Often in sports, the phrase “came out of nowhere” is thrown around to describe a virtually unknown player who excels in a big spot. Should that ever need a photo to accompany it, they should use Timmy Smith. When the Washington Redskins used a 5th-round pick on him in the 1987 draft, there weren’t a lot of people who had even heard of him. He suffered injuries his Junior and Senior years of college at Texas Tech, and barely played. Even in the regular season, Smith only mustered 29 carries over the half of the 14-game schedule he actually played.

Starting running back George Rogers struggled in the playoffs, so Smith got his opportunity and performed well, but nothing was expected from him in the Super Bowl. Head coach Joe Gibbs surprised Smith the morning of the game, by informing him he was getting his first start of his career, and on the biggest stage of them all. He responded with a Super Bowl record 204 rushing yards and two touchdowns, as the Redskins won 42-10.

Unfortunately, this was not the start of a great career. Smith faded quickly after his unbelievable performance in the Super Bowl. He was out of football by 1990, and quickly started running with the wrong crowd. In 2005 he was arrested for cocaine trafficking and served 18 months in prison.

You already know the Super Bowl is a heavily gambled event. Besides the traditional bets, there’s a host of other crazy prop bets one could take. There’s “will the coin flip heads or tails,” “which team will get the ball first,” “how many times will a player dab” and the immortal “will Peyton Manning cry” from Super Bowl 50.

If you love betting on these dumb lies, you can owe it all to a Refrigerator. William Perry was a rookie defensive linemen for the ’85 Bears. To get a little more blocking help on short yardage plays, Chicago inserted the massive lineman — nicknamed “The Refrigerator” due to his size — to plow the way for running back Walter Payton. And then, on a lark, Perry got to carry the ball — lo and behold, he waddled into the end zone and scored a touchdown!

“Fat man in the end zone” caught the imagination of fans, and he became an overnight sensation. When the Bears reached Super Bowl XX, Las Vegas saw an opportunity to take a few suckers’ cash. Bookmaker Jimmy Vaccaro installed a pretty ridiculous wager: will Refrigerator score a touchdown? He put it at 40-1 (a $10 bet will win you $400), and odds rose to 75-1, until the national media caught wind of it and people flocked to Vegas to get a piece of the Fridge.

Logically Payton, one of the greatest running backs in NFL history, would be given the opportunity to score if the Bears got close, but gamblers kept wagering on Perry to the point where the odds dropped to only 5-1. And yes — in the 3rd quarter of a 37-3 blowout, with the Bears sitting on the one-yard line, Refrigerator entered the game and scored him a touchdown. Vegas got smeared on the wager, but in the long run, they came out way on top, because if not for that 1986 prop bet, very likely none of the other crazy wagers would exist.

Modern football has finally learned how to use the tight end properly. Prior to 1980, however, most were lumbering giants known more for blocking than hands and skill. Jackie Smith was an outlier — when he retired, no tight end caught more passes nor had more yards than the future Hall of Famer. But all anyone remembers is that time he cost the Dallas Cowboys a Super Bowl.

But see, Smith really didn’t cost Dallas a win, but he did drop a wide-open touchdown reception in the 3rd quarter of Super Bowl XIII. Smith, in his last season in the NFL, attempted to catch a pass near the goal line. Unfortunately, the throw was low, and Smith slipped on the turf, failing to catch the ball. Now, there was still 17 minutes in the game, and Dallas truly lost by settling for a late field goal instead of the touchdown needed to stay alive. But none of that matters to the memories of fans, who see “drop” and go “THAT.”

Dallas radio play-by-play man Verne Lundquist said it best after the drop: Smith must be “the sickest man in America.” He most likely was. Smith was called a scapegoat. Fans ridiculed him, even in front of his children. They even ridiculed his children, taunting them in their sporting lives. The drop follows him and rarely is his Hall of Fame career the thing that jumps to mind when you hear “Jackie Smith.” We’d be sick too.

You know what never gets mentioned? Jackie Smith got the Cowboys to the Super Bowl that year by … scoring a touchdown! His touchdown catch tied the Atlanta Falcons en route to a 27-20 comeback win, but that’s not juicy enough for angry soundbites.

It’s the greatest Super Bowl commercial ever — just ask every listicle ever. Apple procured Ridley Scott to direct their Super Bowl XVIII commercial to usher in a new era and play off the Orwellian notion of totalitarianism. The ad was an immediate hit. And we mean like right after the commercial aired, game announcers Pat Summerall and John Madden commented, “Wow. What was that?”

Apple gets a lot of play off the story that it only aired once, but here’s the thing: it aired more than once. Apple may have only paid for one airing, but TV news replayed the commercial numerous times because of the buzz it created. And besides that, it aired once before the Super Bowl, at 1 AM on December 15, 1983, after the sign-off signal for local Twin Falls, Idaho station KMVT. Why? It was an old industry trick to become eligible for awards.

There was also a 30-second version that aired weeks before the Super Bowl, one that ran in major markets, plus the much-more-minor West Palm Beach, Florida market. Why West Palm? IBM’s computer base was in that market, that’s why. Like you didn’t know Steve Jobs was that petty.