Super Bowl With a Smirk IV: Top 60 moments, Hall leak, Bunny surprise, wings, more
Super Bowl With a Smirk, a beloved or at least tolerated annual staple of the Miami Herald years we remember to do it, is back! Smirk flies under the banner ‘Make Fun, Not War’ and delights to needle and tweak the NFL and the gravitas of its Big Game. Welcome back for our fourth of five daily editions.
USA Today ranks the top 60 Super Bowl moments of all-time, because Sunday is Super Bowl 60 and Your Friend the Media is nothing if not formulaic. (Plus we love round numbers. A year from now, nobody will be ranking the top 61 moments.)
So No. 1 ties to this Seahawks-Patriots rematch bowl because it’s Malcolm Butler’s goalline interception for the Pats with 20 seconds left that preserved a four-point win over Seattle in SB 49. Rounding out the top five: Ben Roethlisberger to Santonio Holmes in SB 43, David Tyree’s helmet catch in SB 42, Joe Montana to John Taylor in SB 23, and Scott Norwood’s wide-right miss in SB 25.
Curiously, The ‘72 Dolphins finishing off the 17-0 Perfect Season ranked only 31st, and the mention of it was kicker Garo Yepremian’s gaffe with the fumbled pass returned for an interception in SB 7. And egregiously underappreciated and ranked way too low at 47: Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction in SB 38.
Smirk IV notes:
▪ ESPN stole some of the drama from Thursday night’s NFL Honors awards show by already reporting Bill Belichick would not get and neither would Robert Kraft get his happy ending. Hmm. A Smirk investigation has found that five of 50 Hall voters have ESPN affiliations. Were I a detective looking for the leak, maybe start there? Scandal! Spoiler alert: Drew Brees and Larry Fitzgerald both will get into Canton Thursday. Frank Gore won’t despite being fourth all-time in rushing yards because his name accidentally appeared on the ballot as Lesley Gore, the singer best-known for her 1963 hit, “It’s My Party.”
▪ Lots of buzz over who might join Bad Bunny on the halftime stage Sunday. Cardi B -- who’s dating Patriots receiver Stefon Diggs -- is the big betting favorite followed by J Balvin and Jennifer Lopez. Odds fave for Bunny’s first song is “Titi Me Pregunto” followed by “Baile Inolvidable” and “Monaco.” Already looking forward to TV cameras panning to Commissioner Roger Goodell up in a suite as he nods awkwardly during the performance as if had ever heard any of the songs before, all the while praying Bunny isn’t sneaking in an “ICE out” references en Español.
▪ The National Chicken Council reports Americans are expected to eat 1.48 billion chicken wings during the Super Bowl -- 10 million more wings than a year ago. Laid end to end, 1.48 billion wings would stretch from Boston to Seattle 27 times. I wanna meet the guy who laboriously laid those wings in a cross-country line in order to determine that fact.
▪ A record $1.76 billion is expected to be legally wagered on Seahawks-Patriots Sunday according to the American Gaming Association -- or 280 million more dollars gambled than chicken wings eaten. That’s an almost 27 percent increase in legal betting handle over a year ago, with an estimated 67 million Americans expected to place wagers. And legal betting is a fraction of the whole. Total wagers including illegal, offshore and casual bets are expected to reach around $23 billion. Oy!
▪ Two former Miami Hurricanes are in this Super Bowl: Patriots kicker Andy Borregales and Seahawks backup tight end Elijah Arroyo. Total number of ex-Florida Gators and FSU Seminoles playing Sunday: Zero.
▪ The annual Taste of the NFL, a major Super Bowl philanthropic party, is set for Saturday at The Hibernia in San Fran with celebrity chefs including Andrew Zimmern and Carla Hall. The event used to have a chef representing every NFL city until that year a scandal arose when the Patriots rep was found to be spying on the recipes of rival chefs.
▪ An all-star Super Bowl LX Opening Ceremony on Sunday will include rockers Green Day with a musical performance commemorating the SB’s six decades and rendition of “America the Beautiful” by Brandi Carlile, unless President Trump cancels the Opening Ceremony after learning that both Carlile and Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong are vocal critics.
▪ Super Bowl Party Tip du Jour: Surprise your guests with a strictly enforced ban on all alcoholic beverages. The sobriety mandate will be good for your guests’ health while also sparing you the bother of hosting future Super Bowl parties.
Smirk Poll IV: You may vote as many times as you’d like.
This story was originally published February 5, 2026 at 1:28 PM.
