It was the height of the .com boom, and tech ads at the Super Bowl flowed more freely than the beer consumed by the millions watching the game. Pets.com, which would become the poster child for .com companies that rode the bubble and went bust—hard—aired its first national commercial in 2000 during the Super Bowl, starring its mascot, the Pets.com sock puppet. (Why shop at an online pet store? "Because pets can't drive!")