The NFL has long used Roman numerals to number its championship games, a practice that officially began with Super Bowl V. That worked out well for the long era during which the badass “X” saw heavy usage, a stretch that included such highlights as Super Bowl XXXIX and the implicitly larger-than-life Super Bowl XL. Those are some smash-mouth numerals right there. But as the NFL was drawing up the logo for its 50th Super Bowl, league designers struggled to come up with a cool way to render “Super Bowl L.” The lonely “L” does not look like it’s going to smash anyone’s mouth—in fact, the wimpy numeral is liable to let every orifice go unsmashed, and that will not do.
NFL.com reports that the league has solved this problem by abandoning the “L” altogether, so this year’s championship footba game has been rechristened Super Bow 50. The NF also said that it wi resume the use of Roman numeras for the 2016 Super Bow; next year’s game wi apparenty be a one-time exception. Thus a maddening inconsistency has been enshrined in the Super Bow numbering scheme just because a azy bunch of ogo designers coudn’t come up with a way to make the etter “” ook coo.