It's tough to put together a list of the Greatest Plays in Super Bowl history. Do you choose the moments that everyone remembers? Do you choose the moments that had the most impact on the individual game? Or do you try to find the moments that helped elevate The Game to its mythic stature by creating an assemblage of shared experiences?

It's a tough call, but I've tried to compile a list here that meets all three of the criteria. However, in the end the determining factor was whether or not I could stop a guy in a random sports bar and have him recognize what I was talking about.

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Maybe I got it right, maybe not. Regardless, I hope you enjoy our stroll down Memory Lane:

10) McGee scores on, off the field, Super Bowl I
You always remember your first. Green Bay's Max McGee allegedly spent the night before The Big Game getting wasted and banging call girls. It paid off. Despite a hangover, McGee made a ridiculous one-handed grab of a Bart Starr pass for a 37-yard touchdown. Those were the first points in Super Bowl history. It wasn't McGee's only score of the weekend, but it may have been his most impressive.

9) Riggins' rumble, Super Bowl XVII
It's fourth-and-one at the Miami 43. Washington is down 17-13 and there's a mere 10:10 left in the game. Joe Gibbs shows some huge sack by going for it. Gorilla-turned-running back John Riggins takes the handoff, bull-dozes a feeble Don McNeal, and rumbles in for the score. Washington went on to win 27-17.

8) Marcus makes them miss, Super Bowl XVIII
Before he was kicked to the curb by Al Davis and ostracized by Raider fans, Marcus Allen gave us one of the great runs in Super Bowl history.

Jim Plunkett pitched it left to Allen, who ran into a swarm of Washington defenders. Looking like a mouse trapped in the garage, Allen reversed his field. He was again closed off by the D, but cut the run inside and glided to a 74-yard score.

7) Swann hits the trifecta, Super Bowl X
Catch 1: A leaping, sneak-the-feet-inbounds, 32-yard snag to set up Pittsburgh's first score.

Catch 2: The soft-handed Swann cradles a 64-yard over-the-shoulder bomb from Terry Bradshaw for a touchdown, putting the Steelers up 21-10.

Catch 3: This was the coup-de-grace. With Pitt at its own 10, Bradshaw heaved another deep ball towards Swann near midfield. Swann out-leapt Mark Washington and made a juggling, bobbling, tumbling, graceful grab for a 53-yard gain.

6) Elway's propeller dive, Super Bowl XXXII
After three Super Bowl humiliations, John Elway wasn't going to be denied.

With the game tied 17-17, Elway faced a critical third-and-6 from the Packers 12-yard-line. He dropped back to pass, couldn't find anyone, and started chugging his 76-year-old legs toward the first down marker. He could have slid to avoid the hit - and the first down. Instead, he dove headfirst, absorbed a savage blow from Leroy Butler and two other Packers, and spun in the air. When he landed, Elway had managed the first down by the skin of his ample teeth. Denver went on to win 31-24.

5) V is for Victory, and Vinatieri, Super Bowl XXXVI
I didn't want to watch this game because I figured it would be a blowout. It ended up being one of the most exciting upsets in football history. New England, 14-point dogs, were tied 17-17 with just seven seconds left when Vinatieri lined up for a 48-yarder. If this game had gone to overtime, there's no way the Patriots win. Fortunately for them, it didn't come to that. Vinatieri split the uprights, turning Bill Belichick into a genius and Tom Brady into an internet-porn loving cult hero.

4) Never Lett up, Super Bowl XXVII
The Bills set the standard for futility by dropping four consecutive Super Bowls. But somehow this one play transcends the losses and sums up the character of that team, city, and franchise. The Bills were that skinny kid that was always getting into a fight with a much larger guy. And no matter how badly he was beaten down he always got back up.

Leon Lett had picked up one a fumble and started strolling towards the end zone. However, during his pre-end zone celebration, Beebe ran him down from about 65 yards back. Beebe knocked the ball out of Lett's hands, through the end zone for a touchback. And even though Buffalo was losing 52-17 at the time, somehow the Cowboys were the ones who were humiliated.

3) Montana-to-Taylor, Super Bowl XXIII
"Hey, it's John Candy". Apparently, that's how legendary drives begin. San Francisco trailed 16-13 with just 3:10 to play, when Joe Cool took them on a 92-yard joy ride. Then, with 39 seconds to play Montana tossed a sweet strike to John Taylor. Touchdown. It was also the latest game-winning touchdown in Super Bowl history. I'm sure Candy enjoyed it almost as much as he enjoyed eating himself to death.

2) One yard short, Super Bowl XXXIV
After three-and-a-half hours of boring football and dreadful commercials, Kevin Dyson gave us a reason to remember that Kurt and Brenda Warner do, in fact, own a Super Bowl ring.

Down by seven. Ten yards to pay dirt. Six seconds left. This is the dream scenario from the sand lot. Steve McNair hit Dyson on a slant at the 3, but Rams linebacker Mike Jones wraps up and made a textbook tackle. Dyson's futile attempt to reach the end zone remains a great metaphor for what the Super Bowl is all about.

1) We're Number One, Super Bowl III
Every time that a backup tight end "guarantees victory" before a meaningless Week 3 game, everyone immediately thinks back to Joe Willie Namath. He made the original Guarantee. Sitting as a 20-point underdog to a juggernaut like the Colts, Namath let it all hang out. That type of bravado was like being the first in flight - everyone could do it after you, but it never quite meant as much.

The indelible moment from that game will forever be the I-told-you-so finger wag that Namath gave the crowd as he left the field. That game created the Hype. And the Super Bowl is what it is today because of because of that day.

Questions or comments for Robert? E-mail him at robert@docsports.com or check out his Insider Page here.

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