We’re deep into the NFL Playoffs. And so it’s time to create the next generation of female scientists.

Follow me on this one. Back in 1993, a new program premiered on Fox right after that year’s Super Bowl, and was heavily advertised during the game. A lot of folks tuned in to see what it was about, including millions of daughters of families who threw Super Bowl parties.

It was called the X Files. The hero of the show, FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder, was responsible for investigating all the Bureau’s unsolved cases that MAY have involved alien abductions, witchcraft, out-of-body experiences, government cover-ups, all that creepy stuff. And Mulder believed deeply in such things – he was convinced his parents had been abducted by aliens – to the point that his colleagues nicknamed him “Spooky.”

Mulder’s partner was his antithesis: a serious-minded, cynical scientist named Dana Scully. She was a humorless bureaucrat who went by the book, lived alone, and wore nothing but black suits. Her role was to shadow Mulder and try to disprove his crazy theories with facts and data. In other words, debunk everything Mulder believed in and drive him crazy.

The relationship between the two characters was electric, and it made the X-Files a huge hit. Folks tuned in every week to see what the agents would investigate next, hear how Mulder would spin some fantastical tale, and wait for Scully to shoot him down.

Notably, Dana Scully became something of a role model for a generation of young women, who admired her seriousness, her stature, and her love of science. So much so that, over the subsequent years, folks started noticing a surge in the number of young women choosing to work in the STEM fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. Though the direct correlation between Scully’s character and this surge is unproven, sociologists have coined the phrase, “The Scully Effect,” when explaining why so many women started choosing jobs in industries previously populated exclusively by men.

And now, back to present, and those NFL playoffs.This Sunday at 3, the Denver Broncos will defeat the Patriots in the AFC Championship (“Spooky” Keeler has seen the future). And then, at 6, the Panthers will host the Cardinals for the NFC crown. And directly afterwards, the X-Files will return to broadcast television with the first of a 6-episode reboot on Fox. Odd lights will start appearing in the sky. Weird things will start happening. Spooky Mulder will shine his flashlight into dark corners. Strange theories will ensue.

Agent Scully won’t be convinced. She will head to her lab.

And, just maybe, lots of young girls will start dreaming some big serious dreams.