I haven’t seen this discussed, but I wonder if last night’s Super Bowl also set a record for the number of different ways that the two teams scored.  I counted eight:

Point After Touchdown – Seattle (5 times)
Safety – Seattle
Two Point Conversion – Denver
Field Goal – Seattle (2 times)
Touchdown, Rushing – Seattle
Touchdown, Passing – Seattle (2 times), Denver
Touchdown, Kickoff Return – Seattle
Touchdown, Interception Return – Seattle

The only* scoring plays missing from last night’s action were punt return for touchdown,  fumble return for touchdown, blocked punt returned for touchdown, blocked field goal returned for touchdown, missed field goal returned for touchdown, and score by forfeit, which has never happened in the National Football League.  The way Denver played, they should have considered it.

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* Hard-core fans may object that there are not one but three ways to score a safety: a ball carrier is tackled in his end zone, a blocked punt bounces out of the kicking team’s end zone, and offensive holding is called in the end zone.  Some fans may also insist that rushing and passing are two different ways of scoring a two-point conversion.  So if you must, add three more scoring plays that were not seen in Super Bowl XLVIII.

Issues I thought had been settled, yet in the minds of some the fight goes on:

• That a pregnant woman with a non-viable fetus may choose to have an abortion.

• That a black person or poor person should be able to cast his vote without impediment.

• That a gay person does not choose to be gay, but even if he does, so what?

• That a mother should feel free to nurse her infant where and when necessary.

• That rich people can more easily afford to pay taxes than poor people.

• That fluoridation, vaccinations and dental fillings do not cause autism.

• That professional football must change its rules in order to reduce brain injuries.

• That public-school teachers deserve to be paid more than bus drivers.

• That union dues may be automatically deducted from a worker’s paycheck.

• That dinosaurs did not roam the earth 7,000 years ago.

• That private ownership of assault weapons increases the likelihood of mass killings.

• That a medical condition should not force a person to deplete his or her life savings.

• That the “War Between the States” ended over 150 years ago and The Union won.

It was pretty easy for Americans to make light of Hiroo Onoda, the World War II soldier who hid in the jungles of the Phillipines and refused to surrender until 1972.  Onoda died two weeks ago, at age 91.   He was seen as a hero in his homeland, not unlike those who still fight the battles listed above.  Valiant doesn’t mean smart, or right.