Today's 41st Super Bowl is now just hours away with kickoff at 4:25 p.m.

Don Shula said last week that years from now, no one will remember what a great season the two teams had but most people will know which team was the Super Bowl winner.

Having attended back-to-back Super Bowls with different outcomes, I can say absolutely that is true.

If your team doesn't win, you certainly remember that forever, especially if the winner happens to be the "home team" in the region where you reside.

There weren't very many statements for the ages that I can repeat here after Super Bowl XXXII. But the most famous of all, the one everyone in our family remembers and still talks about, took place in the bleak darkness of the parking lot at Jack Murphy Stadium.

As we were trying to find our chartered bus among the throngs, Mouse had a tight grasp on my hand. She looked precious beyond belief in her pigtails, handknit cream sweater with a green and gold "football guy" on the front and green corduroy slacks.

Then a second grader at St. Anthony School, she said in that parking lot in her tiny little voice, "I'm never going to school again."

Even at that age, she absolutely knew the junk she'd get from her Broncomaniac classmates. At the time, she couldn't stand the thought.

She and I had spent much of the third quarter walking around on the concourse, unable to witness what was happening to Gramps and our beloved Packers. We got ice cream, we bought a tiny little stuffed teddy bear with a Super Bowl T-shirt on, we saw lots of other Packers faithful doing the same thing.

For us, football is family.

Always has been, always will be.

For us, today's game is as much a family ritual as birthdays, baptisms and other must-appears which get harder and harder to plan as the seven grandkids get older and busier.

Our family was raised to believe that there's absolutely nothing wrong with being competitive -- in everything.

A hidden camera at one of Peggy Jane the Mom's legendary Trivial Pursuit games is all the proof one needs.

Many think football is an overrated business with fat-cat owners and spoiled players.

I think that football provided for my family from before my existence through today.

I think that nearly all of life's really important lessons came from my parents. But they had football as the perfect teaching tool. Those lessons would include the importance of education and that it makes absolutely no difference what color someone's skin is.

I think that beyond wins and losses, football has given my family memories and experiences that will be remembered forever.

And I think that when the Colts with Wyoming's Gene Huey coaching the running backs or the Bears with that tough defense are victorious, I'll be watching.

Community News editor Sally Ann Shurmur can be reached at (307) 266-0520 or sallyann.shurmur@casperstartribune.net.