Roman Numerals

First off let me say that I am not a fan of Roman Numerals. I don’t like them on clocks and watches. As a child when they appeared on math worksheets I saw them as “busy” work rather than “challenge” work. The biggest challenge was getting someone to whisper what C, D, or L meant (XVI were easy because I’d figured them out telling time on clocks). I also think Roman Numerals would be less tricky if the Romans had a zero in their number system. Roman Numerals today don’t really look like the originals used by the Romans either, not to mention that they obviously fell out of favor and were replaced with Arabic numbers.

So why do they use Roman Numerals to number the Super Bowls? The NFL has been using Roman numerals to identify each Super Bowl game since Super Bowl V in 1971 when then-Commissioner Pete Rozzelle made the move in the apparently belief that it would help add to the hype. Kansas City Chiefs historian Bob Moore credits the decision to go with Roman numerals instead of the more familiar Arabic numerals to none other than Lamar Hunt in order to make the game seem more important. Regardless of who had the idea to start using them, I think there’s plenty of hype for the Super Bowl these days and the Roman Numerals aren't contributing to it. They need to go. I am for calling this year’s game Super Bowl 2013 and numbering each by year ad infinitum (a little Latin-the language of the Romans-I prefer it to their numerals).