Penelope's First Super Bowl; And A Digression...Or Two

As a pre-toddler, Penelope's screen-time is
rather severely limited, so I doubt she'll see
much of XLVI. But on Super Bowl eve, she
did display her hereditary loyalty to the
Dolphins, courtesy of Grand Aunt Carole
and cousin Lexi. 

Carole happily reminded me of Rebecca's old Dolphins jersey,
a family favorite. This would have been Xmas, 1974, as the
Dolphins were headed to their fourth consecutive Super Bowl
appearance. Alas, Oakland knocked them off, and the
Dolphins' consecutive appearance record stands at three.

Hereditary because for several decades our Dad (Carole and
mine) was scorekeeper at the Orange Bowl. As a kid, I got
to see a lot of football games, usually cheap seats or
"complimentary" (he knew everybody that worked there),
occasionally on the sidelines, or even the pressbox,
including the Dolphins' first regular season game and local
hero Joe Auer's 95 yard run back of the opening kick-off
against KC. (The season went down-hill from there). But I
digress. Above is a shot I took in December, 1972, a play-off
game against the Browns. You can see Earl Morrall throwing
an out-pattern to the diminuitive Howard Twilley, with Norm
Evans and Hall of Famer Larry Little protecting. The Browns
led for much of the game, but Morrall pulled it out in the
closing drive.  

And the Perfect Season continued, to Pittsburgh, and then a
victory over the Redskins in VII. Few now remember that it
was Earl Morrall who quarterbacked the Dolphins most of
that season. Starter Bob Griese went down in the 2nd quarter
of the fifth game, a broken leg administered by the Chargers'
estimable Deacon Jones. Griese did not return until the 2nd
half of of the AFC championship game against Pittsburgh, but
then showed why he was starter and another Hall of Famer.
All of which is to explain my antipathy for the Pats, who
threatened to eclipse the Perfect Season back in 2007-2008,
but were thwarted by these same Giants in the 2008 Super
Bowl. I still dislike the Pats. Go Giants!

OK, not everyone in the family is a fan; here Penelope sports
some new "sweet pea" head-gear from grandma; Penelope
knows what to do when the camera is on...

PS 21-17 Giants! Yes!