A major upset in Super Bowl XLII prevented the Patriots from completing an undefeated season

Malcolm Butler's late interception sealed the Patriots' Super Bowl XLIX victory

In Super Bowl XLIX, the Seattle Seahawks' potential game-winning drive ended when Malcolm Butler intercepted a goal-line pass, sealing a 28-24 victory for the New England Patriots.

The Patriots came back from a 28-3 deficit in Super Bowl LI

In Super Bowl LI, the New England Patriots erased a 28-3 third-quarter deficit against Atlanta, forcing the first overtime in a Super Bowl and winning 34-28, the largest comeback in Super Bowl history.

From 1991-94, the Buffalo Bills lost four straight Super Bowls

The losses came against the Giants, Washington, and the Cowboys twice, completing a brutal run in which the Buffalo Bills were the only franchise to reach four consecutive Super Bowls without a championship.

Rob Gronkowski dented the Lombardi Trophy during the Patriots' celebration

After their victory in Super Bowl LII, Patriots' tight end Rob Gronkowski dented the trophy by using it as a baseball bat before throwing out the first pitch at Fenway Park. Team owner Robert Kraft decided not to repair the trophy.

Super Bowl XXXIV came down to the final play at the goal line

In Super Bowl XXXIV, Tennessee drove to the Rams' one-yard line on the final play, but Kevin Dyson was stopped by Mike Jones on the final play, sealing a 23-16 St. Louis win.

The Pittsburgh Steelers and New England Patriots are tied for the most Super Bowl wins

The Steelers and Patriots each have six wins, while the Cowboys and 49ers are tied for second with five wins. The Patriots have the most appearances with 11, while four teams—the Browns, Lions, Texans, and Jaguars—have never played in a Super Bowl.

The 2007 college football season was one of the wildest in history

In 2007, a record number of top-ranked teams fell, including 41-point underdog Stanford stunning USC. Upsets scrambled the rankings weekly, producing an unpredictable and memorable season.

The first Super Bowl didn't sell out—and the Packers won in a rout

Played on January 15, 1967, as the AFL-NFL World Championship Game, Super Bowl I failed to sell out the Los Angeles Coliseum as Vince Lombardi's Green Bay defeated Kansas City 35-10.

The Super Bowl is the National Football League’s championship game

Played annually in early February between the league’s two conference champions, the game was created as part of the 1966 merger between the American Football League and the National Football League. It has become the most-watched sporting event in the US each year.

CTE is a major threat to NFL players

A week before Super Bowl LVII, Boston University released findings from a study diagnosing 91.7% of former NFL players in their 376-person study with chronic traumatic encephalopathy. It was a stark comparison to the less than 1% of CTE diagnosis in non-football players.

Ohio State’s 2003 Fiesta Bowl win ended Miami’s 34-game winning streak

In a thrilling double-overtime BCS title game, Ohio State defeated defending champion Miami 31–24. This snapped the Hurricanes’ 34-game win streak and delivered the Buckeyes their first national championship since 1968.

There are 32 teams in the NFL

Click a team's name to see their current record and opponent for the day; read the latest news, including injuries; view the remaining schedule; find out where the team is in the standings; discover the current roster; explore all player and team stats; and watch the latest video highlights.

Liza Minnelli's 'New York, New York' used to play after the Yankees lost

For a time, Minnelli's version of the song was played following defeats. After each Yankees victory, it was Frank Sinatra's version. Ultimately, the team stopped using Minnelli's version, though Sinatra's is still played after every Yankees win.

King Philip’s War devastated Native resistance in colonial New England

Decades of rising tension over land and sovereignty erupted in 1675, when Wampanoag leader Metacom led a Native alliance against English colonies. The 14-month war ended in catastrophic defeat, killing thousands and shattering organized Native power in the Northeast.

John Elway's 'helicopter dive' capped his first Super Bowl title at 37

In Super Bowl XXXII, John Elway's airborne "helicopter" scramble symbolized his deep desire to win his first championship at age 37, after losing three previous Super Bowls.

Explaining the 1985 Chicago Bears defense, the greatest ever

Led by coach Mike Ditka, the Bears' 1985 defensive unit led the league in total points allowed, yards allowed, and total takeaways. Throughout the season, the team maintained an average of 12.4 points per game, and during its last three playoff games, it only allowed ten points. Few teams have come close to such a defensive display.

You can bet on the color of the Gatorade dumped on the winning coach for the Super Bowl

Many sports books offer additional prop bets reserved only for the Super Bowl, including the Gatorade color, the length of the national anthem, and more. In 2026, the betting favorite for the Gatorade color is orange.

What made Secretariat, one of racing's most dominant horses, so exceptional

No horse had won the Belmont, the "Test of the Champion," by 31-lengths prior to 1973 when Secretariat did it, and no one has done it since. In this New York Race Association article, jockey Ron Turcotte recounts his iconic race and provides his unique bond with his horse. He also reflects on Secretariat's post-Triple Crown career, noting how he matured later on.

Where you fall on the sports misery index

Only one team can win it all each season, which means the majority of fans are disappointed. This bot mines the data on how your teams have performed in recent years and measures your misery index (the higher, the more miserable).

Some found the Temu ‘Shop Like a Billionaire’ Super Bowl ads out of place in the Big Game

“It had no A-list celebrities or beloved cultural touchstones; not a single heartstring was tugged,” wrote one writer of the Temu ad that aired five times during the 2024 Super Bowl.

Little League sensation Danny Almonte was two years older than his competitors

The New York pitcher was a hotshot pitcher in the 2001 Little League World Series, catapulting his Bronx team to a third-place finish thanks to a no-hitter and a perfect game. Sports Illustrated eventually reported that Almonte was 14, not 12, and that his coach and father had knowingly misled Little League. They were both banned, though Almonte himself was cleared of all wrongdoing.

A Manhattan building doomed to collapse was saved in secret

After completing the Citicorp Center, its engineer realized that cost-cutting measures to use bolted instead of welded joints made the building vulnerable to collapse under quartering winds. For three months, crews worked in secret at night to reinforce the building under Project Serene.

Faithless electors have never changed the outcome of a US presidential election

Occasionally, Electoral College members vote against their state's popular choice—known as "faithless electors." Though these rare defections have drawn attention and prompted new state laws, none have ever altered the final result of a presidential race.

The Spanish flu had a major impact on the 1919 NHL season

Just two years after the National Hockey League was officially formed, its champion was playing the PCHA champion for the Stanley Cup. The series was tied, going into the deciding Game 5, when all but three NHL players fell ill with the Spanish flu. No champion was crowned that year.

Despite Hurricane Katrina, Mardi Gras moved forward in 2006

Although the city had been ravaged by the storm in August 2005 and many of its residents had still not returned by Carnival season in 2006, Mardi Gras celebrations still trudged on, with many krewes' floats and costumes satirizing the fallout from the disaster. Below is a picture by photographers Tyrone Turner and Susan Sterner of one attendee sporting a hazard fence dress.

Brandi Chastain, the star of the 1999 US victory over China in the 1999 Women's World Cup, was a last-second choice to take the penalty kick that sealed the victory.

Exploring the Larry Bird punch that almost changed March Madness

In 1939, baseball star Lou Gehrig delivered his inspirational 'Luckiest Man' speech after retiring due to the health condition that now bears his name.

Famed poet TS Eliot rejected the manuscript for George Orwell's political fable 'Animal Farm,' writing that its criticism of authoritarianism was not 'the right point of view.'

The 1987 Nintendo video game 'Stadium Events' isn't known for being particularly fun, but its scarcity has made it a highly sought-after item that has sold for up to $35K at auction.

Discover the catastrophic consequences of a failure of the US electrical grid—something that is more likely than many Americans think.

Hurricanes, which rely on air consistently spinning in the same direction, cannot cross the equator because air curves in opposite directions north and south of it.

The Beatles' US label rejected the band's first two singles, 'Please Please Me' and 'From Me to You,' with one executive calling the band 'dead in the water.'

Lesser-known phobias include turophobia, or the fear of cheese, and nomophobia, the fear of being without your cell phone.

A 2019 Facebook event called on attendees to "Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us," resulting in countless memes, the creation of a music festival, and eventually the arrests of those who did try to approach the area.

Neutron stars, the remains of some massive stars after they explode in a supernova, are the densest directly observable objects in the universe.

For centuries, Niagara Falls has been a magnet for daredevils seeking to conquer one of nature's most powerful wonders, with its 200-foot drop and water rushing at 32 feet per second with 280 tons of force.

Explore an interactive map of battles from the American Revolution, along with detailed summaries of each engagement

Many legends about George Washington, including his supposed wooden teeth and the story of cutting down the cherry tree, lack evidence.

In 2009, the nation was gripped by the story of a missing young boy who was believed to be floating over Colorado in a homemade balloon, until it was revealed that he was at home the whole time.

Prince's sexually explicit 1984 track 'Darling Nikki' attracted the ire of the Parents Music Resource Center, an advocacy group that inspired the Parental Advisory sticker, even though the song ends with a Christian message.

See this overview of the firework rules across all 50 states, ranging from a complete ban on non-professional fireworks in Massachusetts to states with more lax rules like Indiana.

When a Paris department store hesitated to sell Estée Lauder's perfume, she 'accidentally' broke a bottle, causing the smell to spread throughout the store and shoppers to start asking to buy the scent.

Despite being favored by 87% of Americans, Congress does not have term limits.

The Nasdaq's 'Magnificent 7' companies are responsible for roughly 40% of the Nasdaq 100 index's gains, while the remaining 93 companies account for the other 60%.

Explore the archaeological treasures of Pompeii, the city buried under volcanic ash when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 CE.

Domino's Pizza's 30-minute delivery guarantee was responsible for the chain's 1980s surge, but it was discontinued after the company was found liable for delivery driver accidents.

Watch contemporary footage covering the US-backed Shah of Iran fleeing the country in the face of the 1979 Iranian Revolution

Recent research found that the brain doesn't seem to massively rewire following amputation—upending earlier beliefs about the cause of phantom limb pain.

The syncytiotrophoblast is the outer layer of the placenta and the largest human cell, spanning an area about twice that of a king-sized bedsheet.