The Atlanta Falcons and New England Patriots will face off in what is officially called Super Bowl LI. However, last year, Super Bowl 50 didn’t go by the Roman numeral “L,” because it’s a sad and ugly letter. “L’s” mean losing.
Super Bowl LI: NFL is back to using Roman numerals
Everybody can breathe now.
Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images
“L immediately brought up so many negative connotations,” Shandon Melvin, the NFL creative director, told the Mercury News last year. “It’s very asymmetrical. And three-quarters of the letter is negative space. It’s like, what do you do with this thing to make it look attractive? I’ll take an X any day of the week. Or any other letter for that matter.”
Poor “L,” it’s not your fault.
Why do we even use Roman numerals in the first place?
According to an NFL media guide, “the Roman numerals were adopted to clarify any confusion that may occur because the NFL Championship Game — the Super Bowl — is played in the year following a chronologically recorded season.”
But the “LI” for Super Bowl 51 is back. The one-year hiatus from 45 years of peaceful Roman numeral harmony (they were first used in Super Bowl V) can return and order has been restored.
Chaos may make its rounds as we approach Super Bowl C in 49 years, but we’ll all be really, really old by then.
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