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| SUPER BOWL SUNDAY | 14 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2016 By Bud Geracie Bay Area News Group Which Super Bowl was the greatest ever played? We took that question to 25 esteemed broadcast- ers and writers who cover pro football. We did not de- fine greatness for them. It was their ballot, their call. And it was far from unanimous. "This is impossible," NBC's Bob Costas wrote at the top of his ballot. There was a time when it wasn't a tough question. For most of three decades, the Super Bowl was a reg- ular disappointment, such a frequent dud it came to be called the Super Bore. Indeed, among the first 30 games, only two were de- cided by a field goal or less. Only seven were decided by a touchdown or less. Thirty games, barely a hand- ful of nail-biters, and some of those hardly qualified as great. Baltimore's 16-13 victory over Dallas in Su- per Bowl V was an 11-turnover debacle. Miami's 14-7 win over Washington in Super Bowl VII was super boring — 14-0 with two minutes left — until kicker Garo Yepremian tried his hand at passing. But ever since John Elway went helicoptering to- ward the end zone in Super Bowl XXXII, in 1998, it has been Super Bore no more. There is still the occa- sional dud — Seattle 43, Denver 8 — but nine of the last 14 Super Bowls have been decided by a touchdown or less. Five have been decided by a field goal or less. Many have gone down to the final minute, or second. Tennessee stopped at the 1-inch line. Adam Vinat- ieri from 48 yards as time expired to beat the Rams. Vinatieri again, this time from 41 to beat Carolina. Eli Manning to David Tyree, and then to Plaxico Burress, to spoil Patriot perfection. Santonio Holmes in the corner of the end zone with 35 seconds left for Pitts- burgh. Manning beating the Patriots again with an- other late drive. Colin Kaepernick to Michael Crab- tree again and again and again to no avail. Pete Car- roll with one play call from the 1. Add those games to the rare gems of the first 30 years — Montana-to-Taylor; Scott Norwood wide right; those Cowboys-Steelers games with rosters that now line the halls in Canton — and now tackle the question. Which was the greatest Super Bowl? To James Brown of CBS, a native of D.C., it was Washington's victory over Denver in Super Bowl XXII. "Doug Williams throws for a record-setting four touchdowns in one quarter and (was the) first black quarterback to start and win a Super Bowl," he wrote. To Jim Nantz, who will call the game for CBS on Feb. 7, it was the Saints' victory over the Colts five years ago. "The first NFL game I ever attended was in 1967. It was the first game in the Saints' franchise history. I was an 8-year-old boy, holding my father's hand, liv- ing in New Orleans at the time, attending the game with standing-room-only tickets. We sat in the aisle two rows from the top. "Fast forward many decades later and I'm calling Super Bowl XLIV with the Saints playing the Colts. It felt like my whole NFL experience had come full cir- cle. From an 8-year-old kid attending the first game in franchise history with my dad, to being there to call the Saints Super Bowl victory. It was a powerful moment in my life and my career." We sent ballots to Chris Berman and Dick Enberg and Dick Stockton and Lesley Visser, asking them to rank the five greatest Super Bowls, in order, one through five. We sent ballots to Peter King and the NFL writers in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Dallas. We sent one to Jerry Green, one of the three sportswriters to have covered all 49 games. (And, yes, he plans to be at Levi's Stadium.) Green selected Super Bowl III, the Joe Namath Game, as the greatest "because that game had so much impact on pro football and the manner in which it developed into America's most popular sport." Some others shared that sentiment, but not all. Gary Myers of the New York Daily News, looking at that game with its 16-7 score, left it off his ballot com- pletely. So did Costas. "I made it easier on myself by eliminating games of great historical significance," Costas wrote. "I went with games I felt were the best combination of well-played, dra- matic, exciting and down-to-the- wire with multiple memorable plays. Extra point if all-time great teams and players were involved." We purposely excluded from the panel former players, coaches and team executives for reasons perfectly summarized by one who slipped through, Amy Trask. The former Raiders exec, now with CBS, referenced the team's Super Bowl tri- umphs in 1977, 1981 and 1984 and wrote: "Don't make me choose between those three babies." Through the magic of NFL Films, everyone has seen every one of the Super Bowl games. But 16 of our pan- elists saw all 49 games in real time. One of them, En- berg, returned a ballot that read like an oral history — a thousand words of wondrous prose. His first-place vote: Steelers 35, Cowboys 31 in Su- per Bowl XIII. "At first I thought this to be a daunting task to pick out the best SB," Enberg wrote. "Actually for me, it was an easy call." And Costas, the man who found it impossible? "I decided on Super Bowl XLIII," he wrote of Pitts- burgh's 27-23 victory over Arizona in 2009, "because of the great, last-minute, winning-catch by Santonio Holmes, the electrifying Kurt Warner to Larry Fitzger- ald touchdown pass that could have won it for Ari- zona, and the epic James Harrison 100-yard intercep- tion return for a touchdown. Am I sure? No. But it's as good a choice as any." So which was the greatest Super Bowl ever played? Turn the page. IN SEARCH OF GREATNESS Name, Affiliation Super Bowls Seen Chris Berman, ESPN 49 James Brown, CBS 28 Nick Canepa, San Diego Union-Tribune 49 Bob Costas, NBC 49 Dick Enberg, NBC 49 Sam Farmer, Los Angeles Times 42 Bob Glauber, New York Newsday 49 Ed Goren, Fox Sports 45 Rick Gosselin, Dallas Morning News 49 Jerry Green, Detroit News 49 Cam Inman, Bay Area News Group 37 Clark Judge, Talk of Fame Network 49 Tim Kawakami, Bay Area News Group 43 Peter King, Monday Morning Quarterback 47 Jim Litke, Associated Press 49 Jerry McDonald, Bay Area News Group 47 Bob McGinn, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel 49 Gary Myers, New York Daily News 49 Jim Nantz, CBS Sports 49 Don Pierson, Chicago Tribune 49 Mark Purdy, Bay Area News Group 49 Dick Stockton, Fox Sports 49 Amy Trask, CBS Sports 43 Lesley Visser, CBS Sports 40 Barry Wilner, Associated Press 49 THE VOTERS NINE OF THE LAST 14 SUPER BOWLS HAVE BEEN DECIDED BY A TOUCHDOWN OR LESS. FIVE HAVE BEEN DECIDED BY A FIELD GOAL OR LESS. TOP FIVE SUPER BOWLS