XVII

For those unfamiliar with Roman numerals, XVII is the number for 17.  Super Bowls are still numbered with Roman numerals, with the most recent Super Bowl being XLVI (46) between the Giants and Patriots.  Super Bowl XVII was my favorite Super Bowl.  It pitted my Redskins against the Miami Dolphins.  It was the first time I ever got to watch the Redskins play in a Super Bowl.  (They had played the Dolphins in Super Bowl VII, but I wasn’t born then.

I wanted to be like John Riggins when I was a kid.  He ran over people.  That looked like fun.  I liked running over people even though my mother said I was a bad boy when I did that.  He was a big part of the Redskins offense (which was explosive in those days.)

The game didn’t look promising at first.  It took a while for the Redskins to score a touchdown.  And as soon as they scored, they gave up a touchdown on the ensuing kickoff.  The Redskins trailed at halftime.  They trailed after three quarters.  The Redskins were facing a 4th-and-1 on the Miami 43 yard line.  It looked like a typical goal line offense-vs-defense.  The play looked like Riggins was going to go through the middle, but he went around to the left and went down the field for a Redskins touchdown.  The Redskins finally had a lead. I was a happy kid!  The Redskins scored a touchdown late in the game and won 27-17.

“XVII” is not a word in my opinion.  But I had to search for “words that start with ‘x” on the internet.  And according to a page I found, they included all Roman numerals that started with “X.”  I chose XVII because it was the first time I got to see the Redskins win a Super Bowl.  I could have chosen XXII or XXVI.  Both those Super Bowls were great, but XVII will always have a special place in my heart.

[This is part of the A-Z of Life series. Check out the other posts!]

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