Super Bowl L is now Super Bowl 50
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.