February 3rd, 2008 Super Bowl 42 saw the undefeated New England Patriots match up with

a heavy underdog New York Giants.

But the scrappy Eli Manning led Giants were themselves giant killers, defeating the

Pats in one of the greatest upsets in sports history, Tarring Tom Brady's team with a record

that still needles Patriots fans to this day.

18 and 1.

The Patriots had hoped to become only the second team in NFL history go undefeated for an entire

season, but their championship defeat meant only one American football franchise boasts

that pristine legacy.

The 1972 Miami Dolphins.

The NFL, the City of Miami, and the year 1972 are all inextricably linked to a casual

sit down chain that opened in the Florida City that same year.

The owner, who named him the restaurant after himself, had cut his teeth in the food service

industry by managing one of Hugh Haffner's then popular Playboy clubs, originally a burger

joint slash steakhouse, the addition of baby-back ribs to the menu gave it its much-needed

hook, a sit-down restaurant that served a Southern Backyard cookout favorite.

The original location became a frequent hangout of Miami Dolphins players and staff, leading

the owner of a rival football franchise, the Dallas Cowboys Clint Merchusson, Jr., to

acquire a majority steak in the restaurant after staying in Miami for Super Bowl X.

The exponential growth of the NFL into America's unofficial national pastime over the next

40 years paralleled the rib joint expansion across the US and across the globe.

Though unlike the NFL, its popularity ultimately became more global than domestic as a favorite

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