Tim Howard: 'Modern Jesus'?

• The 35-year-old goalie made a World Cup-record 16 saves against Belgium


• Howard is loaded with tattoos


• He was born in New Jersey to an African-American father and Hungarian mother


• His coaches say he's one of the best keepers in the world

(CNN) -- The word "epic" gets thrown around a lot these days, but there's no other way to describe what we saw Tuesday.

It was an epic battle. Team USA goalie Tim Howard on one hand. The entire Belgian team on the other.

Facing the relentless onslaught of Belgium's offense, Howard made 16 saves -- setting a World Cup record.

Hail to the goalie, Tim Howard

What's next in the World Cup?

Tim Howard inspires off the field, too

The United States lost the match 2-1 and is out of the tourney, but the nation gained a soccer hero.

Here's what you need to know about the 35-year-old Howard:

He's a devout Christian

Faith is a key part of Howard's life and shapes who he is.

"The most important thing in my life is Christ," Howard said in a 2006 interview with Campus Crusade for Christ. "He's more important to me than winning or losing or whether I'm playing or not. Everything else is just a bonus."

He was born in North Brunswick, New Jersey, to an African-American father and a Hungarian mother.

He is all tatted up

Howard loves his body art.

You want ink, you got it -- chest, abs, biceps, back.

His kids are there on his left pec. Jesus is on the left biceps. You'll find his home state of New Jersey on his belly.

There's a dove, too. A star. Some Roman numerals. The more you look, the more you find.

He is anti-fur

Howard bared his well-sculpted upper body for PETA's "Ink, not mink" campaign.

The pitch? "Fur only looks good on its original owner. Be comfortable in your own skin, and let animals keep theirs."

Ink not mink: Everton and USA keeper Tim Howard shows off his impressive body of tattoos... http://t.co/PcRmtLL4vm via @MailSport

— Ed Payne (@EdPayneCNN) July 2, 2014

He lives with Tourette's syndrome

For Howard, it's not a big deal -- just part of his life. But it does come with some misconceptions.

"It's something that I live with every day. For me now in my life, it's like breathing for me. If I woke up and didn't have Tourette's syndrome, it would feel weird -- not better or worse, just different. So I'm very happy and comfortable with it," he said.

Many know it only as the "swearing disease," but only about 10% of people with Tourette's syndrome swear uncontrollably.

Tim Howard shines despite Tourette's

Tim Howard finds new publicity 'amusing'

"You know, we don't all curse," Howard told Yahoo Sports a couple of weeks ago. "I do on the field, unfortunately, to get my point across, but it's not because of my condition."

People with Tourette's syndrome suffer from involuntary tics, which can be either verbal or physical. Physical tics may include jumping or twitching. People with the syndrome describe a tic as being like a sneeze, impossible to hold in without extreme discomfort.

Twitter surrenders to Tourette's syndrome

He once scored a goal

How many goalkeepers can claim this feat?

While playing for Everton, his English Premier League team, Howard booted a ball the length of the pitch, catching the Bolton goalie by surprise.

The crowd and his teammates went nuts, but Howard told The Guardian he felt bad for the opposing keeper.

"You never want to see that happen," he said. "It's not nice, it's embarrassing."

He wasn't really that good when he started out

When Howard began his pro career as a 22-year-old goalkeeper for the New York/New Jersey MetroStars of MLS, he was known as a great athlete who could make great saves. Some reports have even said he could have played basketball in college.

But the 6-foot-3 Howard wasn't particularly good at other things, like distributing the ball after he made a nice stop. It's something he is much, much better at today.

In 2001 he was MLS goalkeeper of the year. And Manchester United, one of the most successful European clubs in history, worked out a transfer deal for him.

Howard spent four years with Manchester United before transferring to Everton.

He is the 'modern Jesus'

Even before the game ended Tuesday, Howard's incredible saves got Twitter in a tizzy.

Comparisons to Jesus abounded. Sample tweet: "Jesus saves, and so does Tim Howard."

Difference between Tim Howard and Jesus - Jesus had 11 guys he could trust

— Patrick Osgood (@PatrickOsgood) July 1, 2014

Then came the memes of all the things #TimHowardCouldSave: Dinosaurs, the Titanic, Blockbuster from closing.

He is the 'U.S. secretary of defense'

Well, at least he was for a little while on Tuesday, according to Wikipedia.

So impressive was his performance against the Belgians that someone edited the free on-line encyclopedia, pulling Chuck Hagel from the page and inserting Howard.

The folks at Wikipedia caught the vandalism and restored the real secretary of defense to his rightful position.

Someone thinks with a little mentoring Howard might be able to make that Wikipedia change again one day down the road.

At least that's what the Pentagon says Hagel told Howard when he called him on Wednesday.

Hagel phoned the goalkeeper to "thank him for defending the United States of America at the World Cup," Pentagon press secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby said.

Hagel also invited the team to drop by the Pentagon next time they are in town.

"He told Howard that with some training, he could someday become the real secretary of defense," Kirby said.

This is awesome. Someone changed the Wikipedia page for the US Secretary of Defense to Tim Howard http://ift.tt/1qz2uEO

— Josh Parcell (@JoshParcell) July 2, 2014

He is one of the best goalies in the world

Don't believe us? Just ask his coaches.

His club coach has said there is no better goalkeeper in the Premier League.

"His belief and understanding of the game and his desire to achieve more is contagious," Roberto Martinez told FIFA.com.

National team coach Jurgen Klinsmann said in May that Howard is one of the top five goalies in the world.

And, if there were any doubters, he silenced them all on Tuesday.

OK RT @WithDrake: .@darth should really do something nice for @TimHowardGK.... Just to show our support. http://ift.tt/1qOHibe

— darth™ (@darth) July 1, 2014

He is coming back in 2018 (or is he?)

This may not be Howard's final World Cup. Plenty of goalies have played in their late 30s and early 40s.

But backup Brad Guzan, who plays at Aston Villa in England, is five years younger.

Howard has yet to say whether he wants to be in the net when the team tries to qualify for Russia, host of the 2018 World Cup.

And he wasn't giving any clues on Wednesday when he talked with CNN's Chris Cuomo.

"Right now, emotions are high and that's never a time to make an important decision," Howard said. "I'll speak to the important people who matter in this process and take my time and figure it out.

"It's a long four years, but also this team is very talented and very young -- and so it's exciting."

Off the field: The men of the U.S. team

'Breakthrough' stem cell study retracted

In January 2014, researchers announced they had developed a new method of making stem cells -- by placing skin cells in an acidic environment. But the researchers retracted their papers in July 2014, citing "several critical errors" in their study data. Click through the gallery to learn more about stem cell research.

Stem cells have the potential to become many different kinds of cells, and can renew themselves through cell division. Scientists view stem cells as a possible gateway to curing many medical conditions, from Parkinson's disease to diabetes. Stem cells are viewed on computer here at UConn Health Center in 2010.

A closeup of a microscope slide taken in 2000 at the Reproductive Genetics Institute's Chicago laboratory shows transplanted stem cells taken from the umbilical cord blood of a baby named Adam Nash. Adam's sister Molly has a genetic disease called Fanconi Anemia. Their parents wanted to have a child who could be a stem cell donor for Molly. Using in vitro fertilization, doctors created embryos and then tested them for the genetic disease. They chose one that did not have the disorder, which grew into baby Adam. Molly received a stem cell transplant from stem cells from Adam's umbilical cord. Both children are alive today.

In 1998, then-President Bill Clinton requested a National Bioethics Advisory Commission to study the question of stem cell research.

In 2000, The National Institutes of Health issued guidelines for the use of embryonic stem cells in research, specifying that scientists receiving federal funds could use only extra embryos that would otherwise be discarded. President Clinton approved federal funding for stem cell research but Congress did not fund it. Above, a Cell Expansion System which is used to grow cells is seen during the 2010 World Stem Cell Summit in Detroit.

In August 2001, then-President George W. Bush announced he would allow federal funding for about 60 existing stem cell lines created before this date. Above, a human stem cell colony, which is no more than 1mm wide and comprises thousands of individual stem cells, grows on mouse embryonic fibroblast in a research laboratory in September 2001.

In 2005, Connecticut and Illinois designated state funds to support stem cell research in their states. Above, a woman works on stem cells at the University of Connecticut's Stem Cell Institute at the UConn Health Center in August 2010 in Farmington, Connecticut.

In March 2009, President Barack Obama signed an executive order that removed restrictions on embryonic stem cell research. His action overturned an order approved by President George W. Bush in August 2001 that barred the National Institutes of Health from funding research on embryonic stem cells beyond using 60 cell lines that existed at that time. Above, Obama signs the order.

In November 2010, William Caldwell, CEO of Advanced Cell Technology, told CNN that the FDA had granted approval for his company to start a clinical trial using cells grown from human embryonic stem cells. The treatment would be for an inherited degenerative eye disease. Above, dozens of packages containing frozen embryonic stem cells remain in liquid nitrogen in a laboratory, at the University of Sao Paulo's human genome research center, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in March 2008.

In May 2011, stem cell therapy in sports medicine was spotlighted after New York Yankee pitcher Bartolo Colon was revealed to have had fat and bone marrow stem cells injected into his injured elbow and shoulder while in the Dominican Republic. Above, Colon pitches against the Boston Red Sox on in May 2011.

In February 2012, early research published by scientists at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and Johns Hopkins University showed that a patient's own stem cells can be used to regenerate heart tissue and help undo damage caused by a heart attack. It is the first instance of therapeutic regeneration. Above, fluid is removed from the knee of a patient to collect adult stem cells by at a clinic in Broomfield, Colorado.

In October 2012, Sir John Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for discovering how to make pluripotent stem cells. They both showed that cells could be reprogrammed after they had already specialized. This changed scientists' understanding of how cells and organisms develop. Above, Sir Gurdon speaks at a press conference after being awarded the Prize.

On May 16, 2013, scientists announced that they had, for the first time, produced embryos using skin cells, and then used the embryos to make stem cell lines. This technique resembles what was used in cloning Dolly the sheep, but the earlier technique could not have led to a fully-cloned human baby. Above, a photo provided by the Oregon Health & Science University shows a stem cell colony produced from human skin cells.

On August 5, 2013, the world's first stem cell burger was cooked and eaten in London. The brainchild of Maastricht University's Mark Post, the burger was made of 20,000 small strands of meat grown from a cow's muscle cells and took three months to create and cost $330,000 to develop.

In September 2013, scientists announced they had created what they are calling "cerebral organoids" using stem cells. These pea-sized structures are made of human brain tissue, and they can help researchers explore important questions about brain development and disorders that occur during these first stages of life.

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• In January scientists published an easy, inexpensive way to produce stem cells


• The researchers now say their articles had "several critical errors"


• Investigators categorized the errors as "misconduct"

(CNN) -- It was hailed as a fast, easy, inexpensive and uncontroversial way to produce stem cells.

Scientists took a skin cell and coaxed it into acting like an embryo, producing embryonic-like stem cells that could theoretically be turned into any cell in the body. What was described as a "breakthrough" is how these cells were coaxed -- by placing them in an acidic bath.

The process was developed primarily by researchers at the Riken Center for Developmental Biology in Japan.

Understanding the stem cell breakthrough

Human cloning: One step closer

But five months after their studies were published in the journal Nature, researchers are retracting the results.

Are stem cells curing 'incurable' boy?

"Several critical errors have been found in our article," they write in their retraction, which the journal published Wednesday.

Tasters: Stem cell burgers a bit 'dry'

An investigation into the studies was started by the Riken Center in February. The institution said its investigators "categorized some of the errors as misconduct."

This is not a complete surprise. One of the co-authors of the study called for a retraction in March, because he questioned some of the data that were used in the experiments, which led to the creation of so-called STAP cells (or stimulus-triggered acquisition of pluripotency cells).

In an editorial accompanying the retraction, Nature said that "errors were found in the figures, parts of the methods descriptions were found to be plagiarized, and early attempts to replicate the work failed."

The investigation found that data supposedly representing different cells and different embryos in the study were actually describing the same cells and the same embryos.

"All co-authors of both papers have finally concluded that they cannot stand behind the papers, and have decided to retract them," according to Nature.

'Seinfeld' at 25: How 'nothing' changed TV

We all love the main characters of Seinfeld, but did you know that some other famous faces got their start on the sitcom? Courteney Cox played Jerry's girlfriend Meryl in season five's "The Wife" (March 1994), where Jerry gets a discount at his dry cleaners and Cox partakes of the discount too by claiming to be Jerry's wife. The "marriage" ends badly. Six months after her "Seinfeld" debut, Cox debuted on "Friends" as Monica Geller, a role that would last for 10 seasons.

Teri Hatcher played Jerry's girlfriend Sidra Holland when she first came on the show in season four (February 1993). Hatcher appeared in three episodes, including the series finale. In Hatcher's first episode, the focus is on her breasts. With Elaine questioning if they are natural or man-made, she stages an "accidental" stumble in the sauna to see if she can discover the truth. When Sidra discovers that Jerry and Elaine are friends she breaks up with Jerry using the now legendary line: "they're real... and they're spectacular." The storyline double dips with another memorable plot featuring Megan Mullally.

Megan Mullally actually appeared in the same debut episode as Teri Hatcher, titled "The Implant," playing George's girlfriend Betsy. In the episode, Betsy's aunt dies and George flies to the funeral, buying an expensive plane ticket (which he hopes to later get discounted). But it all goes wrong when Betsy's brother catches George double dipping a chip ("I mean you might as well put your whole mouth in the dip") and Betsy breaks up with George. To make matters worse, George can't get a discount on his flight because he can't give a death certificate to the airline. Four years later, TV viewers embraced Mullally as Karen Walker in "Will & Grace."

Catherine Keener plays Jerry's new girlfriend Nina for an episode in season three. Nina is an artist who paints Kramer as "a loathsome, offensive brute," and yet you cannot look away. Nina's father then offers the crew Yankee tickets in the owner's box. But things unravel for the couple at the game when Elaine is ejected from the seats for refusing to remove her Baltimore Orioles cap. Keener has appeared in multiple roles since, although her most famous part may be as Trish Piedmont in "The 40 Year Old Virgin."

Christine Taylor plays Jerry's perfect girlfriend Ellen, who is perfect in every way, except that she seems to have no friends. Jerry flies his parents out to meet her and when they love her, too, he decides that something must be wrong with her and he needs to break up with her. Christine Taylor is best known for her roles in the "Brady Bunch" movies, "Zoolander" and "Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story." Taylor is also married to Ben Stiller.

Amanda Peet is in season eight as Jerry's date to the Tonys. Peet plays a waitress named Linette who has a male roommate (who she is also probably seeing on the side). Eventually Linette starts to date Jerry exclusively but her active lifestyle gets to Jerry. Peet's reputation got a boost playing Marin in "Something's Gotta Give" opposite Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton.

Denise Richards appears as the daughter of Russell Dalrymple, president of NBC, who was considering doing a sitcom with Jerry and George. George gets caught staring at her cleavage, almost ruining the deal. Four years later, Denise Richards played Lt. Carmen Ibanez in "Starship Troopers." She's also Charlie Sheen's ex-wife.

Lauren Graham plays Jerry's girlfriend Valerie in an episode of season eight. Jerry is vying to be the top slot in Valerie's speed dial rankings. When Valerie's stepmother gets poisoned, Jerry gets called instead of poison control and he's happy about how high he must rank. That reaction disgusts Valerie and they break up. Three years later, fans fell in love with Graham as Lorelai Gilmore in "Gilmore Girls."

Bryan Cranston has a memorable reoccurring role in "Seinfeld" as Jerry's dentist, Dr. Tim Whatley. Among his story lines: He is caught "re-gifting" a label maker, stocking his dentist's office with pornographic magazines, throwing a party Jerry may or may not have been invited to and accusing Jerry of being an anti-dentite (biased against dentists). Cranston later won three Emmys for best actor as Walter White in "Breaking Bad."

Debra Messing played Beth Lukner. Yada yada yada, it turns out she's a racist. She started on the show happily married until George made a comment that she could have done better than her husband. After that almost ruined the relationship, ultimately it ends in a later episode after Elaine ruins an adoption proceeding for the couple. The capper in the episode, which also featured the memorable anti-dentite story line with Bryan Cranston, is when Beth reveals she's a racist anti-Semite. Messing went on to star as Grace Adler in the highly popular "Will & Grace."

Brenda Strong appears in several episodes throughout the series as Elaine's arch nemesis since high school. Strong plays Sue Ellen Mischke, who never wears a bra. Elaine is so obsessed that Sue Ellen doesn't wear a bra that she gives her one as a gift, which Sue Ellen then wears down the street as a shirt, which causes Kramer to crash Jerry's car because they're so distracted watching her. Seven years later, Brenda Strong played the character that drove the entire plot line of "Desperate Housewives," Mary Alice Young.

Like Teri Hatcher and Brenda Strong, Marcia Cross is another star from "Desperate Housewives" who goes on a date with Jerry. Cross plays Dr. Sara Sidarides, who won't stop talking about saving lives. When Jerry finds out she's a dermatologist, he plans a revenge date because he thinks dermatologists are pimple poppers and not life savers. His plan backfires when a former patient interrupts their dinner to thank her for saving him from skin cancer.

Jane Leeves is one of Jerry's girlfriends who appears in more than one episode. Leeves played Marla Penny, a virgin. Most memorably, when Marla decides she's finally ready to sleep with Jerry, she finds out he can't because he's trying to prove he is "master of his domain" in a competition he has with George, Kramer and Elaine. They break up because something has to give and she ends up dating (and losing her virginity to) John F. Kennedy Jr. Leeves is best known as Daphne Moon on another NBC sitcom, "Frasier."

Mariska Hargitay plays an actress named Melissa, reading for the part of Elaine in Jerry and George's sitcom in season four. We know her better for looking much more professional as sex crimes detective Olivia Benson on "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit."

Jeremy Piven plays the actor hired to play George in the pilot of their "Jerry" sitcom. His character, named Michael Barth, has the same neurotic nature as George but George hates Michael's portrayal of him. Piven is most known for his role as Ari Gold in "Entourage."

Jennifer Coolidge plays Jodi the masseuse in season five. She's dating Jerry and they have a great sex life but for some reason she won't give Jerry a massage, and while Jerry learns that sometimes no means no when it comes to massage, it ultimately leads to their break-up. Most of us know Coolidge as Stifler's mom in the "American Pie" movie series and from memorable turns in "Legally Blonde" and "Best in Show."

Molly Shannon plays Elaine's co-worker, Sam, a woman who doesn't move her arms when she walks. In the season eight episode, Sam sees Elaine making fun of her and trashes Elaine's office and leaves her crazy voice mails. Shannon is known for her work on "Saturday Night Live."

Kristin Davis played Jerry's girlfriend Jenna in season eight's episode "The Pothole." The relationship was doomed when Jerry accidentally drops her toothbrush in the toilet and Jenna uses it before he's able to warn her. Germaphobe Jerry secretly sterilizes her mouth, but still can't bring himself to kiss her after she used the toilet toothbrush. A year after her "Seinfeld" debut, Davis gained fame playing Charlotte York in "Sex and the City."

Marlee Matlin actually hit it big before her bit in "Seinfeld," winning an Oscar for best actress for "Children of a Lesser God" in 1987. But we still bet you remember she had a guest role in "Seinfeld"! Matlin plays Jerry's girlfriend Laura, the deaf tennis lineswoman who can read lips. George takes Laura to a party to try to read his girlfriend's lips to see what she says about him.

Marisa Tomei plays herself in season seven's "The Cadillac." George questions his engagement when one of Elaine's friends says she's friends with the Oscar-winning actress and Tomei has a thing for short and quirky bald men. George sets up a date with Tomei and when he reveals he's engaged, she punches him in the eye.

Sarah Silverman plays Kramer's girlfriend who kicks Kramer while she sleeps. The issue is solved when the couple has to sleep in separate beds in the same room at George's parents'. Silverman appeared on "SNL" and in her own audacious comedy specials. A decade after her "Seinfeld" appearance, her sitcom "The Sarah Silverman Program" debuted on Comedy Central.

Kathy Griffin appears in two episodes, once as an aspiring actor and comedian who indirectly ruins Jerry's act, and later she hits it big with a one-woman show called "Jerry Seinfeld is the Devil." Griffin is best known for her role as Vicki Groener on "Suddenly Susan," but also had her own reality show called "Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List."

Brad Garrett played a crazy auto mechanic named Tony who steals Jerry's car. When Tony wants to make too many updates to the car, Jerry asks for it back so he can go to another mechanic. Tony says he'll bring the car out front and instead drives away with it. Four months after his gig on "Seinfeld," Garrett starred as Robert Barone on "Everybody Loves Raymond."

Daniel Dae Kim played medical student No. 1 in season nine. The students have to diagnose actors with imaginary symptoms, and Kim is able to diagnose that Kramer has gonorrhea after a dramatic story. It took a few years, but Kim is now famous in fans' hearts as Jin Kwon from "Lost."

James Spader was already known as a film actor when he played George and Jerry's friend, Jason Hanky, in season nine. Jason has just entered Alcoholics Anonymous and George is ecstatic that he'll finally get an apology for Jason not loaning him a sweater. Jason says he's not giving him an apology because he didn't loan him the sweater because George's head would've stretched out the neck hole, not because of his drinking. Dealing with George is too much to deal with so Jason turns back to drinking and joins Rageaholics Anonymous, too. We best know Spader from movies like "Pretty in Pink." He's since gone on to star on hit TV shows "Boston Legal" and "The Blacklist."

Rob Schneider plays Elaine's partially deaf colleague Bob who claims he can't hear whenever he's asked to do work. Elaine pretends to proclaim her love for Bob in the office to see if he can hear it. Elaine's boss overhears and gets the two of them tickets to a show. Bob then throws himself at Elaine. Schneider has gained success in film roles such as "Deuce Bigalow," "The Hot Chick" and "Grown Ups."

Jon Favreau might be a surprise to some because he appeared on season five in full face makeup as Eric the Clown. Eric is hired to entertain at George's girlfriend's son's party. George and Eric get into a fight because George keeps pestering him. But when there is a fire in the apartment and George storms out in terror, Eric is the hero of the day. Favreau is best known for directing movies like "Elf", executive producing "Iron Man 3" and acting in movies such as "The Break-Up." He wrote and directed the recent movie "Chef."

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• "The Seinfeld Chronicles," the "Seinfeld" pilot, aired July 5, 1989


• Sitcom routinely broke with convention


• Show is considered one of best sitcoms in TV history

(CNN) -- "Seinfeld" had nothing to say -- and that was its genius.

Other groundbreaking series make a point of stressing their inventiveness, practically shouting, "Look at me!" "Seinfeld," on the other hand, blissfully took a Festivus pole to sitcom conventions, with unsympathetic characters, defiantly provincial New York interests and intricate plotting mechanisms -- and never called attention to itself.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

In fact, there was so much right about the show that it eventually became TV's No. 1 program and one of the most lauded sitcoms ever.

In the 25 years since "Seinfeld" premiered on July 5, 1989, as "The Seinfeld Chronicles," it has worked its way into pop culture -- its catchphrases still repeated, its plots still recounted, its shocking revelations about writer John Cheever and pitcher Roger McDowell still gasped about.

But enough yada, yada, yada. Here are five things that made nothing into everything:

1. No hugging, no learning. In general, pre-"Seinfeld" sitcoms included heartwarming laughs, sympathetic "aws" and lessons learned. But there were no social niceties for Jerry, George, Elaine and Kramer. The quartet was so narcissistic that, when George's fiancée, Susan, died after licking defective wedding invitation envelopes in the seventh season, George and the gang shrugged and continued with their lives.

Few sitcoms have dared to follow in its coldhearted footsteps, but there are exceptions, such as "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia," "Community" and "Seinfeld" co-creator Larry David's "Curb Your Enthusiasm." (New York magazine's Matt Zoller Seitz makes the point that "Seinfeld" also paved the way for our recent bounty of coldhearted dramas.)

The new, new TV golden age

2. Four in one. Pre-"Seinfeld," most sitcoms were classic cases of simplicity: one major plot, perhaps one minor plot, play them out in 22 minutes and turn on the applause sign. "Seinfeld" sometimes had four plots -- one for each primary character -- and would put them together so Jerry's girlfriend with the real breasts (Teri Hatcher) would cross paths with Elaine in a steam room. Or aspiring hand model George would burn himself with the iron being used to smooth out Jerry's puffy shirt.

In those days, not many serialized dramas would dare attempt such plot juggling, never mind comedies. It's still more the exception than the rule.

3. New York, New York. "Seinfeld" made the Big Apple the center of the sitcom universe. Suddenly it seemed like half of NBC's schedule was making ends meet in Manhattan -- "Friends," "Caroline in the City," "Mad About You," "The Single Guy," "Will & Grace" -- while ABC and CBS added to the mix with such shows as "The King of Queens," "Spin City" and "The Nanny."

New York was so prominent on '90s TV schedules that one ABC show, "It's Like, You Know" (created by "Seinfeld" writer and producer Peter Mehlman), made hay out of the concept of a New Yorker transplanted to Los Angeles. (Incidentally, for all its New Yorkiness, "Seinfeld" was shot at a studio in L.A.)

4. Heavy meta. Other sitcoms had been self-referential -- George Burns and Garry Shandling regularly broke the fourth wall in their programs -- but Jerry and his pals took meta-ness to a whole new level. Season four, in fact, was literally about a show within a show as Jerry and George pitched NBC "a show about nothing" called "Jerry" that bore eerie similarities to "Seinfeld."

However, for all of "Seinfeld's" quotation marks, it often used real people and brand names. There really is a J. Peterman catalog, New York's American League baseball team really is the Yankees and those are real cereal brands on Jerry's shelf. However, Vandelay Industries is still fictional -- we think.

5. Sponge-worthy catchphrases. Few shows have produced as many popular quotations as "Seinfeld." You're probably reciting them now: "No soup for you." "Master of your domain." "Yada yada." "Shrinkage." "Look to the cookie." You can leave more of them in the comments ... unless you're a low-talker. In that case, you'll have to speak up.

CNN's Todd Leopold is no relation to occasional "Seinfeld" writer Tom Leopold, though sometimes he wishes he was.