Seahawks player with a caption pointing out the recent legalization of marijuana in each team’s home state (shown below). Within the first two weeks, the post garnered more than 33,000 up votes and 1,000 comments.
Notable Advertisements
Audi doberhuahua(shown below, left),
Cheerios (shown below, left). “Terry Crews”: Toyoto Highlander with Muppets (shown below, right).
Doritos Contest
The week leading up to the Superbowl, the snack food company Doritos revealed the top five finalists for their annual “Crash the Superbowl” contest, two of which would be aired during the football championship game.
(Shown above clockwise: “Office Thief,” “Cowboy Kid,” “Finger Cleaner,” “Time Machine” and “Breakroom Ostrich”)