h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Not bad BBS, I presume it's not finished yet?

Indeed it's coming together as I speak.

I'd like to get the editors to put it up on the "Front Page" for Superbowl weekend. Hopefully we can get a plug for the Forum in there too ...

I was going to reveal it to the forum when I'd done all that I intended for some comments/additions/criticism before I get it to Peer Review. But as you're looking any stuff would be appreciated.

My intention is to avoid a heavy recap of games/stats as these are readily available on Superbowl.com I just want to give a flavour of all the extraneous stuff that goes on ...

I want it to be accessible to the unknowledgeable

FF - I believe the R&F holds the all-time TV ratings. Unfortunately I can't find it in any of my local shops. If you get a chance could you take a look and confirm where Superbowls rank in them? (please) There's a theoretical in it for you

Cheers,
BBS

PS Looked all over the internet and surprisingly can't find a think ...

Sure BBS... at work now so I'll check tonight. What do you want, top 10?

And if it happens to mention viewing figures that would be great too

BBS - Those top ten most watched TV programmes in American TV history!!

SB XXX 28/01/96 NBC 138,488,000
SB XXVIII 30/01/94 NBC 134,800,000
SB XXXII 25/01/98 NBC 133,400,000
SB XXVII 31/01/93 NBC 133,400,000
SB XXXV 28/01/01 CBS 131,200,000
SB XXXIV 30/01/00 ABC 130,744,800
SB XXXI 26/01/97 FOX 128,200,000
SB XXXIII 31/01/99 FOX 127,500,000
SB XX 26/01/86 NBC 127,000,000
Winter Olympics 23/02/94 CBS 126,686,000

Listed as Programme, Date, Network and Total Viewers.

Dunno what happened to the episode of M*A*S*H!! I thought it was in there too, although I read that back in the 80's and so has probably been overtaken by all those SuperBowls since...

Hope this helps

Thanks for that FF. I reckon you're right about MASH. I think that was shown in the early 80s and was knocked off the top spot by Superbowl XX. The top 10 are all after that date. At least you remember it too.

So what do you think of the entry? It's almost finished ... just need to writeup a bit on the stars and MVPs.

Hi BBS

I think the SB article is great, just the right tone to attract new followers with the right smattering of history and personal stories. I think you're right not to include masses of stats as this will probably put some people off... not everyone is like me!!

Anyway, as it is always useful to have someone else read your work before publishing, here are some things I have notice... nothing major!

Under the heading ‘Origins’ you have put XXVII to represent 37, an X missing. Also under ‘90’s’ where you have XV instead of XXV for Bills/Giants. In ‘Best SB’s, the last one you have XXVI instead of XXXVI.

Under ‘Cities’ you mentioned that most of the games have been played in New Orleans, Tampa, Florida and Los Angeles. Perhaps you should change Florida to Miami as Florida is a state where Tampa also resides.

Finally, I thought it might be good to mention how the Pats came out of the tunnel last year where you talk about player introductions..

Hope that helps... I can’t see any other mistakes (not that my last point refers to a mistake of course)

FF

Didn't see last year's game *grumble* bloody Sky tv *grumble*

What did the Pats do? Am I right in thinking that they came out together instead of individually? I'll put this down in the recap of SB XXXVI.

I know there are still some spello's and grammo's to be corrected, and I haven't actually read the whole thing through for myself. But is:
- everything historically accurate to your knowledge?
- there any more anecdotal stuff I could add that you know of?
- any other stuff that goes on that I could/should mention?
I'd like it to be as comprehensive as possible, but still interesting.

It's quite Brit-centric, I'm wondering what the viewing figures from around the world are? How other countries get to see the game? Is my view of how Americans view the SB correct, or is it a stereotype?

Everything is historically accurate to my knowledge... as for other anecdotes, how about those one game wonders whose one game happened to be the SB... Timmy Smith or that Dallas receiver (his name escapes me) whose only pro catch was a SB TD?

I don't know how stereotypical of Americans it is... you might want to garner an opinion form RE1 and Blathers!! Anthing I know about how the rest of the world sees the game is purely via word of mouth, I don't have any written 'facts' to refer to.

Oh... and yes, the Pats came out of the tunnel as one team with no player introductions

I could give some more ideas if you let me go through the collection of SB programmes I have

FF

There's some more time yet to add other stuff. I probably won't finish the entry until next week. See what you can find. It'll have to go through Peer Review, so there'll be a chance for the US contingent to add their thoughts ...

cool

Do you think the BBC will offer me a job as a researcher?

Perhaps ...

I notice you have written any entries yet. IMHO there's a veritable wealth of knowledge waiting to be tapped ... You (we) could get a University project together on the NFL ...

I once applied for a staff writer position with First Down, even though all my writing experience is as a wannabe novelist.. Being a legitimate American Football historian would be pretty though!!

I'd be happy to help contribute entries.. any ideas?

What to write? You can write about anything you want ...

Best to check it hasn't already been written (via the search engine). I don't like the current "Edited" entry for Amfoot. Bit lacking in quality. I'm sure you could do it justice although you might want ask whether they want to update it first.

If you take a look through my edited entries you'll find I go all over the place ... I have entries about supermarkets, blank cheques, the seasons, Field of Dreams - The Film, Airwolf, The Footie World Cup, Revolver - The Drinking Game to name just a few

Just discovered Blatherskite's been on here for a few years and this is what he used to get up to ... http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/brunel/A126901

BBS

Excellent entry.
I can only think of one thing to change about it, and that is that the Super Bowl usually is written as two words, not together as one, like you have it in the entry.

Other than that, I can't think of anything to say about it.

FF - you had a chance to read it. What do you think? Anything missing?

VRHoG - excuse my ignorance, but aren't you from Sweden? What's the deal with the broadcasting over there?

Yup, I am in deed from Sweden. I'm a bit unsure about the broadcasting over there at the moment, though, as I haven't actually lived there for about 4 years, but at least up until the 1998/1999 season, they showed one game a week of the regular season and they were usually recorded games, and then, if we were lucky, we got to see some live play-off games.
The Super Bowl is usually broadcast live, however, I'm a bit unsure about that since I haven't been there for the past 3 SBs. I'll have a look to find out, though.