American football can be complicated, so complicated in fact that not even the players and the refs get the rules right all the time, so it's daunting to come at it as a novice.
However, if you only tend to watch the game once a year for the big showpiece event, then you can just get caught up in the glitz and glamour without too much worry.
Still, you want to sound like you're in the know a bit, so here are a few tidbits, factoids, or trivial bits of information that you can sprinkle into conversation to bluff your way through Super Bowl 50.
The Vince Lombardi trophy
The trophy, presented to the winner at the end of the game, is known as the Vince Lombardi trophy. Until 1971, it was engraved with the words 'World Professional Football Championship', but that was changed to honour the legendary coach, who had passed away the previous year.
Image: David J. Phillip / AP/Press Association Images
Made from sterling silver by world famous jewellers Tiffany & Co., the winners get to keep the trophy, unlike in many other sports where they get a replica and have to pass it down to the next team to claim the title.
Peyton Manning's nervous start
Despite being a sure-fire Hall of Famer and one of the best to every play the game, hands down, Peyton Manning only has one Super Bowl ring to his name in his illustrious career, which began in 1998.
He could have had a second (which would have brought him level with his brother Eli), but the last time "The Sheriff" made it to the Super Bowl, things didn't go too well for him. Things went wrong from the very first play, as a muffed snap saw him scrambling to recover the ball in his own end zone and giving up a safety for two points.
The odds of it happening again are pretty long (lightning doesn't strike twice and all that) but keep an eye on the early going to see how the nerves affect players on both sides.
Cam The Records Man
The quarterback of the Carolina Panthers, he was the number one draft pick coming out of college in 2011, where he had won the national championship with Auburn and had claimed the Heisman trophy, the only player to ever do all those things in the space of one year.
While there was some debate as to whether he could do it in the big leagues, he quickly put those to bed by passing for over 400 yards in his first game (a record) and running in for 14 touchdowns in his first season (another record).
Just five years into his NFL career, he already has the record for the most rushing touchdowns for a quarterback, but if he wins on Sunday, then he would almost guarantee his place in the Hall of Fame, joining an elite club where there is just one member.
Image: Los Angeles Raiders Marcus Allen, most valuable player in Super Bowl XVIII, looks over a hometown paper sporting a full-page advertisement welcoming home the world champions after their 38-9 victory over the Washington Redskins, Sunday, Jan. 23, 1984. Lennox McLendon / AP/Press Association Images
Marcus Allen is the only other player to have ever won a national championship in college, the Heisman trophy, the Super Bowl and be named the league's MVP.
With Newton widely expected to be given that honour this season, thanks to his 35 passing touchdowns and 10 rushing, he would become the only quarterback ever to win all four of football's major awards if he leads the Panthers to victory on Sunday.
Do the Math
Everyone loves talking about numbers, particularly at parties, right? Of course they do, so here are the stats that you can hang your hat on throughout the game as you drop knowledge bombs on all those around you.
- Peyton Manning won his 199th game as a pro on his way to the Super Bowl, beating the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship game. If he wins on Sunday, he would be the only gunslinger in town to have ever reached 200 career wins from under centre.
- Carolina's ridiculous record this season is 17 wins and only one loss, and they're looking to go one better to 18-1 with a win at Super Bowl 50, a feat that has only ever been achieved by the San Francisco 49ers in 1984, and the legendary 1985 Chicago Bears team.
Image: Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka is carried off the field by Steve McMichael, left, and William Perry after the Bears defeated the New England Patriots 46-10 in NFL football's Super Bowl XX. PHIL SANDLIN / AP/Press Association Images
- At 39-years old, Peyton Manning will be the oldest quarterback to ever appear in the Super Bowl. Given Cam Newton is only 26, this game will feature the largest ever age gap between two quarterbacks in the showpiece final.
Half-time show
Coldplay are playing the half-time show this year, and while there might be no "left shark" moment this time around, there have been plenty of people already saying that the soothing stadium rockers might not be the right choice for the gig.
The night before the game, which takes place in Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California, Metallica are holding a free concert called 'The Night Before' (you're not allowed to use the term Super Bowl unless you're willing to pay big bucks) to celebrate the fact that it's taking place in their home town. In retrospect, it might have made sense for Roger Goodell and the folks at the NFL to give them a call...
Anyway, if you're more of a Metallica fan than a Coldplay sympathiser, you can watch the concert for free on YouTube.
What's "Omaha" all about?
Once you've watched the Denver Broncos in possession of the ball for about, oh say six seconds, you should have heard quarterback Peyton Manning shout "Omaha" somewhere between 12 and 15 times.
ICYMI: How many times did Peyton Manning yell Omaha on Sunday?
WATCH: http://t.co/2vaAjPx4gG #NFLPlayoffs
— NFL (@NFL) January 13, 2014
What does it mean? Well the man himself has thankfully cleared it up, leaving absolutely no ambiguity in his description of its definition at all.
Manning said that "Omaha is a run play, but it could be a pass play or a play-action pass, depending on a couple things: the wind, which way we're going, the quarter, and the jerseys that we're wearing. It varies, really play to play".
Almost as if he wants to keep that one secret for some reason...
Cam Newton's car accident
There's no getting around the fact that Cam Newton is simply a ridiculous physical specimen. He's 6'5", 260 pounds of pure muscle and he can run 40 yards in under 4.6 seconds. Also, he can do this.
However, while it seems almost inevitable that a man like that should lead his team to the biggest game of the year with the best record in football (17-1), there was a period where it looked like we might never see Newton again.
In December of 2014, he was involved in a serious car crash that left him with two fractures in his back, and the quarterback firmly believes it should have killed him: "I’m looking at this truck, and I’m looking at this accident, and I’m like, 'Dude, one plus one ain’t equaling two'. I’m looking at this truck like, 'Somebody’s supposed to be dead'".
Newton has used the incident to inspire him this season, and revealed in an interview that he still wears the admission bracelet from when he was taken to hospital afterwards. If you see him smiling a lot on Sunday, no matter the result, it's because he's genuinely just happy to be there.
Advertising space
Expect to see every brand in the world tweeting about this game on Sunday, as they try to soak up a little bit of the limelight, without actually having to pay for it. The blackout at Super Bowl XLVIII was a good example of that, with only one company actually getting it right.
Power out? No problem. pic.twitter.com/dnQ7pOgC
— Oreo Cookie (@Oreo) February 4, 2013
For those who are paying, as everyone knows, it's expensive, but this year looks to be a record setter. According to Forbes, 30 seconds of ad space on CBS this year will set you back a cool $5 million (up over $400,000 on last year), working out at $166,667 dollars a second.
That's pretty expensive, but you can still get your name out there if you're happy to have a pretty short ad, like Mark E. Everett of the band Eels did back in 2008.
It's one way of blowing your entire advertising budget...
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