I quickly learned what many Sunday widows already realized — that football is not a game but a religion, a metaphysical island of fundamental truth in a highly verbal, disguised society, a throwback of 30,000 generations of anthropological time. – Arnold J. Mandell, “A Psychiatric Study of Professional Football,” 1974 [An inte

Pro football is like nuclear warfare. There are no winners, only survivors. – Frank Gifford, quoted in Sports Illustrated, 1960 July 4th

The Super Bowl is like a movie, and the quarterback is the leading man. – Leigh Steinberg, quoted by @ESPNNFL, 2014 January 20th

The Super Bowl has become more of a staging event for a week of debauchery than a contest to determine the best team in the National Football League. – Peter H. King, San Francisco Examiner, 1980