• MSNBC, Friday, February 5, 2010 9:46 AM

As Anheuser-Busch quickly rediscovered when it hinted that its Clydesdales might stay in the stable this Super Bowl, pigskin fans are just as enamored of bow-wows, ribets and lizard-speak -- we're talkin' Louie and Frankie here, dem with da Noo Yawk accent -- as they are of grunting linemen and trash-talking safeties. Peter Hartlaub has compiled an annotated collection of the Top 10 "most memorable" pitchcreatures from the last 43 years of the Super Bowl, accompanied by videos of a key spot for each campaign.

What's to annotate? Why, each commercial's "historical impact," of course. The Pets.com sock puppet dog, for example, is cited as one of the biggest symbols of the excess of the dot.com era. Also, the lifespan of the beast -- ranging from the Tabasco mosquito's 23 seconds of fame to the Clydesdales' 23 years -- as well as a list of themed merchandise associated with each, if any, that's currently selling on eBay.

Yep, the A-B horses, finished atop the list, followed by the same marketer's Spuds MacKenzie and seven years' worth of frogs in the No. 2 and 3 slots. The E*Trade monkey managed to edge out Bud's Dalmatians for fourth place.

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