Isn’t There Some Football Game Sunday?

Mike Penner [Jan. 29] quotes Bob Oates saying that the first Super Bowl game “didn’t sell out because it was not perceived to be a big game in Los Angeles.” I would go further and say it was perceived before the fact as a probable dull and one-sided affair.

I was in high school at the time when my father invited me to go. I told him I would pass because “everyone knows it will be a terrible game.”

I had forgotten this story until a few years ago, when my father passed away and I found his ticket stub for the game in the garage, along with the pristine ticket he was unable to persuade me to use. I have no plans to part with either one.

DAVID SIMON

Los Angeles

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You just had to do it! You couldn’t let us alone in our somnolent state, perusing your newspaper, hoping to find an interesting article with a clever turn of phrase, hypnotically turning page after page of advertising, only to find another boring report of jaded celebrities, spoiled athletes and mayhem.

You had to jog our memories by rerunning Jim Murray’s article on Super Bowl I, reminding us of the stylish creative writing and the nuttiness called sports.

JULE D’ANGELO

Orange

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Super Bowl XL. What’s wrong with calling it “Super Bowl 40”? It is ridiculous to keep referring to Super Bowls with those silly Roman numbers. It would be intelligent to refer to the year (e.g., 2006) of the event as other sports do for their competitions. Can anyone say anything about Super Bowl XXIV, even in which year that game was played?

By the way, I was born in MCMXLV.

AL DELAY

Riverside