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Animals slowly gain on humans in Super Bowl
By Darren Rovell
ESPN.com

Super Bowl XXXV will mark the 22nd time that a human-nicknamed team (the Giants) takes on an animal-nicknamed team (the Ravens). For the birds from Baltimore, it's not exactly the Tampa Bay "below 40 degrees jinx," but it's safe to say that nickname history isn't on their side. In fact, if nickname history is a good indicator, there's a 71 percent chance that the Giants (the humans) will beat the Ravens (the animals).

Since Super Bowl XII, when the Cowboys defeated the Broncos, human-nicknamed teams have simply dominated, winning 13 out of 14 Super Bowls -- in which humans played animals -- from XIV to XXVIII.

But things might be changing. The animals have won the last two matchups (the Broncos over the Packers in XXXII and the Rams over the Titans in XXXIV), the first back-to-back animals-over-humans victories since the Dolphins beat human-nicknamed teams in Super Bowl VII and VIII.

If you are looking for a winning betting trend in the next millennium, the odds favor ... nobody. Thanks to the addition of the Panthers and Jaguars in 1995 and the Ravens in 1996, the animals actually have held a slight edge over the past few years. But with the Browns joining the humans roster in 1999 and the imminent arrival of the Texans in 2002, it's a 15-15 standoff (the Jets and the Chargers count as objects, which gives objects an historical 1-0 edge over animals . . . but that's another story for another time).

Animals vs. humans in Super Bowls
Super Bowl	Animal	Human	Winner
V	Colts	Cowboys	Animal
VI	Dolphins	Cowboys	Human
VII	Dolphins	Redskins	Animal
VIII	Dolphins	Vikings	Animal
XII	Broncos	Cowboys	Human
XIV	Rams	Steelers	Human
XV	Eagles	Raiders	Human
XVI	Bengals	49ers	Human
XVII	Dolphins	Redskins	Human
XIX	Dolphins	49ers	Human
XX	Bears	Patriots	Animal
XXI	Broncos	Giants	Human
XXII	Broncos	Redskins	Human
XXIII	Bengals	49ers	Human
XXIV	Broncos	49ers	Human
XXV	Bills	Giants	Human
XXVI	Bills	Redskins	Human
XXVII	Bills	Cowboys	Human
XXVIII	Bills	Cowboys	Human
XXXI	Broncos	Packers	Animal
XXXIV	Rams	Titans	Animal

Darren Rovell, who covers sports business for ESPN.com, can be reached at darren.rovell@espn.com.



	ALSO SEE: ESPN.com's Super Bowl XXXV coverage