Game 23: Benjamin Harrison vs. Super Bowl XXIII

Time does funny things. It softens us up when we're alive. After we are gone, it can soften the reputations we leave behind. Benjamin Harrison for a long time was lumped in with all the late-1800s, post-Reconstruction Presidents as a bunch of lawyers who didn't do much during a time when the nation slowly became more businesslike. He was called a "human iceberg." Teddy Roosevelt said of Harrison, "he is a cold-blooded, narrow-minded, prejudiced, obstinate, timid psalm-singing Indianapolis politician." (Indianapolis, ouch. Maybe Teddy was thinking of Colts receiver Marvin Harrison). But time has done its business. Some modern historians give Ben Harrison high marks for making strides in foreign policy, like the time he set up Samoa as the first American protectorate, and advocated for a canal in Central America, and nailed down various other overseas treaties. It's something, anyway.

How has time treated Super Bowl XXIII? Look, let's be honest: at this point for most people, all the Super Bowls of the 1980s and 1990s pretty much blend together. This 1989 game was pretty representative of the time, a rematch between the 49ers and Bengals. But this one was exceptionally super-duper. In a game that went down to the last minute, it was 49ers 20, Bengals 16. Cincinnati led three different times, once on a crazy 98-yard kickoff return by -- who? -- Stanford Jennings. San Franciso kept tying it up but never held a lead until the final minute. Down 16-13 with about three minutes left, the 49ers took the ball at their own 8-yard line, and went 92 yards in 11 plays, mostly passes from QB Joe Montana to WR Jerry Rice and RB Roger Craig. They took the lead on a 10-yard pass to WR John Taylor with 34 seconds remaining. It was a classic, finally a Super Bowl worthy of the name. Another Harrison bites the dust.

Score after this match: Presidents 12, Super Bowls 11 

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