Super Bowl XLVIII (2014) At The Ranch

Did You Know? -The NFL made a bold choice for the national anthem for Super Bowl XLVIII. Instead of picking a chart-topping pop star to take on "The Star-Spangled Banner," it went with opera singer Renee Fleming, which undoubtedly had many viewers wondering, "Who?"

Fleming is a world-renowned lyric soprano, having studied at Julliard and performed everywhere from the New York City Opera and Carnegie Hall to the Opéra Bastille in Paris, La Scala in Milan, Italy, Buckingham Palace in London, and the Berlin Philharmonic in Germany.

Renée Fleming (born February 14, 1959) is an American soprano whose repertoire encompasses Richard Strauss, Mozart, Handel, bel canto, lieder, French opera and chansons, jazz and indie rock.

Fleming has a full lyric soprano voice. Fleming has performed coloratura, lyric, and lighter spinto soprano operatic roles in Italian, German, French, Czech, and Russian, aside from her native English. She also speaks fluent German and French, along with limited Italian.

Her signature roles include Countess Almaviva in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro, Desdemona in Verdi's Otello, Violetta in Verdi's La traviata, the title role in Dvořák's Rusalka, the title role in Massenet's Manon, the title role in Massenet's Thaïs, the title role in Richard Strauss's Arabella, the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier, and the Countess in Capriccio.

A National Medal of Arts and Richard Tucker Award winner, she regularly performs in opera houses and concert halls worldwide. In 2008 she was awarded the Swedish Polar Music Prize for her services in music. She serves as Creative Consultant for the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

Did You Know? - In gridiron football, the safety (American football) or safety touch (Canadian football) is a scoring play which results in two points being awarded to the scoring team. Safeties can be scored in a number of ways, such as when a ballcarrier is tackled in his own end zone or when a foul is committed by the offense in their own end zone.

After a safety is scored in American football, the ball is kicked off to the team that scored the safety from the 20-yard line; in Canadian football, the scoring team also has the options of taking control of the ball at their own 35-yard line or kicking the ball off themselves.

The ability of the scoring team to receive the ball through a kickoff differs from the touchdown and field goal, which require the scoring team to kick the ball off to the scored upon team.

Despite being of relatively low point value, safeties can have a significant impact on the result of games, and Brian Burke of Advanced NFL Stats estimated that safeties have a greater abstract value than field goals, despite being worth a point less, due to the field position gained off of the safety kick.

Safeties are the least common method of scoring in American football,[3] but are not rare occurrences – since 1932, a safety has occurred once every 14.31 games in the National Football League (NFL), or about once a week under current scheduling rules.

Did You Know? - In sport, a huddle is an action of a team gathering together, usually in a tight circle, to strategise, motivate or celebrate. It is a popular strategy for keeping opponents insulated from sensitive information, and acts as a form of insulation when the level of noise in the venue is such that normal on-field communication is difficult.

Commonly the leader of the huddle is the team captain and it is the captain who will try to inspire his fellow team members to achieve success.

Similarly after an event a huddle may take place to congratulate one another for the teams success, or to commiserate a defeat. The term "huddle" can be used as a verb as in "huddling up".