CRAIG'S COUNTDOWN | From XXXVIII to the ER

From covering 12 Super Bowls, I remember …

• The halftime buzz sweeping through Houston's Reliant Stadium press box when Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" merged with the infancy of social media to upstage Adam Vinatieri's game-winning field goal with four seconds left in Super Bowl XXXVIII.

• Being in awe of Bill Belichick's mind manipulation skills when overhearing Patriots linebacker Mike Vrabel say in the Super Bowl XXXIX winning locker room that "nobody gave us any respect." The main story line that week: How the Patriots became an NFL dynasty.

• Seahawks tight end Jerramy Stevens, A: telling reporters it would be a "sad day" when Steelers star Jerome Bettis didn't win the Super Bowl in his career finale in his hometown of Detroit; B: drawing the considerable ire of Steelers linebacker Joey Porter; and C: dropping three key passes as the Bus ended his Hall of Fame career with a Super Bowl win at Ford Field in 2006.

• Prince conducting the best midweek Super Bowl "news conference" ever by giving the appearance of a traditional Q&A session before breaking into a jam session (do people still say jam session?) leading up to his fantastic Super Bowl XLI halftime show on a rainy night in south Florida.

• Not typing David Tyree's name all week until he made the wildest catch in Super Bowl history, trapping the ball against his helmet while falling and being tackled on a deep ball that set the stage for the Giants' last-minute upset of the 18-0 Patriots in Super Bowl XLII.

• Sitting next to legendary Miami Herald sportswriter Edwin Pope in Tampa for Super Bowl XLIII and hearing the man who had covered every Super Bowl declare James Harrison's 100-yard interception return for a touchdown "the greatest play in Super Bowl history."

• Watching Dallas crippled by snow and ice during the week of Super Bowl XLV and leaving the Jerry Dome thinking how fortunate the Super Bowl champion Packers were to replace Brett Favre with a guy who's even better than Brett Favre.

• Adding another chapter to my shellfish-allergy horror story with a cab ride to the Tulane medical center in New Orleans, where I sat unnoticed until I turned sort of a fluorescent red. After a Benadryl-induced nap in the back room, I cabbed it back to the hotel around 2 a.m. with a column idea for what it's like to cover Super Bowl XLVII in a city that's trying to kill me.

• Trusting only one chef in New Orleans after the ER visit: Ronald McDonald.

• Capping the week in New Orleans sitting in a darkened Superdome, hoping the 34-minute power outage was nothing more sinister than a simple power outage.