The annual Super Bowl is a memorable event for scores of players--and millions of spectators. But for one Manhattan couple it holds an uncommon attachment. Reporter-Researcher Jay Rosenstein, who worked on this week's cover story, followed Super Bowl VIII (Dolphins v. Vikings) on an early date with an attractive young nurse. This year Rosenstein will be flying to California to report on Super Bowl XI, and the same lady--with whom he also saw Super Bowls IX and X--will join him for the game. But they will be hurrying back to New York City; the following Saturday afternoon, Jay Rosenstein and Tanya Drake will be married. The design on their wedding cake? A football field, of course.

B.J. Phillips, who wrote the story, reports that almost every January since 1967 she has settled down "in front of the biggest color TV in the neighborhood" to soak up the Super Bowl extravaganza. (She missed seeing only one--but listened to it over the radio in the Tan Son Nhut Air Base cafeteria in South Viet Nam.) Football has been a part of her life since the days when her older brother had dreams of becoming another Johnny Unitas. "He learned to pass with me as the receiver," she remembers with a smile. "I chased badly thrown footballs in the hot Georgia sun for hours. I'm weak on strategy, but I do know pass patterns."

Assistant Managing Editor Ray Cave, who will join Rosenstein and Phillips at the Rose Bowl on Jan. 9, knows both pass patterns and strategies from his days as executive editor of SPORTS ILLUSTRATED. Cave played some tough touch football in school ("I liked being the lonely end--it was safer out there"), but never got a chance to root for his college colors: St. John's in Annapolis does not compete in intercollegiate sports.

The University of Michigan does. Senior Editor Leon Jaroff, Michigan '50, remembers as a highlight of his collegiate--and post- graduate--days the Michigan-Minnesota game of 1949, when Minnesota was favored to win the Big Ten championship. Michigan was being driven back toward its goal line, and it seemed certain the Gophers would score. There was silence in the stadium. From the bleachers, Jaroff shouted: "Fumble!" Minnesota fumbled, and Michigan won the game in an upset. Jaroff was picked up and passed over the heads of the exuberant crowd. After that, he says, "I was hooked on football for life."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.