The PhinManiacs staff weigh in on their favorite Super Bowl memories

It’s Super Bowl Sunday and in celebration, we asked some of the PhinManiacs staff to share their favorite Super Bowl memory. If you’re looking for our staff predictions for the game and MVP, please click here.

Matthew Cannata – Executive Director of Content and Production | Twitter: @PhinManiacs
I’m 28-years-old so I have never had the opportunity to watch the Miami Dolphins in the Super Bowl. If you’re the same age or close, you know the pain that I am talking about. Therefore, my favorite memory was the second best thing and that was when the New York Giants defeated the New England Patriots to snap their undefeated record. I remember watching the game and as the clock slowly ticked away in the fourth quarter, I began to accept the fact that another team would be joining the 1972 Dolphins. There was no way, in my mind, that the Giants were coming back after the Patriots scored towards the end of the game. This thought became even stronger when the Giants were faced with fourth down and long. Then, as I saw the pocket collapse around Eli Manning, the thought became even stronger. That is, until Manning escaped, chucked the ball downfield and David Tyree pulled in a miraculous catch. Fast forward to a few plays later when Plaxico Burress caught the touchdown pass in the endzone and I was jumping all over the sofa before running around the house screaming like a maniac. While watching the Super Bowl wasn’t a whole lot of fun with the Patriots leading the way, it was definitely one of the best feelings I’ve ever had once the Super Bowl had concluded.

Kathrine Damato – Podcast Panelist | Twitter: @Kathrineee 
2013 Super Bowl, Ravens vs. 49ers. Like most, my dad is the reason I'm a Dolphins fan. Unfortunately, he had been in the hospital for several months, including the entire regular season. That year the Dolphins played the Seahawks on my birthday, so I crashed his hospital room & brought Dolphins decorations & food to watch the game! When Dan Carpenter kicked the game winning field goal we got yelled at for being too rowdy haha. We had never missed a Super Bowl together, but with me being in school & h being in the hospital we weren't sure if we would be able to watch this one together. Finally, he was released from the hospital the day before the Super Bowl! Although we wanted the 49ers to win, the outcome had no effect on the joy of being able to watch the game together!

Eldon Jenson – Fantasy Football Columnist | Twitter: @EJFootball
As the resident Old Timer on this staff, and having watched every championship game since Super Bowl VI, I had a hard time narrowing down a favorite Super Bowl memory. As I think back, the moments that seem to pop to mind (and there are literally dozens) are those that involved a player culminating a hard-fought journey and celebrating in unabashed euphoria when the victory was finally theirs, from Don Shula in Super Bowl VII to Walter Payton in Super Bowl XX to Steve Young in Super Bowl XXIX.

Ultimately, as a life-long Dolphins fan, the Undefeated Season stands alone as the ultimate highlight reel of my Dolphins fandom. I have an indelible memory of sitting on the couch after watching the Dolphins hold on and win Super Bowl VII, and I distinctly remember that I wasn’t so much ecstatic that my team won as I was relieved that Garo Yepremian’s field goal gaffe hadn’t cost us the chance to be undefeated. I was actually mad that we hadn’t been able to shut the Redskins out in that game, and later was annoyed to find out that had the field goal been successful, the Dolphins would have finished their 17-0 season with a 17-0 victory, such a storybook ending to a storybook season. I haven’t forgiven Yepremian for that in over 40 years, and I still get a twinge of annoyance whenever his shiny bald head shows up in photos of Dolphins reunions and events. But hey, did I mention we were unde-friggin-feated that year?

But I think the game that made me happiest was Super Bowl VIII the next year, because, well, Zonk! The Dolphins had this one under control from beginning to end, and my all-time favorite Dolphin was the MVP. I imitated every one of Larry Csonka’s runs during that game, barreling over the footstools and couches in my parent’s basement on the way to the MVP award. And now we were the Two Time Defending Champs! And 41 years later I can still remember how awesome it was to experience that!

Ryan Thyer – Fantasy Football Columnist | Twitter: @BigNoahD05
When I think of the Super Bowl, I think of moments.  Moments from the games, and just moments in time that I can look back on and remember what I was doing.  I remember sitting in a hotel room on a work trip and watching Super Bowl XXXIV.  I was not a Rams fan, but living in Cedar Falls, was a Kurt Warner fan.  It was great to see a guy go from bagging groceries to taking the league by storm like he did, and the last play with Dyson at the one yard line was one of the most exciting ways that a Super Bowl could end.  I also remember watching Dallas win three in four years, and watching Leon Lett cement his legacy with the bonehead play as he was running into the end zone.  I also remember watching Super Bowl XXXV with my father in his office - I remember very little about the the game, just that fact that we watched it together and the Ravens won. 

Also very hard not to remember Doug Williams going off after a poor first quarter, Tim Krumrie breaking his leg, John Taylor's catch when everyone knew the ball would go to Jerry Rice, The Fridge scoring a touchdown, and David Tyree making his catch against the Pats.  The Super Bowl has been more about moments that seem to stay with me, more than any one game as a whole.

Seth Fisher – Miami Dolphins Columnist | Twitter: @SethAFisher13
My favorite Super Bowl memory would have to be the very first one I actually remember watching. It was the 1999 super with the St. Louis Rams playing the Tennessee Titans. I remember thinking that Eddie George was just amazing and the Derek Mason and Kevin Dyson wouldn't be that good without Steve McNair throwing them the ball. I also remember not liking Marshall Faulk and Isaac Bruce that much, for whatever reason (I didn't have a good reason I was only 6 years old at the time)

I remember being so excited when Kevin Dyson caught that last pass from McNair, thinking he would score, and then being really sad when he was tackled short. I remember driving home with my dad asking him if he would have scored would the game have ended in a tie. He tried to explain overtime to me, but it was a foreign concept. I couldn't understand why the game couldn't end in a tie.

Chad Ronnebaum – Miami Dolphins Columnist and Podcast Panelist | Twitter: @GoFins4SB
My favorite Super Bowl memory is the Fulton Walker Kickoff Return. No more needs to be said.

Luis Sung -- Assistant Director of Content and Production | Twitter: @FLSportDebater
It was February 3rd, 2008. Super Bowl XLII (42), the New York Giants were the last team standing between the New England Patriots and the second ever truly perfect season in NFL History since the 1972 Miami Dolphins. The Patriots had already gotten a perfect record in the regular season, the only thing keeping them one step below the '72 Dolphins was their playoffs record.

The game was tight all the way through, I was constantly on the edge of my seat, hoping against hope that somehow Eli Manning and his New York Giants would be able to pull off a miracle and beat the seemingly invincible Patriots. My heart shattered when Tom Brady threw a touchdown pass to Randy Moss that gave them the lead once more with only 2:42 left to play in the fourth quarter, and I figured that it was all over.

Suddenly however, a miracle. It appeared that Eli Manning was about to go down for a sack that likely would have ended the game, but then Manning somehow escaped the pressure - which to this day I can't fathom how he did so - and threw up a prayer to wide receiver David Tyree, who managed to make a contested catch in the air and pin the ball to his helmet, saving the game and setting the stage for wide receiver Plaxico Burress to make a game-winning 13-yard touchdown reception with only 35 seconds left. 

I remember leaping out of my chair and hugging friends and family in celebration of that play, the Patriots had been handed their first and only loss of the entire season, and it was on the biggest stage imaginable. I still wonder how that play could have happened. Tyree really did make a miraculous catch, and who knows? If his book - "More Than Just the Catch" - is to be believed, there may very well have been divine intervention involved. Only you can make that judgment. I for one, am willing to believe it.