Super Bowl Syntax

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Super Bowl Syntax

• The sound bites, catch phrases and clichés of
  Super Bowl XLII
  
• Prepared by Upstream Analysis/MME Research
• Powered by Critical Mention
• February 4, 2008

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Top 10 Super Bowl sound bites

• The same 25 sound bites sailed over the airwaves
  588 times in the days leading up to the Super
  Bowl and on Super Bowl Sunday itself.
  
• The top 10 most pervasive sound bites
• very tough words to back up Randy Moss,
  regarding Plaxico Burress guarantee of victory
  
• as long as Ive got the ring at the end of the
  day Randy Moss
  
• swallowed a healthy dose of the Bill Belichick
  Kool-Aid ESPNews, regarding Randy Moss
  
• the pressure intensifies and the expectations
  heighten ESPN SportsCenter, regarding Eli
  Manning
  
• Im still loving what I do Randy Moss
• I've never seen nobody criticized more as a
  professional athlete than him Antonio Pierce,
  regarding Eli Manning
  
• nothing has gotten in my way from going out
  there and making it happen Randy Moss
  
• Randy and I are a package deal Sal
  Paolantonio of ESPN, quoting Tom Brady
  
• he doesn't care about numbers come Sunday
  ESPNews regarding Randy Moss
  
• he will make a huge impact Steve Young,
  regarding Randy Moss

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Categories of sound bites
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Bootgate and spygate timeline

• One of the biggest stories leading up to Super
  Bowl Sunday was speculation about Tom Bradys
  ankle, dubbed bootgate, after paparazzi spotted
  the star player wearing a protective boot on his
  right foot.
• Spygate supplanted bootgate during Super Bowl
  weekend when Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) called for
  an investigation into the destruction of evidence
  in the scandal regarding Patriots videotaping an
  opposing teams signals.
• This timeline shows the ebb and flow of bootgate
  and spygate in broadcast media.

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The words that mattered for Super Bowl XLII
coach
big blue
championship
cheating

• ankle

boot
commissioner
destroyed
congress
emotional
football
favored/favorites
fans
evidence
foot
game
giants
history
investigation
hopes
nfl
new england
new york
patriots
mentality
players
pats
postseason
pressure
spygate
senator
sunday
scandal
signals
super bowl
underdog
upset
undefeated
Selected transcripts of key topics and phrases
were used to generate this visualization, which
represents the relative frequency for each term.
The bigger the word, the more often it was used
in Super Bowl commentary. Players names such as
Brady and Manning were omitted.
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Popularity of players and coaches in Super Bowl
XLII coverage
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Key statistics

• From the largest local TV markets, national
  programming and cable news networks from Jan. 27
  through Feb. 3, there were
  
• 240 mentions including both Brady and Gisele
• 1,157 mentions of spygate
• 2,108 mentions related to Tom Brady's foot
• 8,820 mentions of the New York Giants vs. 8,768
  mentions of the New England Patriots
  
• 56,854 mentions of the Super Bowl