Many tributes to Bryant at Super Bowl
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – Even at the Super Bowl, they mourned Kobe Bryant.
San Francisco’s Richard Sherman showed up for the Super Bowl in a Bryant jersey, the start of numerous honors dedicated to the basketball legend on football’s biggest day. Among them: Players from the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers lined up for a moment of silence to commemorate all nine victims of last weekend’s helicopter crash, including Bryant and his 13year-old daughter, Gianna.
The teams stood on their respective 24-yard lines – in tribute to Bryant’s No. 24 jersey. Some fans at the game wore Lakers jerseys, and a few even had Bryant’s Lower Merion High School jersey.
Two of the stadium’s four video screens showed an image of Bryant and the names of the other eight victims of the crash. The other two video screens showed an image of Pro Football Hall of Famer Chris Doleman, who also died last week.
Sherman also appeared on Fox’s pregame show to read a poem called “Dear Football,” adapting most of what he said from Bryant’s “Dear Basketball” poem that he penned as a way of announcing that the 2015-16 season would be his last with the Lakers and in the NBA.
During warmups at the Super Bowl, plenty of players wore cleats designed with various tributes to Bryant. San Francisco’s Dante Pettis had purpleand-gold ones with the words “Mamba Out” – the final two words of Bryant’s retirement speech following his 60point farewell game in 2016 – emblazoned on the sides.
The 49ers’ Emmanuel Sanders wore a pair with the words “Rest In Peace” and Kansas City’s Demarcus Robinson had images of Bryant and his number 24 on his cleats.
Immaculate reception is greatest moment: Fans have spoken, and the Immaculate Reception is their pick for the greatest moment of the NFL’s first 100 years.
The NFL announced the results of fan voting Sunday before the Super Bowl, choosing the pass from Terry Bradshaw that Franco Harris scooped up at Three Rivers Stadium and took for a 60yard touchdown in a 13-7 win over the Raiders in an AFC divisional game in December 1972.
The victory by the Immaculate Reception beat out the Helmet Catch by David Tyree off a pass from Eli Manning in the 2008 Super Bowl as the Giants denied New England both perfection at 19-0 and the Lombardi Trophy.
Brady in ad, ‘I’m not going anywhere’: Tom Brady ran a Super Bowl trick play without putting on a uniform.
The 42-year-old longtime Patriots quarterback can become an unrestricted free agent for the first time in his career when his contract ends in March, and he gave New England a fright in a commercial during the first half of Sunday’s game.
“They say all good things must come to an end, that the best just know when to walk away,” Brady said in the ad, walking through an empty football stadium and hinting at a possible retirement.
Brady says he has a major announcement, the music cuts out – and then he reveals he’s reading a script for Hulu.
“Me,” Brady adds, “I’m not going anywhere.”
Gronkowski helps Davis announce retirement: Vernon Davis casually announced his retirement Sunday as part of a comedic skit with Rob Gronkowski on Fox Sports.
In the skit, which aired a few hours before Super Bowl LIV, Davis joined Gronkowski and former Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison as members of “The Golden Gronks.” Gronkowski introduced them as his “retirement crew.”
“That’s right,” Davis said with a grin. “I’m retiring.”
Davis, who turned 36 on Friday, spent 14 seasons in the NFL.